Braised duck should be a symbol of teochew’s cuisine but the simple fact is that the non-teochew version(lor is thicken) can do better for me. If you’re thinking that I’m buying a plate of duck rice from Cheok Kee for it’s lor and not it’s duck, then you have guessed it right! The only palpable reason for me to think about a plate of lor ark peng is really only the lor and I’m just wondering whether anyone out there sharing that same philosophy as me?

Hin Hollywood Canteen at Haig Road

Although I don’t quite understand about the braised duck business but I still know my lor(gravy). So at Hin Hollywood Canteen recently, when I came across Lian Kee(a braised duck rice stall), I couldn’t resist paying a couple of dimes to test the ‘lor’ after witnessing how, almost all the tables having a plate of duck which were doused with gravy that seems to express itself very well with that flat out gooeyness.

Lian Kee Braised Duck Rice $3.50

The sweetness in the gravy was only very subtle which is to my liking while the herby smell was only moderate and everything was just mellifluous. For me, this type of gravy is very delicate as opposed to the teochew version which usually has that sweetness and ‘herbiness’ overdrive. The duck meat was well not bad. It’s hard to describe how good duck meat can be but I guess this wasn’t too hard so it’s quite good, unlike those utterly tough ones which needs some jaw work. The soya colored rice is also quite good which is very puffy and soft.

My golden rule of a braised duck rice is the gooey, harmanious gravy with subtle but aromatic flavours and at Lian Kee it has done remarkably well for me. For the duck meat, rice or some other things, I guess there can be endless debates or discussions over it. If you have the same lor ark peng(braised duck rice) philosophy as me, then Lian Kee may be your kind of bliss.

Price: $3.50

Conclusion: This duck rice has the right elements for me. The gooey appearance can make me drool while the overall flavour and taste were pleasantly aromatic. They are also a kway chap stall so I am eager to return to test the kway chap soup.

Likes: Gravy and rice.

Dislikes: None.

Address		Overall Rating
Lian Kee Braised Duck Rice Hin Hollywood Canteen 57 Tanjong Katong Road 11am to 6pm Off: Irregular		Food: 8/10   Authenticity: 8/10   Value: 7.5/10   Service: 7/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7.5/10

Inevitably, we became more appreciative towards coffeeshops that look like they were caught in a time warp because naturally, it is at these old school eateries where we can still find foods that are really authentic.

Hin Hollywood Canteen From Haig Road

For those who have been to Haig Road, I’m sure you would have seen this Hin Hollywood Canteen which is a lao kok kok(old fashion) kopitiam. It’s address is actually 57 Tanjong Katong Road(because the parking area that you can see from Haig Road are to be entered via Tanjong Katong Road).

From Haig Road, one can see that there is a chicken rice stall, a duck rice stall and other noodles stalls with the lao kok kok look which you can only find by the roadsides in Malaysia. So feeding my curiosity I entered to see whether are there any authentic food to be found.

The first stall that grabbed my interest was Yong Li Fishball Noodles which is a noodles stall that sells fishball noodles, bak chor mee and mian fen guo. I was surprised to hear that their fishballs had sold out because it was only 1pm. So I went for a bak chor mee pok tah instead.

Yong Li Fishball Noodles’ Mee Pok Tah $3

The thing that really impressed me here is the bak chor. A little ironic to see a fishball noodles stall producing very delicious bak chor which tasted like it were marinated heavily. Ok if you can think of the bak chor in the mapo tofu(without the spiciness), then your imagination is quite close.

Other than the bak chor, the chilli and the sauce on the noodles are also quite spectacular. I guess this is what you can really call authentic, where a bit of every flavours you can find from every condiments are infused into the noodles and it is so shiok that I just slurped it non-stop till everything is gone. This has the potential to be an outstanding bowl except that the noodles are not as QQ as I would like. And further to that, I am not a mushroom person so the generous amount of braised mushrooms became another good reason for me to drop some points.

I guess the authenticity is there in the sauce and the bak chor but other ingredients like sliced fishcakes and pork balls tasted like something you can eat anywhere else. Wouldn’t mind to eat this again. May do better for you if you like braised mushrooms, otherwise I will give this an overall score of satisfactory and I’m sure a bit more creativity can turn it into something really impressive.

Yong Li Fishball Noodles’ Mee Pok Tah $3

Price: $3

Recommendation: Fishball noodle(fishballs get sold out by 1pm, that tells you something right?)

Conclusion: Not your stylish mee pok tah but the sauce has enough oomph and the bak chor is very shiok. Braised mushroom harmed it for me and the noodles are not QQ enough. Will come back to try the fishballs.

