Chinese Charmers

And now for the final act at @fattchoyeatinghouse, we finish with some noods.⠀
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Welcome back my beloved Original Roxy Laksa, but ultra sized this time for four to share ($38++). It’s still the same scintillatingly spicy and savoury broth that’s made luxuriously rich & thick with the addition of a generous amount of coconut milk, but just served in a plant pot sized vessel. Topped with fresh tiger prawns, lots of fishcake & tofu puffs, this luscious laksa is definitely a strong contender for being one of the best laksas in Singapore.⠀
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Thank you so much for the hospitality, @fattchoyeatinghouse & @kevin._.ngan!

And now for the final act at @fattchoyeatinghouse, we finish with some noods. The off menu Not Your Singapore Hokkien Mee with Abalone ($48++), which I prefer to call the 3.5x Hokkien Mee. It’s essentially a KL Hokkien Mee that’s been made posh with the inclusion of abalone. The sauce is the familiar sinfully rich sweet & salty soy sauce based concoction that has imparted both colour & flavour to the thick noodles. The sauce has also been fortified by a generous amount of wok hei from the cooking process, making this pot of noodles even more delicious.⠀
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Abalone on its own is rather flavourless and is almost totally reliant on the sauce it is cooked in, and the sweet & salty sauce is a dream pairing for the mollusk. Better yet, the abalone is cooked just right with just the right amount of chewiness, and the texture fits in with the bouncy qualities of the noodles seamlessly. And of course, who can forget all that crispy, perfectly fried pork lard chunks that garnish the 3.5x Hokkien Mee. It provides the much needed texture contrast in a sea of soft & chewy elements, and ratchets the sinfulness of this noodle dish to heart stopping levels.⠀

Thank you so much for the hospitality, @fattchoyeatinghouse & @kevin._.ngan!⠀

Now, this might strike some as a weird pairing, but trust me when I say that ordering Fatt Choy’s Teochew BKT with Mala XO Fried Rice ($12++) is an outstanding move. The Mala XO fried rice on its own is enjoyably numbing and sufficiently savoury thanks to the Sichuan peppercorn & XO sauce, but adding a few splashes of the collagen rich bak kut teh and mixing it in with the rice elevates the fried rice into a supremely sumptuous & scrumptious affair.⠀
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Thanks for having us, @fattchoyeatinghouse & @kevin._.ngan!

While Singaporeans and Malaysians wage cyber warfare over who does bak kut teh better, @fattchoyeatinghouse is quietly doing their own thing and coming up with this beast of a BKT. The Teochew Style Pork Trotter Bak Kut Teh costs forty eight bucks a serving, but it serves four folks and it comes in a vessel the size of a large flowerpot. When you do the math, it’s only twelve bucks a person, which is cheaper than quite a few famous BKT merchants out there.⠀
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As you may have already noticed, the big difference here is the pork trotter that’s been slowly simmered in that peppery soup for hours. It isn’t particularly peppery, but that’s due to all the richness of the collagen that’s seeped out of the trotter while simmering. This is the absolute thickest and richest soup I have ever sipped on bar none! It’s ludicrously luscious, ridiculously rich broth and unbelievably umami thanks to the spice mix fusing with the jumbo pork trotter. Speaking of the trotter, it’s tremendously tender as expected, and the skin is such a supple delicacy that is just begging for the kiss of some dark soya sauce & chili.⠀
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Thanks for having us, @fattchoyeatinghouse & @kevin._.ngan!

