Got quite excited when we had first come across the news of the Shake Shack x Keng Eng Kee Seafood collaboration some time back last month — whilst it is exciting to see the folks behind Shake Shack introduce a limited time-only offering that makes use of local elements in their burger offerings, the collaboration does also somewhat rewinds things for us to a time in the past where Keng Eng Kee Seafood had first explored serving up burgers with an infusion of local zichar elements via another concept named Wok In Burger; the concept having operated within the now-defunct JCube before being subsequently based at the Keng Eng Kee Seafood location at Bukit Merah before its demise. Available from 17 October 2024 to 31 December 2024, the limited time-only menu features four (4) items from two (2) themes; “Coffee-Glazed” and “White Pepper” — think a little bit of a Yin and Yang thing perhaps, with a burger and a side being served from each of the two themes.

Being fans of Keng Eng Kee Seafood’s Coffee Pork Ribs, we made our visit to the Shake Shack outlet at Neil Road to give the Coffee-Glazed Chicken Burger a go — we found ourselves staying for the White Pepper Fries however. The “White Pepper” menu is said to be inspired by the white pepper crab that one can find and some zichar establishments; the White Pepper Fries coming with the standard fries that one would expect to be served with at Shake Shack, though drizzled with the white pepper aioli over the top. Whilst the white pepper aioli does look rather typical with a rather creamy appearance given its white aesthetic, the White Pepper Fries does come with quite a piquant hint of spiciness that only starts at the back of the tongue when one tastes the aioli; nothing quite like its creamy appearance. The hint of pepper that it gives can be described to be rather similar to that of local Singaporean-style pepper-based Bak Kut Teh; one that provides a real kick that we found to be really addictive though also on the “heaty” side.

The Coffee-Glazed Chicken Burger wasn’t too bad, though the main concern here would likely be the thin layer of sauce that coats the fried chicken patty — we wish the sauce could be thicker and gooey-er like how it would be for the Coffee Pork Ribs from Keng Eng Kee Seafood that would deliver quite a punchier note overall. Not quite sure how the Coffee-Glazed Chicken Bites will fare against the Coffee-Glazed Chicken Burger, though the White Pepper Fries does make thing promising enough for us to want to give the White Pepper (Beef) Burgee a go!