Likes: Authentic chilli sauce and bak chor(minced pork).

Dislikes: Braised mushrooms added. Noodles not QQ enough. Ingredients like sliced fishcakes and porkballs are factory made.

Address		Overall Rating
Yong Li Fishballs Noodles Hin Hollywood Canteen 57 Tanjong Katong Road 6am to 3pm Off: Monday		Food: 7.5/10   Authenticity: 8/10   Value: 7.5/10   Service: 7/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7.5/10

For those who have not tasted this kind of wok hei, I can understand that one may get this point misinterpreted. So often the remark ‘this has good wok hei’ are misused to represent the flavour of the hor fun symphony instead but that is indeed nothing more than a factoid. It is NOT referring to the gravy or harmonious combination of the ingredients but truly only the hor fun and if the wok hei is there, it will be there as long the hor fun is there. It definitely won’t get ‘dissipated’ even if you leave it there for 5 hours.

When you want to visit Fatty Weng, which one will you go to? I always get confused with eateries that see the need to establish different concepts in different outlets for different groups of targetted customers.

Fatty Weng Restaurant at Guillemard Road

Fatty Weng is of course a popular seafood place for some but sadly, a few other branches have sprung up. Not sure if they are even connected to each other but I was told that the menus are different at different branches so unless you have the inside story, chances are you don’t really know what’s up with all these stalls and who knows where the original chefs are now right?

My agenda is a small one though and more importantly, it’s just the hor fun on the opeh leaf that I’m looking for. Since the one at Guillemard Road purportedly serve this, all the other branches are eliminated automatically.

I was told by the lady there that a take away pack would cost $5 while dining in would cost $10. Strange but true. How dare they charge $5 more for just using their chopsticks, or so I thought. Well if you really want to save the $5 but yet want to eat it hot, just order a take away pack and dine in there, I am just guessing that they wouldn’t send you a $5 bill if you want to borrow a pair of chopsticks?

Hor fun arrived in style(wrapped in opeh leaf).

It arrived in style, wrapped up in the leaf with a laundry clip. “This must be really good”, I was telling myself. I mean I don’t really know anywhere else that bothers to wrap up your food in the opeh leaf for a dining-in session. I was told that anything you order for take away here are packed in the opeh leaf, including your fried rice or stir fried vegetables etc. It sure looked like the imparting of the opeh leaf smell into your food is serious business here.

Fatty Weng Restaurant (Guillemard Road) opeh leaf hor fun $10

5 mins later, I unwrap the leaf but was shocked. I seriously thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. How should I describe this? hmmmm…..EPIC FAIL….miserably. For all the ooh and aah, what greeted me was black kway teow(look like char kway teow) with only a few pieces of pork/liver slices, squid slices and some tiny prawns.

For something that costed me $10, it looked like a pack of hmmmm….something that I might not eat even if it was given to me free. Ok that was a bit of a stretch but maybe, just maybe, that if I see this at a buffet meal, I might not be tempted to touch it.

I am not sure if the wok hei had ‘dissipated’ while I put it on hold for 5 mins but the color was clearly wrong. It just looked like one of those fried kway teow which you order it by shouting ‘dry hor fun’ at a cze char stall if you know what I mean? Those black color kway teow which is a little oily with some beansprouts and miscellaneous ingredients. This is literally the same thing but wet version.

Ter tor aka pig stomach

Plenty of ‘hei’(black) no doubt but ‘wok’ – ZILCH. The gravy is just the flavour of the dark soya sauce. These ingredients are a joke for $10. I felt slightly insulted but nonetheless were calmed after seeing a few little pieces of ter tor(pig stomach) among the sea of black kway teow. What else can I say? hmmmm The best thing in this hor fun has got to be the pork. At least it wasn’t tenderised and was quite delicious actually.

I guess for those who really loved this, they must have a good reason. But how did this turns out to be $10, I don’t know. Delicious? No. Generous portion? No. Overpriced? Absolutely x 10. The thing I really can’t endure here is the hor fun seems to be ’stewed’ and not fried.

This $10 hor fun contains very simple ingredients with ‘rojakly’ stewed hor fun in thick black soya sauce. If that sounds alright for you then be my guest but the next time anyone offers me this, even if it’s for free, I have to say kekko desu.

Fatty Weng Restaurant (Guillemard Road) opeh leaf hor fun $10

Price: $10

Conclusion: A very good hor fun for you if you have a fetish for ‘nua nua’ hor fun ’stewed’ in black soya sauce. Fatty Weng is quite a popular cze char outlet, for what dishes I’m not too sure. But it will take a lot for me to have a meal here again.

