Chanced upon Grandpa Cheung Fun during one of our recent visits to Toa Payoh Lorong 1 Market & Food Centre — the food centre had recently seen a few stalls come and go; Grandpa Cheung Fun occupies one of the corner units of the food centre in the same stretch as where Come Daily Fried Hokkien Prawn Meeks also located. This is, however, not the only outpost of Grandpa Cheung Fun around the island — some have also mentioned seeing them around at Changi Village Food Centre; essentially their second outlet after their very first one here at Toa Payoh Lorong 1 Market & Food Centre. Following the trend that some of those stalls serving up Hong Kong-style Chee Cheong Fun went with, Grandpa Cheung Fun serves up stone-milled Chee Cheong Fun. That being said, the folks at Grandpa Cheung Fun takes their Chee Cheong Fun to the next level — apart from serving it in a plain white aesthetic, Grandpa Cheung Fun sets their Chee Cheong Fun apart by serving it in three different colours; the Original bearing the usual white aesthetic, whilst the Dragon Fruit variation adopts a fuchsia look — the remaining one being the Spinach that sports a green colour aesthetic. The Chee Cheong Fun here does come with a variety of toppings — one can either have it plain, or choose from the variety of toppings that they offer including Double Egg, Prawn and Char Siew etc. as well as in various combinations such as Corn + Pork, Egg + Veg + Pork and Prawn + Char Siew etc.

Whilst we usually abstain from ordering items that bear a colourful aesthetic, the curiosity in us made us go for the Dragonfruit Cheong Fun w/ Prawns. Apart from the fuchsia aesthetic that made it stand out from the other Hong Kong-style Chee Cheong Funs we have had from other establishments, we also note that the Chee Cheong Fun here does carry a wrinkly look that we have since found ourselves associating to Hong Kong-style Chee Cheong Funs that are made with rice slurry that was stone-milled. The Dragonfruit Cheong Fun also came with the same light soy sauce and chili that the usual Hong Kong-style Chee Cheong Fun would have come with. Going straight for the Chee Cheong Fun, it is noted that the dragonfruit element is only added for the visual appeal — apart from the colour, the infusion of dragonfruit juice into the rice slurry did not cause any change in flavour of the Chee Cheong Fun. That being said, the Chee Cheong Fun did carry an evident ricey note with a slightly chewy texture whilst still being thin and silken; soaks up all that light soy sauce that provide a savoury note that one would associate with Hong Kong-style Chee Cheong Fun. Found that they were pretty generous with the amount of shrimp that they provided; no doubt not the freshest, but these were still pretty decent and provided quite a good, firm bite whilst being still naturally sweet on its own. Whilst the chili provided with most Hong Kong-style Chee Cheong Fun does carry a smoky undertone, the chili here seems to have an emphasis on being savoury instead. That being said, it does carry the umami notes of dried shrimp within — still matches up the Chee Cheong Fun really well.

With the slight slowdown for establishments specialising in Hong Kong-style Chee Cheong Fun popping up all over the island, some may argue that the trend for such items might be past its peak. Perhaps the folks behind Grandpa Cheung Fun has also seen that coming, and had decided to settle for a variation that can be said as one that is truly their own — going for a specialty on serving up Hong Kong-style Chee Cheong Fun in three different colours is definitely something unique up to this point. No doubt it is all for the looks, but we do think that the Chee Cheong Fun does seem to be relatively well-executed looking past the colours, though albeit on the pricey end. That being said, Grandpa Cheung Fun is still a spot to visit for stone-milled cheong fun fans to check out, considering how there are many Hong Kong-style Chee Cheong Fun establishments that there are these days, but those serving up stone-milled renditions are still pretty rare even to this day.