Ari’s Dai Lou opened its doors in 2019 serving “modern Chinese tapas”. After renovating for eight months, the hip Chinese joint is back with a completely different look, serving more “modern” and less “tapas”.

 

Dai Lou captures East-meets-West tastes by combining international cooking techniques with dishes like barbecue pork belly (B380) using Chinese rose liquor and khao mak (Thai fermented sweet rice) with honey rather than fermented bean curd.

 

Har gow, or xia jiao, is normally a savory bite-sized prawn dumpling, but here you get custard har gow (B90). The texture of the paste goes surprisingly well with the sweet cream. Other dim sum selections like char siu bun and steamed seaweed rolls with shrimp are also B90.

 

A must-order is the black pepper soup hot pot with grouper (B450), a mix between Hong Kong and Sichuan.

 

This place is family-friendly, so you’ll find things like milkshakes on the drink list, too. Try the Mala milkshake (B170, mala sauce, strawberry ice cream, soy milk, topped with dried strawberry and mala powder). It sounds like a weird combination, but, trust us, it’s worth a shot.

 

There are also more adult-beverage choices on the menu like the oolong tea highball (B320, gin, green tea liqueur, and oolong cordial topped with soda)—a great way to wash down the black pepper hot pot. For something easy go for the Far Eastern Bellini (B280, yuzu, lychee, sparkling sake).