Likes: Can see ter tor in my hor fun. Wrapped in opeh leaf of course.

Dislikes: No wok hei. Ingredients look cheap. Hor fun looks like rojak. Gravy tasted like black soya sauce and nothing more.

Address		Overall Rating
Fatty Weng Restaurant (Guillemard Road) 94 Guillemard Road Tel: 6345 2702 Daily: 11am – 3am		Ingredients: 5/10   Gravy: 5/10   Wok Hei: 5/10   Authenticity: 6/10   Value: 5/10   Overall: 6.75/10

Queue number cards at Former Lorong 1 Geylang Nasi Padang

Alright, I know that sounded a little old fashion but you can’t argue with success, can you?

Mr Ghulam was plying the Nasi Padang trade at Geylang Lorong 1 from 1975 till 2001. Those days, horde of customers would appear out of nowhere once he opened shop(7pm) and being inside just a tiny kopitiam, space was restrained so customers always fought over who came first and who came later blah blah blah so before you know, you must take a queue number and Mr Ghulam will call you when it’s your turn just like how a nurse do so in a clinic!

Mr Ghulam then moved out of Geylang Lorong 1 in 2001 when there was a rent hike to Lorong 24 and then in 2005, moved again to it’s current location which is at Lorong 27. I lost Mr Ghulam for about 8 years and only managed to track him down recently.

2 types of chilli

A meal at Mr Ghulam’s stall is about chilli, chilli and chilli. So much so that every table must have a plate of chilli to go along with everything else. In short, you must be able to love the shiokadodoness of spiciness and here is one of the very few Nasi Padang stalls that serves you Nasi Padang with belacan chilli.

Ayam Masak Merah

The first thing you die die MUST order from Mr Ghulam is Ayam Masak Merah. For the benefit of those who don’t know what this is, it’s deep fried chicken cooked in some kind of chilli sauce. There are places that serve this really really wet though here it is dry and looks more like fried chicken coated with chilli paste. Chicken and chilli lovers will have their umami spots hit very hard by this.

Sotong choke-full of eggs

It’s amazing how many people I know that have never eaten sotong eggs before. If you’re one of those and in the mood to eat it for the first time, then you’ll be glad to know that every sotong sold by Mr Ghulam have eggs. I’m not quite sure how Ghulam does it but it’s not easy to find squids that have eggs therefore the price of $7 per squid is well justified. I have always ordered this sotong(cooked in squid sauce) without fail because I am fascinated by how I always can expect to see eggs in a sotong here and this is probably the only Nasi Padang stall in Singapore that can guarantee you eggs in a sotong.

Rendang

The Rendang here, which is mildly spiced is gracefully opulent. The gravy which is not spicy at all is one of the best I’ve had from anywhere. It’s slightly creamy with a subtle hint of some spices’ flavours and it can seriously unleash your appetite to finish the Nasi Putih(white rice) that is infront of you. This is probably good enough to double up as a good dip for keropoks.

Vegetables curry

If you are a Nasi Padang connoisseur, then you must be keen to know what choices do you have for the gravy that can complete this Nasi Padang dream to sheer fantasy. Among a sea of gravies which would greet you at the front of the stall, my favourite is the vegetable curry but I must tell you that the fish curry gravy and chicken curry are pretty kickass too. If you don’t know what you want, just ask for a bit of everything to go with the Rendang gravy and Sotong Ink gravy on your rice, and not forgetting the chili sauces. If you are a hard core Nasi Padang “devotee”, I urge you to visit Mr Ghulam with a really empty stomach because you might need the space to complete 2 plates of rice.

Take a card, wait for your turn, have your Nasi Padang orgasm and leave. No more, no less.

Former Lorong 1 Geylang Nasi Padang

Price: $15(for 3)

Recommendation: Rendang, Black Sotong with eggs, Ayam Masak Merah(chilli chicken) and many others.

Conclusion: One of my Nasi Padang fix places before I lost them. Authentic taste but you must like chilli to enjoy this meal. Queues can be long after 7 so try to be early. Most of the items are sold out by 9 so don’t be too late! The flavours and tastes are pretty well balanced and it’s one of those Nasi Padang stalls where I always yearn for more after having a meal.

Likes:The chilli sauce and gravies are kickassly sedap!

Dislikes: Would be good if they can do Ayam Goreng to go along with my meal.

