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The start of the year brings with it the same routines: New year’s resolutions broken in the first month, the concomitant joy and horror of angbaos coming in from relatives curious to ask if there’s anyone new you’re seeing, and of course, an update to the McDonald’s menu. I am talking, of course, about the seasonal Prosperity Burgers that re-emerge during every Chinese New Year-period. Though not one to chase seasonal culinary trends (not because I think I’m above them, by the way; it’s more because I’m lazy/a creature of habit), my curiosity had been piqued last week during a spontaneous McDonald’s visit with the team after a recce for a shoot. Alas, when I saw the numbers staring at me back from the screen, I could hear my wallet screaming out to me making a more sensible decision - and I chickened out towards a Double Cheeseburger meal instead. The weekends somehow always trigger extra weakness for indulgence, though. And on Sunday afternoon, upon finding myself very hungry all of a sudden at 1:30pm (this was after a couple of minutes of exercise plus a couple of hours of doomscrolling), I decided to head on down to the McDonald’s near my place. Do it for work, I told myself. This isn’t just to satiate my own hunger, but also to remedy that throbbing headache from worrying about what I should write about next. Here, I must caution that I am as far as can get from even an amateur food critic or reviewer. Nonetheless, I’d like to think I have a good enough grasp of the English language to determine whether a product has been sold to me truthfully (or not). As such, here goes my honest review of the Prosperity Feast, based on the McDonald’s team’s own marketing language. (I realise now I am exposing the mountain tortoise in me by revealing that I am not well-acquainted enough with the Prosperity Burgers to truly know what lies in wait with one of these meals. If anyone finds my lack of prior knowledge to the following food items pathetic, this is me apologising in advance.) (Additional note, in case the poor reviewing style does not show it, let it be written in black and white again - this is not sponsored in any way whatsoever.) 1) The Prosperity Chicken Burger®: “Prosperity awaits in every bite! Juicy chicken patty dipped in a savoury kick of black pepper topped with fragrant onion slices and soft glazed buns.” I must admit - I was slightly disappointed when I unwrapped the waxed paper. Cheeseburgers are far more appealing to the eye when standing alone, thanks to the sprinkling of extra colour from a loose pickle, or from tomato sauce. Nonetheless, McDonald’s wasn’t lying when it used the term “juicy”. Considering its size, the chicken patty was tender and - yes - quite juicy throughout, without any of the dryness or blandness that larger pieces of meat are sometimes plagued with. The black pepper sauce also packs sufficient, well, ‘kick’ by fast-food standards. And just when you think the one-two punch of the patty and sauce comes across as too oily or overpowering, the crunch of the onions - clearly cooked slightly, yet still also raw/fresh enough to retain some level of bite - comes in to balance things out. Overall rating: Better than you’d expect. 2) Prosperity Twister Fries™: “Crispy, curly and a classic favourite that needs no introduction: the Prosperity Twister Fries™!” The ‘needs no introduction’ part is not oversold - and it speaks volumes that the McDonald’s team didn’t bother with an outsized description here. Savoury, crispy, and even mixed with crumbs, Twister Fries will always remain one of the cornerstones of the McDonald’s seasonal menus. It helps that you can get them outside of the Prosperity Feast meal, too (you should). 10/10. 3) Pink Guava McFizz®: “A bubbly, tropical sip that brings about a gentle spring breeze. A guaranteed refresher.” This is where the marketing starts to get a bit ahead of itself. To my disappointment, wind did not start blowing in my face after I took my first sip, and this unfortunate outcome sadly held across subsequent attempts. On a more serious note, however, ‘tropical’ actually works as a great descriptor for the Pink Guava flavour - which is just as delightful as you’d expect when served up in a carbonated package. Extra points for the fact that it’s not as sweet as Coke. Considering all the salt and heaviness from the burger and fries, this is, as marketed, a refreshing drink to accompany the meal. (Fun fact: I checked the McDonald’s website and this even has ‘scientific’ backing. A cup of Original Coke (with less sugar) is rated with an 8% sugar level. Pink Guava McFizz? 6%. Nice.) 4) Pineapple Pie: “Let the Huat roll with warm luscious pineapple filling in crispy, flaky pastry shell.” Finally - the dessert. As an individual with a temperamental appetite, I must be very frank to admit that by the time I had finished the burger and fries and was halfway through my drink, it was spectacularly clear that I did not have any room left for the pie. As such, I only got round to eating an air-fryer reheated iteration of the pie for supper later that night. Nonetheless, McDonald’s should be commended once more again for not going overboard with the descriptions. How it manages to get the pastry shells of its pies so crispy remains a mystery (actually, we probably know the answer: lots of oil), and pineapple, as a filling works as a wonderful counterpart to apple too. Executed in this form, it was rich, gooey (in a good way), and sweet. Helps too, that the dessert, on the whole, is certifiably auspicious. Huat ah! A general conclusion In case it hasn’t been clear thus far, I ended up really enjoying the Prosperity Feast - and can surmise that McDonald’s, to the most part, was quite on-point with the way it marketed the meal. Every single component was competent on its own; I’d just caution that those with smaller appetites might do better to remove the Pineapple Pie, and save themselves some money. On that note, however, by far the most misleading part of the menu descriptions is the repeated suggestion that prosperity awaits. This is an outright delusion - considering that the entire Prosperity Feast will set one back… a good $12.25. I want to be objective that $12 for a full meal - considering that dessert and drinks are already bundled in - is not entirely deplorable in an economy where the Mains off a standard cafe menu will already set one back between $25 to $30. Still, $12 is not chump change, and I happen to hail from an era where $5 could secure a Double Cheeseburger meal in full. As such, it will forever remain dissonant to me to see a McDonald’s meal breaching the $10 mark. All jokes aside, however - happy Chinese New Year everyone! May the dragon year be filled with abundance, strength, and of course - lots of prosperity 🐉🐉🐉 - Matt

