The simple fried hor fun (aka kueh teow/rice noodle/河粉) comes in many forms around Asia and is my favourite type of noodle due to its chewy texture and ability to absorb lots of flavour. Recently had dinner at the famed Chef Kang’s Private Kitchen, and we ordered a medium portion of Fried Hor Fun with Preserved Radish ($48++). And oh my, this was very good!
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Visually, it looked as expected and “the usual” but with much more ingredients till they kind of covered all the noodles from sight. The taste, on the other hand, was phenomenal.
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Yes, it had a lot of wok hei and fragrance from the lard, but what set Chef Kang’s version apart was how he managed to bring out so much sweetness from the preserved radish, vegetables, onions and a lot of mushrooms, instead of using dark soy sauce. No, I’m not talking about dessert level sweet, but rather savoury-sweet, 鮮甜, which characterises Cantonese cuisine. Chef Kang’s tendency to elevate sweetness in this savoury-sweet balance gives his dishes a unique character.
Crispy Pork Belly ($38++) was unassuming, but yet made for a really nice snack! The crunchiness of the pork skin was 💯 and spices were quite addictive too! I liked how it didn’t feel oily, and hence don’t feel too health conscious when eating this okay 😇
Prawn Rolls with Salted Egg Yolk ($38++) served in cute little cups, as if the chef is asking me to eat it all in one bite, which I did 😚 the prawn roll had a really nice crunch through the prawns, tofu skin and vegetables, and combined with the addictive salted egg yolk, it made for a very flavourful bite indeed.
The salted egg yolk was creamy and slightly sweet, resonating the common inclination towards sweetness in many of Chef Kang’s dishes. No, not dessert sweet, but savoury sweet 鲜甜, a characteristic taste profile in Cantonese Cuisine. 😊
🧨 Presenting the Kurobuta Char Siew ($48++) served on a hot plate by Chef Kang! Beautiful char with a flavourful garlicky and sweet marinade glaze~ unlike the usual char siews, the chef’s rendition had the glaze still in a viscous form due to the hot plate heat, instead of a dried or poured-on glaze sauce, resulting in a flavour bomb of just-caramelised thick glaze when it reached the tastebuds 🤤
The meat itself was very tender, but a bit too tender to the extent it easily broke apart when taking it out of the hot plate. Like really much too easily, which is not a good thing 😅
If you ever managed to snag a meal time here you should inform Chef early for this. It’ll come out sizzling hot and smelling yummy. Crispy outside and tender inside. It’s not overly sweet. This is just one of the many items he has that needs advance order.
I enjoyed the rice as it was full of umami. Only thing is we couldn’t quite taste the crab flavour in the rice but it sure didn’t stop us. In fact, the rice was so good that most of us were too lazy to bother with the crabs. Whilst this portion is meant for 6 according to the server, we found it sufficient for 10 of us. A double order would have been too much as we had ordered our usual favourite carbs here, the tang hoon and also the Wah Tan Hor which was excellent!
It didn’t disappoint, served sizzling hot and with the right amount of char, it was delicious with just plain white rice. This dish requires pre ordering.
Whilst this was executed well, I found it a tad too sweet for my liking. I personally prefer the version dished out by Sik Bao Sin.
Folks who love Cantonese soups will love this. It’s clear and one can taste the many hours that has gone into it
One of Chef Kang’s signature dishes. Very excellent starter dish. Pork belly is very thinly sliced and well coated with prawn paste hence the fantastic taste. Belly yummy yummy yum yum yum.
This was a surprise hit with our entire group. Although it came on the bone, the pieces of chicken were scrumptious with that coating of sticky sweet sauce.
However, what had most of us exclaiming in delight was the ginger. Chef Kang shared that those small, juicy, crunchy chunks of sweetish ginger takes him a week to prepare. Without a doubt, his effort pays off. They’re so good the chicken almost plays second fiddle.
The rice crisps were so crunchy and yet not burnt that I really enjoyed chewing into them. It really does take skill to cook them to this level of doneness without burning them. What an evening we had! So much fun and we look forward to returning soon after the change in menus! Yes, Chef is changing the menu after CNY!
In November, Chef Kang told me he would be going to HK to source for ingredients and I knew he would be bringing these back for Chinese New Year. So definitely got to try his rendition of the lap mei fan. Can you hear the sizzling claypot?
Having the second time was just as good. Still the same smokey favour. I love mine with the pickled green chillies. So yummy.
Coming to Chef Kang’s for a meal is always a challenge for us. Why? Dilemma - all his carbs are so darn good that it’s often so hard to pick one over the other. So what did we do? Order three. The first was a firm fav of mine. Thai Tang Hoon noodles with prawns. Springy in texture, the hints of black pepper which hits you when you dig in just adds to the level of shiokness!
Always well executed here. Secret is frying them in lard, so I was told.
Chef Kang’s version of honey ginger chicken is amazing. Full of flavour, juicy inside and it’s all due to his wok hei. I snucked our during dinner to watch him cook this dish and it was so much lifting! He was literally tossing the pieces in the wok. The ginger bits in this course were the best I’ve had and we said it reminded us of vinegared pork trotters, only to find out that he had soaked the ginger in sweet vinegar for days just for this course. Utterly sublime.
Well, in terms of char siew, this is certainly one of the best in my books. This is only available for dinner and needs to be pre-ordered. It’s lovingly prepared using a fav cut amongst those who know and placed on a sizzling pan, the it continues to sizzle and caramelises further. This was so good, right balance of fat and lean meat and melt in your mouth good. Do yourself a favour when you order this. Order a bowl of white rice to go with it. Trust me, it further elevates the char siew and bring out the flavours better.
Well, this was the night of many firsts for a friend who doesn’t really eat pork belly. He took a bite and was hooked. Yes it’s that good.