Address		Overall Rating
Former Lorong 1 Geylang Nasi Padang Yue Yuan Coffeeshop 302 Sims Avenue Geylang Lorong 27 6pm to 1030pm Off: Sunday, Public Holiday Mr Ghulam 9815 0835		Food: 8/10   Authenticty: 9/10   Value: 7.5/10   Service: 8.5/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7/10

For those who are wondering what’s the fuss about all these chilli crabs “ownership”, well so do I. I for one can’t be bothered who first created chilli crab and whether it will be recognised as a Malaysian dish or Singaporean dish internationally. One thing is for sure, when we talk about the reputation of a food name, where a food is famous for, the recognition by the world, that kind of things certainly cannot be built over debating. Therefore it is a futile effort, the way I see it, to even attempt to talk about it.

Even if the day comes when Hainan successfully reclaimed the “ownership” over Hainanese Curry Rice, does it even matter? Even if they manage to “hijack” it, can they produce the Hainanese Curry Rice flavour that we know best?

In some remote parts of Bandung(100km of Jakarta), I’ve even seen pepper crab and chili crab being sold so I highly doubt that chilli crab is indeed a Singapore’s creation. But after eating pepper crab in Jakarta, I must say that I still prefer our version of pepper crab.

And if you’ve visited Malaysia and eaten the chilli crab there, you would realise that over there, it has lesser sweetness but with more sambal in the gravy. Same name, different tastes. So what’s the fuss over fighting over the name? It’s all referring to different flavours distinct to different places. But Singapore is famously known for delicious chili crab and that’s because ours taste better, no mistake there. Just like Malaysia is famous for those claypot Bakuteh, who is going to deny them that fame right?

When it comes to food, it’s a fair game. Therefore when Chew Feng Hainanese Curry Rice also wanted a share of the Hainanese Curry Rice’s pie, nobody is going to deny them that chance.

Probably one of the lesser known Hainanese Curry Rice around town, Chew Feng Hainanese Curry Rice doesn’t look traditional at first sight. They don’t have 3 pots of gravy at the front and the only thing that really whetted my appetite from the display was the pork chop. Nonetheless I went on to order the Lor bak(pork belly) and cabbage as well.

Lor Bak: 8/10  

Hainanese pork chop: 8/10  

Well this is one of the few Hainanese Curry Rice places that doesn’t rely on the gravy to hit your umami. My rice even came without any sauces and I have to ask for it. Well but the curry that I asked for, is not ‘Hainanese’ at all! I felt kind of cheated since the signboard clearly stated that it is a Hainanese Curry Rice.

But I were to find out, they do have enough tricks up their sleeve. The lor bak here is one of the best I’ve eaten. In the past, a good lor bak to me has to be soft enough to melt in my mouth. Now I know that it can be done in another way and here it went a notch higher! This lor bak from Chew Feng Hainanese Curry doesn’t really melt in your mouth but it provides shiokadodoness in another form. It has this terrific marinated flavour that is quite similar to sio bak(roasted pork). Ok I’m talking about the outer parts of the pork which is the sides and the bottom. There are more meat than fats in this lor bak so it doesn’t really require any ‘melting effect’ to feel shiok. Very unique and ‘pang’, definitely something that is worth my money.

Hainanese cabbage: 7/10  

Curry on rice: 6.5/10  

The pork chop here is also pretty good. It was sliced very thinly and the goreng had a flavour that’s pretty unique. Well the balance was right, not too sweet, not too salty, thin and crispy. Pretty ‘Hainanese’ if you ask me.

The cabbage here is also quite good though it’s more on the bland side. But the texture and sweetness is done right. I just wish that it’s that little bit saltier, or maybe a little bit of oyster sauce can do the job.

For $3, I thought this was a reasonable meal. Not the best but far from the worst. Lor bak and pork chop is unique enough to make me come back again.

Price: $3

Recommendation: Pork chop and Lor bak.

Conclusion: You’ll be disappointed if you’re looking for authentic Hainanese curry here but certain items are pretty unique. Pork chop and lor bak reminds me of a strong Hainanese culture so maybe they do have a good Hainanese ‘teacher’!

Likes: Unique flavour in some items like lor bak and pork chop.

Dislikes: Cabbage lack punch in flavour, curry not hainanese at all(tasted like coconut curry).

Address		Overall Rating
Chew Feng Hainanese Curry Rice Blk 17 #01-31 Upper Boon Keng Road Upper Boon Keng Market and Food Centre 8am to 2pm Off: Wed		Food: 7.5/10   Value: 8/10   Authenticity: 6.5/10   Service: 8/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7/10