Uncle Gen's Hong Kong Cuisine: The latest stall to make it to the Really Must Try list!

Hong Kong Steamed Rice with Chicken and Salted Fish $3.30

As the number of blog posts approaches the one thousand mark, it amazes me that there are still so many new places that are still waiting to be discovered. Indeed, Singapore might be a tiny red dot, but if the world atlas were drawn according to the number of great eats, I reckon we should at least be the size of a one dollar coin. After blogging about hawker food for the last three years, I find that my list of places to visit is still quite long. A lot of this is due to our intrepid group of makan kakis who scour the island for great places to eat and then post their own reviews and pics in the forum. Now that we have another thousand or so members in the facebook group, the to do list will just keep getting longer. So, many thanks to everyone who have written in to recommend their favorite food haunts, you guys really keep the blog going.

This next stall was discovered by Cactuskit whose mouth watering photos in the forum caught my attention immediately. You know, one of the joys of food blogging is finding a stall where the food is really very very good, yet still relatively unknown and best of all, you can eat it everyday and still have money left in your wallet! Cactuskit's post looked like it fit the bill, so it was immediately placed on top of the to do list.


Yam Cake $1.80

I haven't eaten Yam Cake for a long time because I haven't really come across one that was worth the calories. Most of the Yam Cakes I come across are cold, hard and rather dry. Not so with Gen Shu's (Uncle Kum) version. He tells me without hesitation that there are three important criteria when it comes to Yam Cake in Hong Kong. First, its got to be soft, then its got to be moist and finally and most importantly, it has got to be flavoursome. This one fits all three criteria and is one of the tastiest Yam Cakes around and even better than a lot that is being served in classy dim sum restaurants. Well worth the money, the calories and the queue! 4.6/5


Pork Rib and Red Bean Soup $3.30

If you love double boiled soups then you are going to love this place. Gen Shu has 20 different types of soups which he serves here and they are all chock full of ingredients. If Pork Rib and Red Beans doesn't sound exotic enough for you, then you should ask him when he will be serving his Pig trotter with Oyster and Season Gourd soup. Anyway the soup I had that day was excellent. For $3.30, you really can't complain as you get a bowl of flavourful soup with so many pieces of tender soft pork ribs. 4.5/5


Mince Pork with Salted Egg Steamed Rice $3.30

It is not often that I come across a stall that almost everything is good. I say almost because I didn't taste everything but whatever I had that day was good. This is not surprising once you realise that Gen Shu happened to be the Head Chef of Mouth Restaurant for 15 years before he retired. Being a chef of such experience, he is able to call his stall a "Mei Shi She Jia" (Gourmet Kitchen). What that means is that you could give Gen Shu a whole Pig and he will be able to make use of every part of that pig to cook a series of unforgettable dishes for you. But more than that, Gen Shu is one of those Hong Kongers who is simply passionate about Hong Kong cuisine. What that means is that he doesn't stinge on the ingredients. When you eat his steamed rice, just taste the soy sauce that accompanies it and you will know what I mean. There is soy sauce that is concocted in a laboratory and there is soy sauce that has been properly fermented and aged. Gen Shu is just the type of chef who knows his soy sauce as a sommelier knows his wines.


Steamed Rice with Preserved Veg and Pork Belly

If you are going for the steamed rice then I would highly recommend the chicken with salted fish. This is one where the taste of the chicken and the salted fish has really infused into the rice so that each bite is full of the umami goodness of the salted fish. This is really almost as good as it gets. 4.75/5.


Hong Kong Style Congee $3

As with all the other dishes which we tried, the Congee here is really good as well. Full of ingredients and the Congee, in true Hong Kong fashion, is smooth and flavoursome. All this for $3! 4.5/5

Conclusion

It is usually very risky to give a stall such a big endorsement. However, with Gen Shu, I am quite confident that most readers who go there will come away very satisfied that they have found something that is Cheap and Good! No..... Cheap and Very Very Good.

