This name has been going around - what is this Full of Luck Club? Is it a club, an underground gambling den or some kind of clan association? Nope.. it's actually a contemporary Cantonese restaurant by the same renowned group at Sheraton Towers of Li Bai Restaurant. Facing the busy Holland Avenue, this bright and hippie looking shop entrance cannot be missed. This has got to be one of the most enjoyable meals of 2016 - what I am saying is that this is a place that you can put on your map to visit. What kind of cuisine to expect in there - all in this post!
Full of Luck Club has two floors, the bottom floor features a sleek bar counter and a few tables while the second floor has bigger tables for larger groups. Coming in a group of 8, we were directed to the upper floor. I would probably recommend you to visit Full of Luck Club in groups of 3-4 for the best group size to enjoy a bit of variety without having to order doubles.
The mega-sized maneki neko cannot be more eye-catching - if it can speak, it would probably be squeaking for you to take photos with it! I was drawn to love this place immediately with its continuous theme from the maneki neko to the wall grafitti to the food to even the drinks! You can have 'Chinese Craft Beers' which are all aptly titled to immerse you into a postmodern Hong Kong feel - with names like 'Gamblers' Gold', 'Dragon's Back', 'White Pearl' and 'Sevens'. Each of them have an extensive description of what it is on the menu, so no worries on surprises.
Sevens (SGD11) is a 6.0% stout, underlined with a rich roasted dark malt flavours with an addition of rolled oats for a silky finish. It was indeed very smooth and slips down the throat easily. Delicious.
For the non-alcoholic option, I went with the Lychee Oolong iced tea (SGD4.50) which was uplifting for the spirits and a perfect complement for the food that was to come. It had none of the synthetic lychee taste nor an overwhelming sweet taste that is common in fruit iced teas. Alrighty, let's move on to the food. Unfortunately, the menu of Full of Luck Club is vast and wide and we couldn't finish trying everything out, but this is the substantial amount that we tried:
For a light appetizer, we started with the Golden Sand Corn with Salted Egg Yolk 金沙玉米 (SGD4.80). It would be common to think - corn is just corn, how good can it be? But the parents are fans of corn and guess it would be a fun to let them try a different cooking style with the national favourite dip of salted egg yolk. This corn kernels are probably first steamed before deep-fried and coated with a crunchy and generous amount of salted egg yolk, and every single bite had a distinctive salted egg taste. I liked it quite a lot but mostly for its creativity and how it served as an interesting alternative from the usual steamed peanuts.
The first item in the Sharing Plates section that arrived on our tables was the Li Bai BBQ Char Siew 李白蜜汁叉烧 (SGD14) which performed stellarly, with every piece of it being a luscious piece of fatty chewy char siew that had the highly sought after melt-in-the-mouth quality! It was lovingly glistening with the sweet char siew sauce without being too oily. It was so delicious it was snapped up rapidly. (I must say at this moment, I was quite pleasantly surprised by this new establishment's performance.)
Interestingly, we were presented with an amazing rendition of Hakka Crispy Kurobuta Pork Belly (SGD18). The kurobuta pork belly was marinated with fermented beancurd, Chinese wine and signature fragrant spices. The pork was of a less-greasy and lean texture in the middle with a crunchy skin.. just look at this piece up-close!
Next, we tried the housemade Braised Spinach Beancurd 金菇媱柱菠菜豆腐 (SGD16) which was made from egg tofu with braised mushrooms and dried scallops. I already like egg tofu so this one drew me to like it instantly without any major faults. In fact it managed to bring this simple dish to the next level with first the crispy exterior and the soft tofu inside, along with the mushrooms and scallops. I liked it a lot, but objectively speaking this dish is quite expensive for its portion.
The Boss Chicken 老板鸡丁 (SGD16.50) is one of the signature items from Li Bai, a spicy chicken stir-fry with numbing Sichuan peppercorns and dried chilli. A milder heat version is available upon request, and I love the thoughtfulness of this option. It wasn't spicy at all and I really liked the piquant and intense flavours in this dish, though again, the price point is quite steep for its portion.
The way the Crispy Aromatic Duck 香酥鸭 - half (SGD35) was presented was an apparent tribute to our beloved Peking duck. The same classic hoisin sauce and wheat crepes were there, but instead of the crispy roasted sliced duck, it was shredded duck meat. I was disappointed that the duck was quite dry. The hoisin sauce made up for it though I definitely expected more from this dish.
One of my first impressions of Full of Luck is the originative lucky baos (any 2 for SGD9.80) that they have. We had all 5 of their 'hot' savoury baos - Kung Pao Fried Chicken, Salted Egg Yolk Prawn, Braised Pork Belly, Portugese Pork Chop, and Panko-Crusted Portobello. I only tried the Salted Egg Yolk Prawn and Panko-Crusted Portobello baos which were surprisingly delectable, with the soft white buns. I will probably never look at baos the same way again and would be back to try the other flavours that I didn't manage to eat.
This... out of so many dishes we tried, this has got to be the unanimous favourite one. Even the lone diner at the table beside us ordered this bowl of Moonlight Truffle Pepper Beef Hor Fun 月光松露黑蒜牛河粉 (SGD20) which proved to be amazing. Granted I love hor fun in the first place, but it also means I have high standards for hor fun. Wok hei, checked. The silky noodles that are of a perfect thickness, checked. The slight taste of truffle was actually not very obvious, though I am certain that this bowl of beef hor fun is not ordinarily delicious. This is the dish that is worth ordering - I would say the satisfaction from this is worth the heavier price tag as a main.
In comparison, the Truffle Pepper Beef Claypot Rice 松露蒜椒牛肉 (SGD16) paled in the midst of the line-up, its highlight - the United States prime boneless short ribs braised in a truffle-scented garlic pepper sauce was delicious, but a good portion of the rice (maybe about a quarter) was too burnt and ended up hard and inedible. I would not recommend the claypot rice.
Before we left, each of us was given a fortune cookie by Full of Luck Club which ended our meal with laughs and good memories. The service here was thoughtful, even though some of them were less experienced they still came across as courteous and willing to attend to us quick! One of their photography skills was quite good and helped us take a decent family photo too despite the not-so-flattering lighting. Worth a visit! 🌟
Full of Luck Club by Li Bai
243 Holland Avenue
Singapore 278977
Opening hours
Daily: 1100 - 2300
Contact
62086845
I share interesting episodes in life revolving around food, lifestyle, travel and inspirational ideas. If you would like to stay in touch, follow me on my Instagram on @amie.hu and Facebook page!