Food Picks: Homely Taiwanese bites with a boozy night twist at Jiak Ba Food Heaven (Jiak Bar)

SINGAPORE – A fast-casual Taiwanese joint by day, where the Central Business District office crowd tucks into an all-day menu of braised pork rice and oyster mee sua, Jiak Ba Food Heaven (Jiak Bar) transforms after 5pm into a Taiwanese fusion bar serving xiao chao – unpretentious stir-fries and bar bites.

The 1,200 sq ft eatery at Far East Square opened in March and seats 86 diners.

Soups may not be typical bar fare, but my top pick is the Pineapple & Bitter Gourd Soup ($12.80+), which features the use of Taiwanese ingredients not typically available or used in Singapore. Chicken broth is enriched with pineapple brined in fermented bean sauce, caramelised before it goes into the soup.

Another Taiwanese preserved delicacy, Oriental pickling melon in black bean sauce, imparts its sweet saltiness and has a chewy textured bite. The result is a soup that is savoury, tangy and warm, with a mellow bitter finish from the fresh bittergourd. Chunky pieces of chicken thigh and clams bulk up the soup.

Start light with Golden Kimchi ($5.80+), a housemade Taiwanese version that uses mashed pumpkin to marinate lightly pickled napa cabbage. Fuji apple and peanuts in the blend add natural sweetness to the day-old fermented cabbage.

A winning cold appetiser is Braised Pig’s Ears ($5.80+), sliced thin and tossed with sesame oil, vinegar, light soya sauce and fresh finger chilli. The pig ears are braised for four hours in a soya sauce-based blend of more than 30 spices and herbs – including star anise and white nutmeg – resulting in a savoury, crunchy dish.

Hearty options include Claypot Mala Tofu Stew ($12.80+), a tofu dish steeped in spicy savoury broth with a mildly numbing zing from sparing use of Sichuan pepper. The broth has a slightly smoky aftertaste from the use of Alishan red tea. The tea lends a reddish magenta appearance to the broth, which causes the firm blocks of braised tofu to resemble pig’s blood.

Another dish meant to go with drinks is Stir-fried Basil Clams ($10.80+) – savoury and aromatic with Thai basil.

Three Cup Century Egg ($7.80+) – battered slices of century egg, crisped in a potato starch blend, then tossed in a classic three-cup sauce of sesame oil, Taiwanese white wine and light soya sauce – would be a punchy bar bite if not for the heavy-handed seasoning. It makes the century egg overly salty, especially the yolk.

If you fancy a warm alcoholic beverage, try the Warm Red Date Wine ($9.80+), made in-house with red date tea, umeshu and gin.

Or cool down with a crisp Apple Cider Highball ($9.80+) mixed with Suntory Kakubin whisky.

Where: 01-01 Far East Square, 22 China Street
MRT: Telok Ayer
Open: 11am to 9.30pm (Mondays to Thursdays), 11am to 10pm (Fridays and Saturdays); closed on Sundays