I knew I loved @fattchoyeatinghouse Signature Pork Lard Fried Rice ($12++) before I met it, but it always did seem quite lonely. Some best sellers were made specifically to complement existing bestsellers, kind of like Ken being created for Barbie. In this case, Fatt Choy has whipped up the Iberico Pork Belly With Garlic Sauce ($15++) to pair with the pork lard fried rice, and it’s a match made in heaven.⠀
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Iberico pork belly is shaven into thin strips and poached, then amply flavoured with an abundance of crispy chili garlic bits and some black bean paste. The garnish of julienned cucumbers doesn’t look like much, but they function surprisingly well as palate cleansers. This is a simple side, but it pairs so well with the pork lard fried rice as it ameliorates a couple of shortcomings. The pork lard fried rice isn’t notably salty, and it does get a bit monotonous after the fifth mouthful. ⠀
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The Iberico Pork Belly adds that delectable umami and just a smidge of spice, as well as the enhanced satisfaction from the inclusion of meat into the rice bowl. It transforms the Pork Lard Fried Rice from a heart attack in a bowl into a sinfully stellar full course, and it is the epitome of the saying “we here for a good time not a long time”.⠀
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Thank you so much for the hospitality, @kevin._.ngan & @fattchoyeatinghouse!

@fattchoyeatinghouse has put a couple of new appetisers on the menu since my last visit, but it was the currently off menu Salted Egg Cereal Calamari ($ priceless) that truly thrilled all of us. Sure, the Mala Kaarage ($12++) was a touch salty but still absolutely addictive, the Pitan with Ice Plant ($15++) was truly unique, and the numbing & spicy Lava Egg With Chili Oil Dressing pairs perfectly with the Mala Knife Cut Noodles ($10++), but the Calamari was the undisputed champion.⠀
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The rich, superbly savoury flavours of the salted egg sauce were accentuated excellently by the natural sweetness of the crunchy cereal that the calamari is buried in. The squid itself was flawlessly fresh and deep fried for just long enough, boasting that much coveted spring & snap to each bite. There was still an abundance of delicious cereal bits left after all that sublime squid has been devoured, and we happily scarfed down spoonfuls of that satisfyingly sweet & crunchy cereal in between swigs of beer.⠀
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Thank you so much for inviting us @fattchoyeatinghouse & @kevin._.ngan!

However, if you feel the need for rice instead, Sin Chao also offers Fragrant Pork Lard Fried Egg Rice for just two bucks flat. I’m not sure why there’s been a sudden onset of various local eateries putting plain rice garnished with pork lard & an egg, but I certainly ain’t complaining. Currently Sin Chao have a little promo going on to get to get a free fragrant egg & pork lard pearl rice with any purchase, with the completion of a few easy tasks:⠀
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1. Follow @sin_chao_culinary on Insta⠀
2. Follow @laoniangagency on Instagram too!⠀
3. Follow me (@okwhotookmyusername ) & tag 2 friends⠀
4. Flash the follow pages when patronising Sin Chao Culinary!⠀
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Thank you for the invite, @laoniangagency & @eatwithkeat, and thanks for letting us sample your food, @sin_chao_culinary!⠀

Besides rice, @sin_chao_culinary also serves claypot Seafood Bee Hoon. Each claypot is loaded with rice vermicelli that’s been cooked in a savoury seafood stock, along with a plentiful plethora of fresh seafood like clams, prawns & squid. Besides the seafood, Sin Chao adds some egg and vegetables into the bee hoon, turning it into a complete & wholesome meal on its own. ⠀
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Truthfully, the bee hoon is not the most scintillating of seafood bee hoon out there, but this bee hoon was superbly satisfying. Consuming this claypot of noodles definitely gets you feeling like your very soul just got nourished. It’s sufficiently savoury, it’s light, it’s comforting, and you’ll crave it both in sickness & in health.⠀
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Thank you for the invite, @laoniangagency & @eatwithkeat, and thanks for letting us sample your food, @sin_chao_culinary!

Even though parts of Punggol are incredibly inaccessible, the residents there are amply provided for by the multitude of food options conveniently situated close by. One of these options is @sin_chao_culinary, which offers all kinds of homely Chinese classics. The bulk of their focus is on zichar staples served in little claypots, but they do 菜贩 (rice with a variety of meat/veg), double boiled soups which greatly pleases my Cantonese sensibilities, and distinctly Taiwanese inspired bentos.⠀
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Their soups range in price from $6.50-$8.00 nett, and all come with a bowl of rice. I was smitten by the Double Boiled Salted Vegetable Duck Soup ($7.50) with its salty & sour flavour profile, as well as the simple yet satisfying Double Boiled Peanut Lotus Root Soup. It’s a shame that Singapore doesn’t have snowy winters, as these soups are just perfect to savour during cold weather.⠀
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Thank you for having us @sin_chao_culinary & thank you to @eatwithkeat & @laoniangagency for the invite!

