A Duck or 2 @ Dian Xiao Er (店小二)

For my birthday a couple of months back, they decided to take me out for lunch. This may be an excuse to go somewhere further on a Friday afternoon as well. One word, "duck" and the next thing I knew I was sitting at Dian Xiao Er (店小二) at Marina Square. 

Dian Xiao Er's decoration conveys a rustic inn in an ancient town in China (you can see those inns in those Shaw Brother movies or any Chinese periodic drama of the Chin, Song or Tang dynasty) where the common folk would go in for a meal and rice wine served in bowls. Unfortunately no rice wine filled bowls so we had to slake our thirst with Chinese tea instead.

We had a group of 10 so it really felt like I was having a family dinner. In a way they form sort of my pseudo-family in Singapore. JJ took charge of the situation, since he was an old hand at this place and it was my first time there. He was hungry as well so he decided not to wait on our undecided ways.

How apt it was for him to call Family Set A which came with:

• Steamed White Rice
• Duck Roasted with Angelica Herb (Dong Guai) ( 當歸 )
• Baby Kai Lan with Salted Fish
• Dong Po Pork
• Soup of the Day (which happened to be wolfberry soup)
• Hong Kong Styled Steam Fish Slices
• Assorted Mushroom with Broccoli
• Prawn Baked with Butter and Black Pepper Sauce

 We got a little greedy and added half a Duck Roasted with 10 Wonder Herbs which is said to revitalise the body. Honestly on Friday, after the horrendous week that we had went through, we thought we could do a pick-me-up which was not caffeine based.

The Dong Po Pork was quite soft and fell apart when picked up. This is exactly how this dish is supposed to be and everyone was pretty pleased with the results. Fatty pork and it's sauce went well over out steamed white rice. 

We did a poll between the 2 ducks we tried. The results were unanimous. Although the duck with the more herbal stuffing was supposed to be a pick-me-up, everyone agreed that the duck with dong guai was better in terms of herbal taste and the slight bitter after taste that comes along with it. The duck with the 10 different kinds of herbs stuffed (up it's ass when roasting no doubt) was declared too sweet and had no eau de herbes chinoises. 

Chinese herbs are an acquired taste. It has a bitter, earthy after taste and most people won't appreciate the taste until they leave home and miss Mom's cooking. If you are Chinese and live at home, more often than not, your soup would probably have some sort of herb in it. It's just that you don't see it served in your soup bowl when Mom ladles it out for you.

We were not that big on prawns and it was a struggle to eat prawns in a restaurant when half your table refuses to as it is either too messy or someone was allergic. The sauce covered the prawn's natural sweetness (if it was fresh) and it was not really a memorable dish even among the prawn lovers.

As for the rest of the dishes, it was quite the usual as what you would get in any Chinese restaurants.

Although we had a party of 10, the food was more than sufficient and we actually thought to take some duck away. After the internal tussle and a huge sigh, we munched our way through the remaining duck and left with satisfied grins.

Dian Xiao Er (店小二)
Address: 203 Marina Way, #02-203/204, Marina Square, Singapore 039594
Opening Hours: 11.30am - 3.00pm (last order 2.30pm) and 5.30pm - 10.00pm (last order 9.30pm)
Tel :  6337 1928
Website : http://dianxiaoer.net/
Price: $$ per pax