Chinese Recipes | Cooking Tips | Good Eats

I am sure my westerner friends would cringe at the sight of this. First, at the pig offal. Second, at the porridge.

I remember when I was in Phuket with my Aussie colleagues, this big Aussie guy kind of snorted and asked what in the world I was eating, when I scooped myself a hefty serving of porridge with side dishes like salted eggs, preserved vegetables and some soy sauce chicken (at the Holiday Inn breakfast buffet).

Porridge is something I enjoy anytime (and I don’t have to be sick to enjoy porridge).

What you see here is Mixed Pig Organ Porridge (S$4) from Tiong Bahru Hwa Yuen Porridge, Stall #02-74. The stall also sells other delights like Steamboat Porridge, Frog leg Porridge, Fish Belly Porridge, Ikan Parang Raw Fish, Shredded Chicken Century Egg Porridge. Of course I did not have the stomach capacity chance to try all of them. I wonder how this compares to Zhen Zhen Porridge at Maxwell Food Centre? You tell me.

It’s a little difficult to make out the pork intestines, pork liver, pork stomach and cuttlefish swimming in the porridge. The pork intestines are fried and this adds a unique twist to the taste. You can also just order Fried Intestines Porridge (S$5 / S$7), with just the intestines alone.

The porridge was smooth and steaming hot. The auntie scooped out the porridge from a huge and deep pot, with a large wooden ladle. I was at the stall at about 10am. She must have started cooking since 6am? to get the porridge this smooth.

Oh. Just for records, mom and I shared this bowl of porridge cos we already ate the Kway Chap from the same Tiong Bahru Market, Stall #02-46. :)

Kway chap (粿汁 guǒ zhī) is a Teochew dish of flat, broad rice sheets in a soup made with dark soy sauce, served with pig offal (large and small intestines), braised duck meat, various kinds of beancurd, preserved salted vegetables, and braised hard-boiled eggs.

The stall at Tiong Bahru is one of my mom’s favorite, so I had her bring me there for breakfast, because she patronises the stall so frequently that the stall owner is on good terms with her and will accede to her request for more of this or less of that.

Located at the New Tiong Bahru Market, Stall #02-46, this stall existed (some place else) since the 1960’s and had been in Tiong Bahru for 6-7 years. The current stall owner is the grandson of the originator.

The kway chap is thin and smooth and the dark-colored broth is light and tasty. Mom would usually request for less of the kway chap so that she won’t be so full.

Clockwise from left, you have the tao pok (a kind of beancurd), pig’s large intestines, pork belly and a hard boiled egg. I really don’t have any specific favorites because I like all of them. Dipped in a tangy chilli sauce, and eaten with the steaming hot kway chap, everything was eaten in no time.

I tried to recreate their version of preserved salted vegetables, but I had not yet gotten the same texture and color as what you see here. Does anyone have any recipe for this? Actually, I am not even sure if I bought the correct vegetable. LOL! The packet I bought is labelled 梅菜 mei cai - I should be right, eh?

Kway chap makes a savory and filling breakfast, lunch or dinner. That’s the beauty of Singapore food. You can eat it anytime you want. :)

Hai Tien Lo is a fancy schmancy Cantonese restaurant located at the top of Singapore’s Pan Pacific Hotel. There is an ala-carte lunch buffet on Saturday and Sundays only.

For this ala-carte buffet, you have the choice of ordering either one bowl of Sharks’ Fin Soup or one bowl of Buddha Jump Over The Wall for each person.

My, my! Look at the numerous pieces of sharks’ fin in the bowl. This alone was definitely worth the price we paid for the buffet.

Roast Duck was moist and tender and not too fatty.

A house speciality, Sauteed Tenderloin Beef, the beef was cooked to tender perfection and literally melts in your mouth. Why did they serve so little? We had to order a second serving!

A limited selection of dim sum was available in this ala-carte buffet. We ordered Scallop Dumpling (picture below, front) and my favorite Phoenix Claw (no picture, I dived into it without any hesitation).

