New Eats @ Picnic Wisma Atria: Brother Cheng’s Chicken Rice / Daifuku by Seizan / Kumo Keiki

Home to American-styled burgers Omakase Burger, Picnic Food Park has unveiled a new food lineup into its multi-cuisine dining space at Wisma Atria.

New to experience at Picnic include an all-time favourite local dish chicken rice, customisable Japanese mochi Daifuku and super fluffy Japanese Souffle pancakes.

Brother Cheng’s Chicken Rice

What is essentially an everyday food and Singapore’s national dish, the chicken rice at Brother Cheng’s is superbly executed and tastes exactly like what it’s supposed to – flavoursome flesh with silky, puffy texture that melts in the mouth and complemented with wonderful fragrant chicken rice.

This proprietary Hainanese family chicken rice recipe took two years to perfect and was recreated by Cheng Hsin Yao, owner of Picnic Food Park to bring back memories of the best traditional chicken rice encounters. Brother Cheng has been named as a tribute to Hsin Yao’s grandfather and the secret lies in the unique recipe of its signature steamed chicken.

As with so many traditional recipes, it’s all in the detail – starting from key components like the specially sourced 21-day-old corn-fed kampong chicken (that weighs between 1.7kg to 1.9kg); the ice water bath method (to brine the chicken); the light soy sauce (to drizzle over the chicken); and the aromatic Bentong Ginger (known for extra spiciness and flavours) is used in the preparation of the chilli sauce and chicken rice.

When you take all the love to create an ultimate simple dish, the end result is chicken rice heaven.

Brother Cheng’s Chicken Rice Set for one is at $14.90 (served with a side of oyster sauce vegetables and chicken soup); while Set for three is at $42.90 and for six is at $84.90.

A la carte sides available – Traditional beansprouts at $3, Oyster sauce vegetables at $3, add-on Chicken $12.90 per portion, Fragrant chicken rice $2.50, Signature chilli sauce at $1.50.

Daifuku by Seizan

From the renowned Japanese brand that brought us Seizan Uni Ramen, Dai 福 ku (Daifuku) is another partnership between Picnic Food Park and two-Michelin Kaiseki restaurant Seizan Tokyo.

Discover the joys of freshly made Japanese sweet mochi and choose from five speciality combinations below or have it customised your way (each piece at $6).

Traditional – White mochi skin, red bean paste, whipped cream
Strawberry – Strawberry mochi skin, red bean paste, fresh strawberry, whipped cream
Chocolate – Chocolate mochi skin, custard cream, oreo cookie, powdered sugar
Yuzu – Yuzu mochi skin, cheese mousse, yuzu honey, mixed berries
Matcha Mont Blanc – Matcha mochi skin, chestnut & sweet potato puree, sweetened chestnut, mont blanc cream

Daifuku mochi is very popular in Japanese food culture – it is often eaten as a symbol of long life and also used as an offering when visiting shrines to pray for health and success.

The ones at Dai 福 ku (Daifuku) by Seizan are made with quality shiratama sweet mochi rice flour, soft spring water from Mount Fuji and select ingredients to create the the slightly stretchy and soft mochi skin and sweet filling within. It’s nice to have just a small bite of dessert after a big meal and it makes a lovely gift idea.

Kumo Keiki (formerly Riz Labo Kitchen)

Can’t wait to sink your teeth into these ultra-soft and fluffy Japanese souffle pancakes? Here’s another dessert spot to hit up – Kumo Keiki offers decadent choices that will satisfy your sweet tooth.

For an affordable price of $12, you get two pieces of light and fluffy plain souffle pancakes that are dusted with icing sugar and served with whipped cream and maple syrup.

Other flavours ($15 for 2 pcs – $22 for 3 pcs) like Matcha, Premium Chocolate, Houjcha Tiramisu, Fresh Mango, Fresh Strawberry and Mont Blanc make the perfect pancake experience and may become an instant hit on social media (again).