The previously sleepier side of Redhill has gotten livelier with the openings of cafes such as Living Room @ Leng Kee, Maison Sucreé and now Abundance.
A short walk away from Redhill MRT station and the popular Redhill 85 Food Centre, Abundance specialises in Taiwanese-style buns (get it?) and dishes.
Slightly different from Bao Makers and other Kong Bak Pau specialty stores, Abundance offers Taiwan-style Gua Bao ($6.90).
What’s the difference, you may ask.
A Gua Bao 刈包 often seen sold at Taiwanese night markets, contains a steamed ‘lotus leaf bread’ sandwiched with stewed pork belly, dressed with pickled mustard greens (suan cai), coriander and ground peanuts.
Technically, the last Gua Bao I had was from Lan Jia Guabao 藍家割包 at Gongguan Night Market (crazy delicious), and I came high in expectations. (That was NT$60, less than SGD3.)
Abundance’s version, other than being on the pricey side at $6.90, was a credible version which got a good balance of the savoury pork belly, sweet peanuts and tangy pickles.
The thick pork belly was cooked till melt-in-the-mouth, yet not overly fatty.
If I were to nit-pick, it could come more piping-hot such that steam would be released once you open up the fluffy bun. At least that would be the style reminiscent of night markets. (Serving speed could also be faster. It took 25 minutes, even though I was the only other customer then.)
The Taiwanese-style modern eatery also serves up “Xiao Chi” of Red Hot Chilli Dumplings aka Hong You Chao Shou ($8.90), Golden Egg ($6) which is fried century egg, Prawn Toast ($9.50), Pork Chop ($8), Popcorn Chicken ($8) and Fried Beancurd Skin ($4).
I was most intrigued with the Xiao Cai ($4) which was named like, prepared like, and looked like something DTF regulars would find extremely familiar with.
”DTF inspired,” they say.
Made with vermicelli, seaweed, beansprouts, tofu, spring onions and vinegar dressing, most people may not be able to tell a difference from a blind-taste test.
However, Abundance’s version lacked of the vinegary punch I thought, but good enough if you are having cravings.
There are also offerings of Fried Rice and Noodles, with Olive Fried Rice ($6.80), Classic Fried Rice ($5.80), Red Hot Chilli Dumplings Noodles ($9.90), with optional add-ons such as Chicken Cutlet ($3.80) and Tobiko ($2.00).
While the Niu Yolk Fried Riced ($18.00) cooked with beef fat and topped with beef short ribs sounded promising, this was no King Of Fried Rice as it could do with less mushy rice and more wok-hei.
(Photo credit: Nicholas Tan @stormscape)
However, with interesting food such as Peanut Ice Cream Roll, down-to-earth friendly service, and a sense of humour, I think Abundance may very well see abundant crowd in time to come in this neighbourhood.
Maybe they could have a Taiwanese name too, just to round it up?
Abundance
63A Lengkok Bahru, #01-378, Singapore 151063
Opening Hours: 11am – 10:30pm (Tues – Sun), Closed Mon
Other Related Entries
Maison Sucreé (Lengkok Bahru)
10 Taiwanese Cafes In Singapore
Isshin Machi 一心一町 (East Coast Road)
Eat 3 Bowls 呷三碗車站 (Pasir Panjang)
Fong Sheng Hao 豐盛號 (Paya Lebar Quarter)
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