Gen Shu Mei Shi She Jia
Toa Payoh Lor 4
Blk 74 Food Centre #01-03
Opens 6am till sold out around lunch time
Closed on Mondays

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Cafe de Hong Kong: A Piece of Hong Kong in Balestier

Double Braised Winter Melon Soup $70 (preorder)

Our Makan Kakis are a passionate lot. When they find something good to eat, they go crazy and start organizing dinners for all the other kakis to share in their latest find. When I say crazy, I mean visiting the same restaurant 4 times in week, crazy. This kind of thing does not happen all that often but when it does, it usually means that a visit to the restaurant is in order.

Don't be misled by the name of the Restaurant. This is not just another Hong Kong Cafe. They do sell very good French Toast and I am told by Liverpool that their Tomato Baked Pork Chop Rice is about the best there is around. But if you just came here for those items, you'd miss out on some pretty authentic Hong Kong cuisine. The restaurant is run by Hong Konger, Francis who did start out with the Hong Kong cafe concept. But soon they found that they were attracting more families looking for dinner type menus. So it has become more like a little Hong Kong Kitchen rather than a Cafe.

When I think of authentic Hong Kong cuisine, the Double Braised Winter Melon Soup always comes to mind. My sister-in-law's family is from Hong Kong and whenever we visit them in Sydney, her mom would inevitably pre-order this from their favourite Chinese restaurant. As with a lot of prized Hong Kong dishes, this takes a long time to prepare as the soup needs to be slowly cooked in the melon for many hours. The result is a very sweet Cantonese style clear soup with a very soft flesh of the winter melon which is scooped out just before serving. 4.25/5


Nam Yu Crispy Roast Chicken $32 (preorder)

The one dish that all the kakis were raving about was the Roast Chicken which you also have to order one day in advance. The Nam Yu was a nice little twist over the more common five spice seasoning and I was told this was very popular in Hong Kong. It was perfectly cooked with the bone marrow was still bright red, but the flesh cooked through and very tender. I felt the skin could have been more crispy though. Instead of salt and pepper, it was served with a sweet and saltish Nam Yu dip which is very good, though I thought it would be nice to also have the salt and pepper dip which is what I was accustomed to. 4.5/5


Egg Wrapped Treasure Bag $5 per piece (preorder)

We Asians often spend many hours on labourious food preparation. Perhaps this is due to the cheap labour costs. I remember in Thailand, you even have ladies sitting around peeling the shell off the legs of the local mud crabs (legs not the pincers). They then serve these on a platter with a dip. I just couldn't stomach it as I thought about how they might use their teeth to crack open the legs before extracting the meat.

Anyway, this particular Egg Wrapped Treasure Bag is another labour intensive dish which I suspect might have been concocted by Chinese Chefs in the past impress the Emperor. I am telling you all this because I feel some dishes you eat for the taste and others you eat because it is unique and takes a lot of effort to make. I wouldn't say the taste of the dish is die die must try, it is good, but if you gave me the same stuff wrapped in ordinary crystal dumpling skin, I would have derived almost the same amount of taste satisfaction. The value add really is in the thought that the skin is made from just egg white with a bit of flour. 4/5


Lup Mei Fan $32

This is essentially Hong Kong style Claypot Rice with homemade Lup Cheong and preseved meats. I think most Singaporeans will say that they would like some salted fish and thick black sauce with the dish as this is the version we are accustomed to. The Lup Cheong is made by a Hong Kong chef who has specially flown into Singapore and is one of the best Lup Cheong I have tasted. It has a wonderful floral fragrance with the flavour of a sweet wine. The preserved pork belly was marvellous with the rice. 4/5

For those looking for a nice Lup Cheong, they are available at $30 per packet (600g)


Fa Chai with Dried Scallops $20 per portion (Photo shows 1.5 portion)

With CNY just round the corner, the restaurant has started preparing the traditional CNY dishes. The Fa Chai with dried scallops was very good, the scallops were huge and my M-I-L gave her left thumb of approval (She's left handed). 4.25/5


French Toast and Tea/Kopi set $4.50

If you are a fan of Hong Kong Cafe style food, you should check out their French Toast. It is very good. The bread is fluffy and the crust is thin and not soggy. One of the best that I have tried in Singapore. 4.5/5

Conclusion

You'll have to try it yourself to find out why the kakis are making it the restaurant of the month.

