As I had written about TiNDLE, La Takorea as well as the GrabFood challenge, I decided to order a dinner platter of the “As seen on The Apprentice Sampler” (not sponsored) so that I can kill 3 birds with 1 stone. The Apprentice Sampler contains the Chicken and Pork Dumpling Esquites, Swipe Right TiNDLE Taco and Superlike TiNDLE bao. Alas, I later found out in the T&Cs that promotional platters aren’t eligible for the GrabFood Challenge (Grab has finally updated this T&C in the description) so I only managed to kill 2 birds – finding out how TiNDLE tastes like as well as reviewing the grub from La Takorea.

So…how was the food?

TiNDLE “Chicken”

Let’s start with TiNDLE. Does it taste like chicken? Not quite. The texture and taste reminded me more of white fish that does not flake off as easily, but it is pretty close to chicken breast meat. It’s tastier than some other plant-based ‘meats’ (I shall not name them) for sure and I wouldn’t mind eating more of TiNDLE. Just like chicken, it does have quite a neutral meat flavour so I reckon that this will do well in a lot of dishes.

Chicken and Pork Dumpling Esquites

Disclaimer: I do not like deep fried dumplings/gyozas because I think that they’re too oily and doesn’t do justice to the skin, which should be al dente regardless whether it is boiled or pan fried. Doesn’t help that these dumplings were takeaway, so they stuck to the parchment paper placed at the bottom of each box and ripping each dumpling off it left a mini rip in my gourmand heart.

As expected, the dumplings were oily and the kimchi didn’t help to minimise it. It was interesting that the kimchi substituted the traditional black vinegar and ginger but I’m not too convinced that it should be a topping. I think it would be tastier if incorporated as a filling, much like the kimchi mandoo.

Nonetheless, let me wax lyrical about the esquites. I loved the grilled flavour of it and it was delicious! Again, not quite sure about the pairing with the dumplings but since it tasted so good, I’m not going to complain about it and I did not leave any corn uneaten!

Swipe Right TiNDLE Taco

I’m glad that they didn’t do this in a hard taco because I really love soft tacos. The taco itself was nice and soft, stuffed with grilled TiNDLE, cabbage slaw, kimchi and topped with gochujang aioli and nacho cheese. Squeeze a bit of lime and voila! I have to say that this was the most satisfying dish among the 3 because I felt that this combination really worked and both the Mexican and Korean cuisines were well married. That little squeeze of lime made it refreshing as well. 2 pieces was not enough.

Superlike TiNDLE Bao

The stuffing for the Superlike TiNDLE Bao is similar to that of the Swipe Right TiNDLE Taco except that the TiNDLE isn’t grilled and instead of a taco, you get a fried bun. The baos were definitely fried to perfection but they were still very oily despite having the parchment paper soak up most of the oil. Moreover, you get less stuffing per bun since each bun was half the size of a taco. This is definitely more for sharing over drinks as an appetiser.

 

In conclusion, the food from La Takorea is not bad and it does inspire me to make my own gochujang mayonnaise or aioli sauce. I do like that TiNDLE doesn’t taste too processed, unlike some other brands, and I am willing to try out other dishes or cooking a TiNDLE patty myself!