Ah Yen Traditional Fried Pork (Wisma Atria)

Sandakan may not a top tourist spot on many of our travel lists, considering it wasn’t a main city of Sabah. Most people usually come here for their nature attractions.

You may don’t have the opportunity to visit this city, but don’t worry as you now get to try on one of their popular food from Sandakan right here in Singapore.

Thanks for Food Republic for bringing it to our shore, you can enjoy this traditional fried pork dish from Sandakan.

Really enjoy much of these pieces of crunchy fried pork on the top of noodles. And interestingly they come with some you tiao as well. But I find the you tiao a bit dry on its own.

If you can eat a lot, I strongly recommend you to grab their noodle set that comes with century egg dumplings soup and iceberg lettuce with oyster sauce to complete your meal here. Note that the dumplings sold out when I’m here so it was replaced with pork balls instead.

Sandakan Fried Pork Kway Teow ($6.50, Small)
Sarawak Laksa ($9.50)

Fried pork was indeed as delicious as everyone has made it out to be - crunchy and very flavourful (still cannot place what's in the marinade). Kway Teow was also mixed in a delicious blend of sauces, very savoury with a hint of sweetness. Add the chilli for a punch of spiciness!

Sarawak Laksa was also rich and lemak, definitely one of the better ones in SG. Prawns, fried pork, omelette shreds, and taupok heaped atop your noodle of choice to make for a satisfying meal.

If pork ain't your jam, they do offer Chicken as well, which is seasoned with salt and pepper, and comes with your choice of carbs.

Their Sarawak Laksa w Tiger Prawns is very unassuming. Unlike its name, other than just prawns, there were also a plethora of other ingredients such as their signature fried pork, omelet shreds, fried tau pok, cucumber and fish cake slices. The pork belly was nice touch, but got soggy really quickly, which is nothing out of the norm. My only qualm for this dish is for the prawns to be peeled for easier consumption!

If you are looking for a more filling meal, you'd be glad to know that the Fried Pork comes with your choice of carbs - white rice, kuey tiao, noodle. We opted for the kuey tiao and since we took some time to photograph it, it had clumped together by then. However, I doused some of the soup from the Century Egg Dumpling into my bowl and it was back to a slippery mess - in a good way! The essence had been absorbed by the kuey tiao by then, giving off robust flavours with every bite.

Originating from humble beginnings, Ah Yen was first founded in the 40s' in Sandakan, a small town in Sabah. Since then, the recipe has been passed down generation after generation like a heirloom, to the current third generation owner.

I've had the luxury to try some of their signature dishes. Take the Sandakan Fried Pork for example, it's marinated with red fermented beancurd before being thrown into the batter and finished off via deep frying. The end result is a plate of flavourful and crispy fried pork that'll leave you wanting more.