Chuan Ji Bakery Hainanese Delicacies

This place is totally deserted when I came on lunch time, MacPherson Mall is probably the mall you never step in at all.

But inside this mall, there’s one restaurant that actually attracts people coming for their authentic Hainanese pastries and foods.

They are located way inside the mall, which you need to find your way through the dark walkway between shoplots.

While they focus on their Hainanese pastries, the shop also served as a Hainanese restaurant serving some authentic foods as well.

One of the highlight would be their Hainanese pork chop, which comes in 2 big portion of pork chop; accompanied with rice, lettuce and wedges.

the pork chop was super tender and chewy, and paired well with the sweet sauce.

Learned about #chuanjibakeryhainanesedelicacies from CNA 2 days ago, decided to give it a try, to #supportlocalfnbsg. The main dishes selection is simple (see the last photo). Since we don’t really take pork (which most people will order, since hainanese pork chop is suppose to be more popular), we left only the beef stew and the chicken chop.

1. Chicken Chop - hainanese style with a starchy, thick tomato sauce, with peas and onions, drenched on the chicken chop, that was coated with cream cracker crumbs, deep fried into golden brown batter. The meat was still juicy and tender.
2. Beef stew - it was served with chunks of beef, potatoes and carrots. It had a rich gamey flavor (which might not be acceptable by some people), and the starchy gravy was a bit blend for me. However the beef was soft and tore apart easily.

We also tried the flaky biscuit (which is not in the photo), with 13 ingredients inside, giving each bite, a unique taste. To me, it was a bit too sweet and “heavy” if one had to finish one whole biscuit. So it will be good to share it with friends, cut into quarters, I believe will be ideal.

Hainanese 酥盐饼 is one of the rarest pastries in Singapore. Chuan Ji is one of the few bakeries in Singapore still selling this biscuit. The bakery has its roots originated from the famous Nam Tong Lee confectionery along Purvis Street. Sweet and peppery, salty and fruity all at go, its truly a plethora of flavours bursting at the same time. Some find this complex, but this is truly delicious for me.

Went on a Sunday afternoon for tea break. Had their teh si + kopi and their kuehs. Their teh si was excellent, creamier and much cheaper than Toastbox or Ah Kun. I would totally go back for their teh si. Kuehs were good too and not too sweet

The place is rather small and cosy.. they serve mains too such as hainanese pork chop and beef stew. I guess i will be going back soon!

I was drawn to this eatery by the article on CNA. I have to admit that I am not always a fan of pork or chicken chop because of huge size, oily batter and dry meat. However, I really enjoyed the pork chop meat at Chuan Ji. The highlight of the dish was the chop itself: 2 pieces of thin battered pork that was deep fried to crunchy texture and golden colour. Other components were rice and lettuce, and the french fries were a bit strange for me.
The gentleman owner was very welcoming and courteous. He was talking to customers regardless new or frequent patron.
I hope to come back to try the beef stew.
Pork chop is $6.50.

Perhaps it was my lack of appreciation for this item when I was younger, seeing it as the lesser sibling of the actual Western pork chop; with only just a handful of places serving up the Hainanese Pork Chop, I find myself trying to hit up the place just to have a taste of the nostalgia. That starchy tomato-based sauce that carries a slight tang, the crisp biscuit crumb battered pork chop that carried a crunch with tender, moist meat within that does not require a bite, and those soft, fluffy, thick-cut fries that are a tad limp — all of those on the plate here reminds me of the days where such dishes are a more common find in hawker centres. Some things, I guess we would only appreciate when we age; and I am glad that I still managed to have a taste of that here with this dish served here that replicates all of those feels to a tee.