Lin’s Braised – Authentic Braised Pork Rice and Homestyle Fish Soup

Lin’s Braised, the new kid at Dunman Food Centre. is positioned perfectly near the entrance of the second storey so you won’t miss it, especially with eye-catching red lanterns hanging at the storefront. Lin’s Braised doesn’t only stand out in terms of looks, but it surely does in its food too.

The owner of the 5-month-old stall, Eileen, was a procurement manager who travelled around Asia for work before being retrenched due to the pandemic. As she stayed in Taiwan for a good five years, she was familiar with their cooking methods. Hence she decided to start Lin’s Braised, serving authentic Taiwanese-style braised foods with some modifications to suit Singaporeans’ tastebuds.

I got the Signature “Hakka’ Braised Pork Rice Bowl ($5.80), Braised Kway Chap Platter for 1 pax ($5) and Sliced “Batang” Fish Soup – Medium size ($8).

First up, the braised pork bowl. When asked how her 卤肉饭 (lu rou fan) is different from others, Eileen mentioned two things. The first is how the the meat is braised the authentic Taiwanese way. She made some tweaks to the ingredients used so that it’s not as sweet, as Singaporeans generally prefer saltier flavours. The second unique thing about it is the addition of preserved vegetables.

Eileen believes that she’s the first to serve this as it’s unheard of to add preserved vegetables to braised pork for such bowls. It’s a very tedious process as well because she would prepare it from scratch herself — from preserving to frying the vegetables before mixing into the braised pork.

The portion is really large for its price. The bowl consists of ingredients like braised pork with preserved vegetables, pearl rice, tau kwa, tau pok, and a whole egg. I like how the preserved vegetables added lovely flavours to the whole bowl, and I must say it was a good move to add them in. The pork was also cooked to a soft and chewy texture — expect the fats to just melt in your mouth! I think that this is really similar to the Taiwanese lu rou. It was nice to have a taste of Taiwan here before we get to go there again.

Next, the Kway Chap Platter. You might be wondering, where is the kway? Well, Eileen shared apologetically that it was sold out the day before and she didn’t have time to make more before the day started. It was a waste as I would love to try the homemade kway! I guess this means another trip here!

As 卤味(lu wei) is her speciality, I thought that this would be a good plate of kway chap ingredients. However, it fell short. The pork belly was not as soft as the ones you find in the rice bowl. It was quite pricy for the portion that was given too. Or maybe the plate was just too large and made the ingredients look little in comparison. On the bright side, the pork intestines were clean, chewy and very well stuffed! I love how it was not just a flat piece of large intestine.

Here comes the wildcard. What is a braised meat stall doing selling fish soup? Well, when asked the question, Eileen shared that it’s to add variety to the menu. What’s more, if you’re having a meal out with your family, you can have both the braised foods and the fish soup to make it a wholesome meal. The soup would cleanse your palates after you have the braised items.

I thought that was a rather interesting perspective. Out of curiosity, I ordered it too. When asked what “style” her fish soup belongs to, Eileen said that it’s not really categorised under a particular cuisine. It was homestyle since she came up with the recipe herself. Eileen was telling me that it might not taste as flavourful now as it was just boiled today, but it should be fine. I have to agree that it was not as flavourful, but it was in no way bad.

The fish soup comes in three sizes — small ($6) medium($8) and large ($11). She uses Batang fish. There’s also the option of fish slices or fried fish. I went with the sliced fish option. There’s nothing to shout about but the fish slices were quite thick and they were cut in a rectangular shape. That’s a first. I didn’t get to ask why it was cut in this manner, but maybe if you tried it, you can ask her why!

The ingredients in the soup are pretty standard too, consisting of Chinese cabbage, tomato, seaweed, bitter gourd and fish slices. It makes a very nice comforting soup on a rainy day or on days that you want to have a taste of homecooked food.

All in all, the best dish here is the braised pork rice. I would highly recommend it as it’s not only value for money, but it has a unique, yet familiar, taste.

MissTamChiak.com made an anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.

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