Read and see their photos here

Cafe de Hong Kong
586 Balestier Road
#01-01 Eastpac Building
S329898
62553865
jkcintl@yahoo.com.sg
11.30am to 3pm, 5.30pm to 12mn
Closed on Mon (except on PH)

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Fatty Ox Hong Kong Roast Duck: He's not Fat and He's No Ox, but He's Back!

The stall is closed wef 29 June 2009, the owner is looking for a new location

Roast Duck $32 each

Fans of Fatty Ox Hong Kong Roast Duck can rejoice that their favourite Hong Kong Roast Meat man is back after a one and a half year hiatus.

Unlike some other stalls whose "comeback" is claimed by a relative or an ex-employee of the place, this one is a proper return to the pugalistic world (Chung2 Chu4 Jiang1 Hu2) of the famed roaster, Fatty Ox. The last time I met Mr Fatty Ox was just before he closed his shop at Murray Street. Since then Mr Cheung, who is neither fat nor bears any resemblance to an Ox (The only truth in the stall name is the fact that he is indeed from Hong Kong) has been roaming the HDB estates looking for a suitable place to once again entice Singaporeans with his Roast Duck.

I am sure glad he is back because his Roast Duck is still one of the best around. Tender and nicely spiced and served with plum sauce, I gave it high marks in my last review and I am glad to report that standards have not dropped. 4.5/5


Char Siew $32 per kg

When it comes to Char Siew, I had the most mind blowing experience recently when our makan kaki Wahcow, bless his soul, tarpaued this incredible Char Siew from KL which is like 50% meat, 50% fat but 100% shiok. That Char Siew scores a 4.85 from me but sadly I have not come across any that is close to it this side of the border.

Fatty Ox's Char Siew doesn't come close but is one of the better ones around. In terms of tenderness and juiciness it scores very highly. However, it still lacked that X factor when it comes to the taste. Alas, now that I have tasted that KL Char Siew, I might not be completely satisfied with any of the local ones anymore! 4.25/5



The Sio Bak was tender and juicy and meat has a great flavour. It is much better than a lot of other places where the Sio Bak is always cut too thin and the meat is completely dry. My only complaint that day is that the skin wasn't as crispy as it should be. That could be because I went after the lunch hour, so it wasn't freshly roasted. If you want the best roast meat experience, you might want to get there at around 11am to get the roast just when it comes out of the oven. 4.25/5

Conclusion

I am sure fans of Fatty Ox will be making a beeline to his new location. They still have one of the best roast duck in town in my opinion and the Sio Bak should also be one of the best around if you get it when it is just out from the oven.

Fatty Ox Hong Kong Roast Duck
10 North Bridge Road (Just After North Bridge Road FC)
HP: 96385345
11am to 9pm
Closed Alt Wed

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Jacky Chan's Cafe: Kung Fu Cappuccinno and Dim Sum!

I still remember my very first Jacky Chan movie. It was none other than "Drunken Monkey", the good olde Kung Fu movie back in 1978 with a predictable storyline which only serves as a backdrop for the Kung Fu actors to display their Kung Fu skills.

You know the story........ young disciple's master gets killed by bad guy, big headed young disciple seeks revenge but gets beaten up real bad, learns his lesson on humility, learns a new fighting skill, goes up against the bad guy again, almost gets killed, but last minute gets flashback from old deceased master, suddenly gets extra power boost and kills bad guy....

Yeah, I remember trying to do the Jui Chuen (Drunken Kungfu) just like Jacky when I was a kid! C'mon, you guys have done it too lah!

Anyway, fast forward 30 years, Jacky Chan is now a household name even in the Western world. There is even a Jacky Chan cartoon series. So why would a guy with such fame and fortune want to open a cafe?

That was the question I posed to Simon, the man in charge of Jacky Chan's cafe in Singapore. By the way, the one in Singapore is the very first Jacky Chan cafe which is quite interesting as you would have expected it to have started in Hong Kong instead. According to Simon it is all about the Hong Kong people's mindset of starting businesses. So Jacky, being a good Hong Konger is just doing it because it is in his genes.



