Although Lai Lai Casual Dining isn’t as new in Singapore as the egg tarts (the outlet I went to opened with the new extension of Jurong Point several months back), it was the first time I had eaten there and also the first time I had lu rou fan, or stewed (some websites say braised and I totally can’t tell the difference) pork rice, in Singapore.
Alas, while the dish wasn’t bad, it definitely did not live up to the standard of the ones I had in Taiwan. I don’t know if which is supposed to be the original way of cooking it but the meal I had here had, as you can see in the photo, pretty large pork chunks. While not larger than the kind you can get from coffeeshops with your chicken rice, they were pretty different from the minced variety I had those years ago, which I prefer. Also, while the dish wasn’t bland or anything, it definitely wasn’t as straight-out tasty as its Taiwanese counterpart.
The serving was pretty decent sized and definitely enough for a full meal for one person. At $6.90, it wasn’t too expensive (although the Taiwanese version, which was about 70% of the same serving size, only cost about S$1). I did feel a bit cheated, though, because the picture of the dish in the menu had the egg included but I only found out when I was paying the bill that it cost an additional S$1.
My friend had Taiwan vermicelli with pig intestine and, again, while it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t a knock out of the park either. The taste was of a decent standard and the meal was perfunctorily filling.
The service at that outlet wasn’t much to rave about neither. The service staff (of which there was a reasonably large number for an outlet of this size) were inattentive and it took us a while to even get to place our orders.
Dining at Lai Lai Casual Dining certainly won’t count as a gastronomical highlight. Still, if you’re looking for a quick bite at prices slightly lower than the fastfood outlets (assuming you’re the upsizing, combo meal sort) or cafes, this would be an adequate lunchtime quickie.
