was with a friend at marina square looking for some place to go 4 dinner, when we passed by Dian Xiao Er. was wanting to try it some time bk, so we decided to pop in 4 dinner. we ordered a value dinner set for 2, consisting of a soup-of-the-day, a duck dish, a beancurd dish, a veg dish and a dessert-of-the-day. the soup-of-the-day we got was lotus root and pork ribs soup (pic above). it was pretty well done, the soup was flavourful, the pork ribs were tender and easily came off the bone. the lotus root was also crunchy, not too soft to the point of breaking when it touches ur teeth, but also not too hard such dat it feels uncooked.
their speciality dish was of coz the herbal roast duck. they actually roast the the duck 1st, till the skin is crispy, before braising it awhile in their special herbal sauce b4 serving it with the sauce. the 1 we had was with dang gui (a chi herb). other types they offered were with american ginseng or wolfberries, but those were not for the value set. the duck itself wasnt dat bad, wasnt very tough, and the skin still retained abit of its crispyness despite being soaked in the herbal sauce. even my friend who has a diao zui (picky taste buds??) says its not bad, so wat other bad comments can i have?
the beancurd dish was deep fried beancurd w brocolli. its pretty average, like those u can get in various cze char restaurants. the beancurd tasted a little of fish though, like they added fish or seafood paste or sumting. the salty black (probably hoisin) sauce dat came with it made it nice to xia fan (eat w rice). the veg dish was stir fried baby kailan w salted fish. another average get-it-anywhere dish. the sauce is much less saltier (prob dat explains its much lighter colour) den the beancurd, so u can eat it on its own. but its a little on the oily side (the "glazing" on the veg isnt a camera effect, its really the oil!). overall, only 1 word, normal.
ahh, the dessert was honey sea-coconut with longans. looks normal? dats wat we tot so too, until we tasted it. the water/syrup dat comes with the sea-coconut and longans is actually made of 7-up/sprite! this is the 1st place dat we tried dis dessert served with soft drinks in place of water. guess they added abit of the canned longans' syrup in ti too, dats why theres abit of longan taste in the water. and they diliuted the syrup a little to, so it isnt too sweet. overall, average, but kinda refreshing.

Price: $38++ for 2
Dian Xiao Er
1st floor, along the stretch of restaurants like Hans, Sakae, etc.
Marina Square
Rating: 3/5