We have been coming to this Hunan family-run eatery for a few years and here is the dish we never not order. In fact, the owner himself knows to scribble it down on his order pad without even us asking.
Featured in the fragrant stir-fry are thin slices of pork (they have moved on to using a leaner cut these days), plenty of huge green chillies, very spicy small pickled chilies and chopped garlic. I am sure just by reading those words you can tell how extremely appetising the dish is. And it is compulsory to savour it with steaming hot rice.
We like coming here because “Zi Wei Tang Folk Soup Pot” has a comfortable homely vibe. As the owner’s wife cooks in the kitchen at her pace, he runs the front of house and keeps an eye on their younger child, a toddler son, as he roams around with his minder close at his heels.
What a delicious dish this is! The fresh bamboo shoot is imported directly from China by the Hunan-born owner of this family-run eatery, and trust me, you can taste the difference. It is lighter and more succulent and tender in crunchiness. Compared to the canned variety, flavour is obviously more pristine as well.
The owner's wife stir-fries the sliced bamboo shoot with smoked pork (think bacon but with a slightly chewier rind), plenty of garlic, and both green and red chillies.
Many brows will break out in beads of sweat and tongues will need cooling but this is really shiok with a bowl of steaming hot rice.
The owner and his wife (who is the chef) of this family-run Northern Chinese cuisine eatery, recommended me this off-the-menu dish.
Those little green discs you see are sliced up "celtuce" (also known as "stem lettuce" or "asparagus lettuce") which have been dried. This process gives it a very crunchy succulence and slight saltiness. The chef did a fragrant stir-fry of this dehydrated vegetable with thin pieces of pork, loads of garlic and some chillies. Naturally, I gobbled it up (with the help of a bowl of plain rice) in no time 😋
I am a regular visitor to this homely joint because the couple is always hospitable and I honestly feel their food is cooked with heart.
If you do decide to try this place out, please be prepared to wait a bit, especially if the you see a few tables with customers. The dishes will take some time to be ready as it is just the two of them who do everything.
The Hunan-born owner of "Ziweitang Folk Soup Pot" created this dish for his menu because he missed eating it and couldn't find it sold anywhere in Singapore.
Honestly, it contains nothing more than simple fried eggs, garlic, a bit of fermented black beans and those big green chillies of medium spiciness that feature often in Northern Chinese cuisine, but by golly is it fragrant beyond belief! And so very tasty despite the eggs being a bit overfried. Naturally, it's now on my list of must-have's here 😋
It's been months since I was at "Ziweitang Folk Soup Pot" for dinner and the owner who hails from Hunan (if I recall correctly) had introduced a few new dishes. This "Hot & Sour Konjac" was one of the two we ordered.
The bouncy chewiness of the konjac jelly turned out to be subtler than anticipated, so it wasn't the super "QQ" sort. Ditto the level of sourness. But these factors didn't detract much from how appetising I found the dish to be. There's loads of chilli padi and chopped garlic, so hotness was dialed up high. I thought it was good with rice and also without.
The sliced pork is now thinner and crispier so they resemble pieces of bacon, albeit a less salty version. Fried with fresh green chilli, red chilli padi and a pickled variety of spicy small green chilli, this is one of the most appetising and "香啦" dishes I've come across.
#BurppleTastemaker Veronica Phua says that the dryish fried concoction of chopped chillies, peppercorns and garlic that blanketed the prawns was deeply fragrant and seriously spicy. The prawns themselves were fried to such crunchiness that they can be chomped and gobbled up whole! #Burpple
This dish evoked a round of "wow's" when they were served. Although described as "stir fried prawns with pepper and chilli", they were much more interesting than that. Skewered through thin metal rods, these crustaceans were fried to the point of full-on crunchiness that allowed us to chomp and gobble them up whole. The dryish fried concoction of chopped chillies, peppercorns and garlic that blanketed the prawns was deeply fragrant and seriously spicy. Best enjoyed with mugs of icy-cold Tsingtao beer :)
Tried this for the first time today despite having been here countless times. These steamed buns are just like "liu sha baos" except that due to the addition of coconut cream, the liquid in the middle is slightly less thick. This also means that the salted egg flavour is not as apparent but I think the combination of the savoury egg and the sweetish coconut cream works very nicely indeed. A great dessert to round off our hearty meal. Price: $4.80++ for 3.
Most people will say that this is a dish they can cook at home but I find there is something special about the way it's done here. Besides the super soft egg with its perfect ratio to the cooked-just-long-enough sweet tomatoes, the sauce is really yummy. My new must-have when I'm here.
There are so many eateries along Tanjong Katong Road that it is easy to miss this place. Just look for the SPC petrol station - it is close to it. There is a row of huge traditional urns lined up outside this simple restaurant and these contain the double-boiled herbal soups which they are noted for. Steamboat also happens to be a big draw here which is a logical extension of what they already do well at but what I really like, and return often for, are the home-cooked dishes. You can call it China-style "zi-char" because the dishes originate from Hunan and Sichuan provinces and are cooked upon order. So luckily for spicy food lovers like me, there are quite a few to savour and sweat over. Top of the list is the Stir-fried Pork with Green Chillis. What makes it my fave is the tiny pickled green chillis in there that gives it a unique piquant TNT kick. Sooooo good with just a bowl of hot rice! One last thing to mention - the gracious and gentle-mannered China gentleman who owns and runs the place makes customers always feel warmly welcomed.
#traditionalfood#chinesecuisine#soup#herbalsoup#singaporedining#ilovesoup
