Usually when you think of black buns you are mostly likely to think of squid ink before anything else, this stall however, utilizes homemade charcoal buns for their dishes and in my opinion tastes way better than any of that squid ink nonsense.
On top of their “black buns” they are using a few gastronomical cooking techniques for their dishes such as sous vide and N20 Cream Charges at a very affordable price!
黑仔 (Hei Zai) which stands for black kid is an all new concept store who aim to redesign street and local food with a touch modernist cuisine using their black buns as a stand out factor for their dishes.
Although their menu is quite small scale with only four items you can definitely see the effort put in to make each dish work and it really does pay off.
The sous vide pork bun and Wok Fried Chicken Meatball bun were so succulent and filling and the flavours were perfectly balanced with every component of the dish doing their part to make it taste amazing. The charcoal bun also helped bring a smokey flavour to the dish along with a nice crisp texture to balance out the juicy interior. The N20 Assam Fish was also pretty good for those who want a dish with a little more spice.
Their Tempura Wasabi Mushrooms with Wasabi Mayonnaise was also a great side dish to compliment the buns, but I would not recommend for those who are averse to wasabi.
Hei Zai also plans to include new dishes or swap out some of the dishes to see what the public prefers, so if this menu doesn’t impress you, fret not as new dishes may be introduced or changed with the days to come.
Since my taste test there’s been a new selection of dishes on the menu and they include:
Tempura White Fish with Deep Fried Charcoal Bread Sticks
Smoked Chicken Cutlet with Deep fried Charcoal Bread Sticks
Salt and Pepper whole Squid with Deep fried Charcoal Bread Sticks
The only downsides to these dishes for me is that they can be a little too messy to eat, meaning that a lot of ingredients may fall off after one bite and the dishes could use a bit more vibrant colours to stand out.
But with that said Hei Zai is a great place to try out some gastronomical dishes at a very affordable price!
Hei Zai is open at the Prudential Marina Bay Carnival from now until the 1st of April 2018!
Do also check out their Instagram and Facebook.