Broadly speaking, Cantonese food isn’t hard to find in Singapore. Dim sum joints are a dim(e) a dozen. And if we’re talking larger names/chains, Swee Choon, Tim Ho Wan, and of course, Canton Paradise, are the first to come to my mind. Even hawker centre/food court staples, such as wanton noodles, or sweet and sour pork at caifan stalls, have their roots in Cantonese cuisine. Traditional Hong Kong-style diners, however? Those require more conscientious hunting. Also known as 茶餐厅 (cha can ting in Mandarin, caa can teng in Cantonese), these feature a distinct, functional style of interior decoration - tiled walls, rounded metal chairs, etc - and importantly, also a wide ranging menu including virtually every diner-favourite you can imagine. Naturally, we're talking milk tea, bo luo bao, egg noodles, cheese baked rice, toast and of course, dim sum. The perceived rarity of these diners in Singapore is perhaps the reason why I routinely return to one specific spot that I feel captures the magic so well: The original HK Legendary Restaurant and Cafe outlet, housed on the third floor of Jurong Point (which - yes - is confoundingly located at Boon Lay MRT station). For context, I live in Punggol. The length of even three entire blog posts would still not do justice to the breadth of delicacies you can eat here. As such, I'll just list some of the dishes my mum and I got to eat during our most recent visit: Starting out with some iced milk tea (the tea leaves are flown in directly from HK!) and garlic kai lan... My mum loves her sliced fish porridge HK style fishball soup! Everything here - the taste of the soup, the consistency of the fishballs, and of course, the inclusion of yet more kai lan - makes this really different from the sort you find at bar chor mee stalls What would an outing at a caa can teeng be without some har gao? And of course - some proper indulgence! The cherry on top of the icing (or the sweet chilli on top of the har gao, if we want to remain on-theme) is that your orders are taken and filled out via coloured A4 sheets - in pink, green and yellow - which list down the entire menu of options available. In all, as charmingly close to the experience I've gotten from my few trips to Hong Kong. Ruminating - again I started reflecting more deeply on my previous food outing about why certain culinary spaces stand out to me, and in this reflexive process of documenting my weekend adventures, it has increasingly become clearer to me that I tend to associate emotions with the act of eating. As with DMQ Ban Mian and its sleepy Ubi environs, Legendary Hong Kong and Jurong Point both also hold a special place in my heart. (Notably, this isn't the only Legendary Hong Kong outlet. The one at Funan - a cart noodles-only joint - feels like a feeble, watered-down version of the original outlet; a distant offshoot un-seasoned by the franchise's stardust. The one at Rochester Park, while pleasantly quaint, feels too polished.) For starters, you feel like you've been transported outside of Singapore even before stepping into the restaurant. The reason? That entire corridor along Level 3 - also known as Mongkok Street - is decked out in glaring neon signs that evoke the bustling lanes of downtown Hong Kong. Then, the very fact that it takes 40 minutes by car to get here (yes, I know how indulgent it is, and how privileged I am, to be able to drive so far just for a special meal) means that any visit here has already been preceded by a mental state of serenity. When I make the cross-island trek, I am often relaxed; restful in the knowledge that my evening is not beholden to any other appointment, piece of work, or activity. Having found it increasingly difficult to consistently carve these spaces of rest out for myself in recent years, the comfort that the restaurant envelops me in is hard to put into words. There are also the memories that the restaurant evokes: Tea break after fetching my sister from NIE; dining with my mum after finishing my last exam of my final year at uni; and even just transporting the entire family over at last, when business resumed for the first time after the pandemic. Once again, I admit that a lot of this has been heavily romanticised by me. Legendary Hong Kong would just be another fancy dining spot if I were a denizen of the West - its food, too overpriced to be enjoyed regularly; Mongkok Street's neon lights, too garish to evoke any un-Singaporean magic. Yet as mentioned previously, it is precisely these reliable - if irregular - spaces of solace that feel so precious given how mundane and trying the weekly hike from Monday to Friday can be. Incidentally, Legendary Hong Kong at Jurong Point underwent a significant refresh sometime within the last two years. I remember lamenting to my parents that the place had lost a bit of its charm when we returned for the first time after; a part of me fearful that the place would soon befall the fate of every other site in Singapore by relinquishing its old-time allure. I hope the once-in-a-decade round of renovation is the only thing that will befall this place. I'd hate to permanently lose this other world, in which - in turn - I feel the weightlessness to lose my worries in. - Matt P.S. If anyone has any HK-diner style places to recommend, please feel free to do so! (Again, Xin Wang does not count...)