Had been passing by Henly Huat Drinks Food Court for quite a while whenever we are around the Outram Park neighbourhood — this will be the coffeeshop located at 120 Neil Road that is at the cross junction between Keong Saik Road, Neil Road and Craig Road that is just diagonally opposite from Shake Shack’s location there. It does seem that the coffeeshop has seen a recent change of tenants in some of the stalls operating there — located deep within the coffeeshop right beside the outlet of Chai Chee Minced Meat Noodle there is 角头GataoSG. An establishment that serves up Taiwanese cuisine, 角头 GataoSG was a brand that had first started out in Johor Bahru, Malaysia at Austin Heights — they had since ceased operations there. Being a dining establishment situated within a coffeeshop, the offerings at 角头GataoSG is less varied than what it used to serve up in Malaysia; the menu at their Neil Road location consists of their signature fried chicken cutlets, bento sets and side dishes — their braised pork rice dish being pretty affordably priced at $3.90.
Priced at $9.50, the impression of the Crispy Chicken Popcorn Bento with Braised Meat on first sight is how generously-sized the bento is — the plate definitely comes with a bit of heft considering the generous load of rice, braised meat, chicken popcorn, pickled cucumbers, preserved vegetables, lava eggs, and Taiwanese sausage that came along with it. All of the elements served up with the dish were pretty well-executed; our favourite was undeniably the chicken popcorn which are chunks of fried chicken that came with a crisp, golden brown batter on the outside, while the meat within comes juicy and tender. Seasoned with paprika, it does come with a slight kick of spiciness that should be manageable for those whom are tolerable to lighter levels of spiciness. The braised meat itself came with ample braising liquid to flavour up the portion of rice beneath it; the minced pork carrying a savoury note while the consistency of the meat was on the leaner side to provide a good bite — does not come with any undesirable porky stench considering how it has absorbed the flavours of the braising liquid. Other elements like the pickled cucumbers and preserved vegetables adds an element of tang or crunch that resets the tastebuds from all the meat and carbs; the Taiwanese sausage was a little bit on the drier side but props should be given to them on how there is an attempt to style it to make it looks slightly more unique; the lava egg comes with soft whites and a runny egg yolk that is all jammy which is a crowd pleaser on its own.