The Sea Cucumber (picture behind the scallop dumplings) was very tender. I, for one, don’t know how to prepare and cook sea cucumber, so this was a treat for me.

Oh. The other dim sum we ordered was Bean Curd Skin. There were five of us at the table, so they only served five pieces, which was a good idea, since each of us can have our own share, without the need to “give way” and act polite. :)

The dish behind was Sweet And Sour Pork. That’s the perfect kind of sweet and sour pork that I cannot find in the Bay Area. The sauce is orangey red in color, without being too overwhelmingly red and gory. The deep fried batter was just a thin layer, without the feeling that you are eating a layer of flour. And best of all, there was very little fats, yet it’s so tasty.

Of course my family did not just order the above. We were there for lunch, but ate for lunch and dinner. :D

Other delectable delights not to be missed are:

Bursting with flavor: Deep-fried Prawn With Wasabi Salad Dressing.

Light and smooth: Stir Fried Fish Slices With Ginger And Spring Onions.

Moist and tender: Barbecue Pork, roasted to perfection.

Light and fluffy: Seafood Fried Rice.

I was there with my family before and after Chinese New Year. Yes, we went there twice, despite the cost (but when I converted SGD 1.5 to USD 1, it really didn’t seem that bad).

On regular Saturdays and Sundays, the ala-carte lunch buffet is S$52+++ per person. During the Chinese New Year period, the price increased to S$58+++ (”+++” means plus 10% service charge, plus 5% GST and plus 1% government tax). Other plus plus pluses charged are: tea, towels and a plate of appetizers.

This restaurant is highly recommended. Remember to make reservations because this weekend buffet is very popular.

Go to Hai Tien Lo, because you are worth it!

I grew up with two kinds of curry puffs - the potato stuffed ones and the sardine ones. I prefer the sardine ones because I find them tastier. I also prefer the kind sold by the Malays or Indians, as opposed to the big fat Old Chang Kee curry puffs that Keropok Man stuffed himself silly with. :P

The Indian or Malay curry puffs have much less filling and crust, but they have a good balance, of both, in my opinion. I got mine from this guy (and sometimes it’s his wife) standing at the entrance of the MRT station near where I lived. I bought the sardine puffs twice from them. Three for S$1. How much cheaper can they get?

See the sardine filling with onions? They look so moist! Of course I ate all three each time, all by myself. Then … oops … the result was that I couldn’t eat much for dinner. But then, who cares? My tastebuds were happy. I can’t find this type of curry puffs in the Bay Area.

I told mom not to cook too much when I was back in Singapore as I wanted to eat stuff that I don’t know how to cook or food that I cannot find in the Bay Area.

The above is a picture of Sam Lo (it’s in Cantonese, pronounced as “some loh”). I think it refers to the trio mix of noodles (thick bee hoon), fish slices and mung bean sprouts, stir fried in a hot wok and mixed with some broth and corn starch.

I like the smoothness of the fish slices (I wonder what fish they use?) and the thick bee hoon. I needed to add more dashes of light soy sauce and green chilli as the dish was not salty enough. That aside, it was a pretty satisfying meal for my first “hawker” food for my Singapore (food) trip.

I was there way before the lunch crowd arrived, hence the premises looked empty.

Hong Kong Street (Hock Kee) Seafood Restaurant
Blk 117 Commonwealth Drive
#01-733
11am - 2pm, 5pm - midnight
Tel#: 64753558, HP: 9735 9804

Hehe… Please don’t be mislead by the word “restaurant” here, thinking it’s some fancy schmancy posh eatery. It’s basically what we call a “coffee shop” or “tze char” stall and has other stalls too, like the boneless chicken rice stall (inside, right) and drink stall (inside, left) you see in the picture.

This “restaurant” used to be called Hong Kong Street (Chun Kee) Seafood Restaurant. The owners changed but the new owners maintained the “Hong Kong Street” brand name. The original Hong Kong Street (Chun Kee) has moved to Alexandra Village.