Nai Nai Flavour Brings the Nuanced Art of Hang Bang Cai to Singapore

Hangzhou brand Nai Nai Flavour (椿花奶奶 ) has expanded beyond China for the very first time, bringing its brand of Hang Bang Cai (杭帮菜) to Singapore. Located in i12 Katong mall, the eatery brings the lighter, more nuanced taste profile of Zhejiang cuisine to our shores. In a time where nearly every new China-themed restaurant seems to promote their spicy sauerkraut grilled fish, Nai Nai’s menu felt like a refreshing change. For now, Singapore remains the only city out side of the Zhejiang capital where diners can experience the brand.

There was a very healthy queue when we arrived at the restaurant, despite its first landing being in a suburban mall often seen as the quieter sibling of Parkway Parade. For good reason too – there remains limited mid-range Zhejiang cuisine outlets here, despite the surge of Sichuan and Hunanese eateries in recent years. Compared to the latter’s use of chilli heat and numbing peppercorns, Hang Bang Cai prioritises technique, timing, and ingredient quality over intensity of flavours. Instead of large dishes prepared at speed, the items here are delicate and less easily scaled for mass preparation.

Here the dough is prepared fresh daily, fillings are made in-house, and dishes are assembled step by step in the kitchen. As if to emphasise the process, there are glass windows here all round to allow diners to watch the chefs at work, each specialising in specific dishes.

Knowing that a substantial spread was on its way, my companion and I opted for the Taihu Shrimp and Tomato Noodles (S$12.80) instead of one of the heavier rice dishes, thinking it would be a lighter carbohydrate option. The dish was tasty, if fairly straightforward — an egg-and-tomato noodle combination topped with crunchy small shrimp. The noodles themselves were pleasantly chewy and cooked just right, though not handmade onsite, which was hardly unexpected given that hand-pulled noodles are more closely associated with northern Chinese cuisine.

More distinctive was the Spicy Pan-Fried Bun with Tofu (S$12.80). Rather than the usual meat filling found in Shanghai-style Sheng Jian Baos, these fried dumplings were filled with a mapo-style tofu stuffing. Here was one of the rare spicy moments in the meal, though even then the heat remained restrained. The dough for the buns is pan-fried until the base sets into an even crisp, on top of a layer of egg, while the top remains soft – a balance that requires careful timing and technique from the chef.

Another dumpling dish, the Old Shaoxing Steamed Soup Dumplings (S$11.50) is somewhat like xiaolongbaos, but the wraps are closer to wonton skin rather than fragile, thin xiaolongbao skin.  These are finished with finely shredded egg and a subtle touch of fermented bean curd sauce, which added a gentle savoury depth.

Meanwhile, the Youbu Style Egg Cake (S$11.80) showcased a regional specialty prepared using a technique said to date back over 1,300 years. Instead of adding egg as a filling, the egg is worked directly into the dough during cooking. The result is something between a pancake and a flatbread, with crisp edges giving way to a richer, more flavourful centre. As an egg lover, I was thoroughly pleased by how prominently the ingredient featured across the Hang Bang Cai menu. For all these dough dishes so far, the chilli sauce provided by Nai Nai Flavor on the side is a wonderful and addictive accompaniment.

The standout of the evening was undoubtedly Grandma’s Secret Dish (S$16.80 for medium, S$29.80 for large), a deeply comforting chicken-and-pork soup served in a claypot sealed with a sheet of beancurd skin to retain its warmth. The broth is reportedly simmered for around eight hours with whole chicken and pork trotters, and the long cooking time was evident in every sip. Rather than relying on heavy seasoning, the soup drew its richness from collagen and slow extraction of flavour. The chicken and pork were so tender that not only did the meat fall from the bone, the bones themselves had softened enough to be edible. It was a dish that truly evoked the warmth and nourishment often associated with a grandmother’s cooking.

For a meat dish, we chose the Dongbo Pork (S$8.80) over two other suggestions which were Saliva Chicken (S$8.80) and Spicy Braised Pig’s Trotter (S$10.80). Dongpo Pork is unapologetically indulgent, and not for the faint-hearted but I love pork belly. While some diners shy away from pork belly because of its thick fatty layers — whether more fat or collagen remains an eternal debate — that gelatinous richness is what defines Dongpo Pork.

Here, the dish took the form of two glossy cubes of braised pork belly. Unfortunately, this was also the evening’s biggest disappointment. A well-executed Dongpo Pork should be meltingly tender, but one piece was a bit resistant to chew while the other was outright tough. It may simply have been an inconsistent batch during a busy service, but texture is everything for this dish, and we ended up leaving half of it unfinished.

To end off, we had the Brown Sugar Glutinous Rice Cake (S$5.80), though all this while we had also been nursing our Guava and Peach Drink and Lime Roselle Tea. It was a sweet way to finish our introduction to Nai Nai Flavor. We were told we could also help ourselves to the complimentary ice cream in the cooler outside the restaurant.

The regional dishes served at Nai Nai are certainly intriguing, the service is excellent, and the restaurant is likely to find a warm reception as Singapore’s appetite for China-origin F&B continues to grow. For our first visit, we felt the execution of the dishes could be improved, particularly in achieving the precise textures that Hang Bang Cai prides itself on. Still, these feel more like teething issues than fundamental flaws. With many other interesting dishes left unexplored on the menu, we would gladly return for another visit in the near future.

Nai Nai Flavor
112 East Coast Road
#02-13/14 & #02-26/27
Singapore 428802

Operating Hours: Daily 11am to 9pm