The construction of what will be a very tok kong(fantastic) hor fun is, as I’ve mentioned many times before, the ingredients used( good seafood), tasty gravy and good wok hei. For those who are unclear, wok hei here is referring to the charred surface that appears on the hor fun which will provide every mouthful of it with a little ‘grilled’ aroma similar to what you get in satays or steaks. It’s just that little bit of charred(not a lot) that can change the tune of the flavour.

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 cost 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: 5.25/10