Even though parts of Punggol are incredibly inaccessible, the residents there are amply provided for by the multitude of food options conveniently situated close by. One of these options is @sin_chao_culinary, which offers all kinds of homely Chinese classics. The bulk of their focus is on zichar staples served in little claypots, but they do 菜贩 (rice with a variety of meat/veg), double boiled soups which greatly pleases my Cantonese sensibilities, and distinctly Taiwanese inspired bentos.⠀
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Sin Chao Culinary has a tasty trio of bentos served in a nostalgic tin lunchbox, and they’re all priced quite reasonably at $6.50 nett. The only thing that differentiates these bentos from each other is the main meat option, all come with a whole lotta rice, a whole braised egg, some stir fried cabbage & carrots, and a couple of slices of Taiwanese sausage. The Braised Pork Belly Bento has a sizeable slab of savoury braised pork belly aa the centrepiece, while the Crispy Fermented Beancurd Pork Belly starred sliced up deep fried pork belly, marinated with fermented beancurd paste for an extra deep umami. The sauciest selection is a Singapore staple: curry chicken. Curry chicken on rice is elite, I tell you what.
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Thank you for having us @sin_chao_culinary & thank you to @eatwithkeat & @laoniangagency for the invite!

@canteenbyenjoy are starch savants, as both of the carb dishes we sampled were our favourites of the meal. The Canteen Rice was a sinful but sensational starch source, and this Hokkien Mee ($15.80 for the small) was less hedonistic but no less fantastic. It comes in strong tooting its own horn, proclaiming itself as the ‘most epic Hokkien Mee in Singapore’.⠀
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While I can’t confirm that claim, I can confirm that it’s pretty high up there in the Hokkien Mee rankings. The wok hei here isn’t particularly pronounced, allowing the broth the noodles are cooked in to take centrestage with good reason. The broth is stunningly sapid, and if I had to guess, I would say that Canteen has incorporated some pork bone broth into the prawn broth, as the broth is exceptionally flavourful & weighty.⠀
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The breathtaking broth amply flavours all the other elements of the dish, and even the abundance of ingredients that Canteen has thrown into the mix aren’t enough to dampen the deliciousness of the broth. The prawns were pretty fresh & plump, while the squid was equally fresh & delightfully snappy. The usual recipes for Hokkien Mee call for sliced pork shoulder, but Canteen ups the ante with the inclusion of roast pork belly. The roast pork belly adds a little extra savouriness & fat to the plate of noodles, but unfortunately the delicious broth had softened the crispy skin. Still damn delicious though.⠀
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Thank you so much for the invite, @canteenbyenjoy!

@canteenbyenjoy exclusive signature dish is the White Pepper Crab ($38.80++), which sees chunks of crab fried with a white pepper sauce and served with four slices of deep fried mantou. While you won’t get a whole crab for under forty bucks, there is certainly more than enough crab to satisfy most reasonable men.⠀
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The last time I had a a seafood dish at Enjoy (the one on Stevens Road) I was truly thrilled by the freshness & quality of the jumbo prawns, but was less than impressed with the sauce. With the White Pepper Crabs however, it was the exact opposite. I’m normally not a fan of pepper sauces as they tend to trigger my cough, but Canteen has done it sensationally here. The sauce is piquantly peppery, yet it’s smooth & rich, and loaded with deliciously savoury flavours. The mantous are definitely an excellent vehicle to savour the sauce with, and you’ll find yourself getting mildly addicted.⠀
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The crab meat, however, was not the freshest, but it certainly wasn’t bad at all. The crab meat is a little too soft, but it is free from any fishy odours, and its mild umami is elevated by the wonderful white pepper sauce. Canteen By Enjoy’s crab isn’t the most conventional, but it’s definitely expertly executed.⠀
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Thank you for having us @canteenbyenjoy!