So, if you were Jacky Chan, what kind of cafe would you like to open? One that serves Cappuccino with Dim Sum seems to be the answer. And I think it is a great idea as well.

You know how Dim Sum always seems to be something you eat with more than 2 friends? Yeah, everything comes in threes. So it is difficult for 2 people to have a casual dim sum meal. So the good thing with the cafe is that everything comes in twos. Just right for you and a friend.

The other way to think of it is that whenever you have coffee, don't you wish you had something nice and savoury like a Char Siew Shou or some Springrolls? Since this is such a great idea, why does it take someone like Jacky Chan to come up with it first, I wonder? Some other enterprising entrepreneur should have thought about it long ago, right?



Anyway, the Dim Sum here is from Imperial Treasure, so the quality is very good. They have several steamed items like teochew dumplings and lotus leaf glutinous rice but most of the items are the baked and deep fried ones like Wu Kok (Fried Yam dumplings), Char Siew Shou (Char Siew Puffs), egg tarts and this particular Yam Puff which I thought was the best of the lot.

The Yam Puff filled with a sweet Yam Paste and salted egg yolk. The pastry is light and flaky and I think you can imagine that it would taste really good. I give this one a 4.5/5.

Conclusion

Great place to chill out with a friend over coffee and dim sum. I think there would be more cafes serving dim sum popping up in Singapore real soon.

Jackie Chan's Cafe
1 Nassim Road, #01-01
Opp Tanglin Shopping Centre
7.30am to 10pm daily

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House of Steamed Soup & Rice: Steamed Soup Served with a Smile

Some foods you eat because it is shiok. Some foods you eat to cleanse your system because the night before you ate something which was shiok. Whenever I need to eat something guilt free, I think of steamed soup and plain rice. Yep, as I get older, plain white rice seems to taste better and better. Not only that, it is guaranteed not to give you indigestion or reflux!

There are lots of steamed soup places that have made their appearance in recent years to cash in on the healthier lifestyle trend. You can now find steamed soups in a majority of air-con food courts. So what is it that sets this one apart from the others? For me it was 3 things. 1. The generous quantity of ingredients. 2. The fact that the soup is actually double boiled ie steamed in a steamer and not boiled then put in a steamer and 3. The friendly couple selling the soup ie great service.

A lot of times when you order a bowl of Xi Yang Chai (Watercress) Tang, you get a few strands of Xi Yang Chai that has been boiled to death and maybe 3 pieces of lean pork. Here, you get a generous helping of the vegetables that are steamed such that the soup is tasty yet the vegetables are soft but still intact. Same goes with the Winter Melon soup, the chunks of Winter melon are still intact but soft. This is achieved because the soup is not pre-boiled first. Instead all the raw ingredients are put into the bowls and then cooked by putting it in a steamer. This way the temperature is never too high to overboil the soup, resulting in maximal extraction of the flavours without destroying the precious nutrients. In addition, they use only pork soft bones and you get around 5 generous pieces per bowl! 4.25/5



Hong Kong style food is less robust when compared to Singapore food. So don't expect the soup to be very savoury. It is very Cheng (clear) and some may even find it a tad bland. However, as I said, it is great for those seeking something healthy to cleanse the system.

The steamed rice was also very good. I had the steamed pork with salted egg which was excellent. The pork was perfectly marinated and it was bouncy to the bite. Having the minced pork with the rice was really tasty yet gentle to the stomach. 4.5/5

Here's the Hong Kong Chef himself. Mr Heung has lived in Singapore for quite some time now and is married to a Singaporean. He still speaks with that typical Hong Kong accent though his mandarin is pretty much almost localised. I had a great chat with him. Friendly and unassuming, it is great to find a hawker who is passionate about his food and provides service with a smile!

Conclusion

Certainly not something you would drive all the way from Choa Chu Kang to eat, but if you living in the East and hankering for something nutritious and tasty, this would be a good choice. At $3 per bowl of steamed soup or steamed rice, it is one of the best value for money HK food that you can find!

House of Steamed Soup & Rice
29B Chai Chee Ave
Fair Vision Food Court
11am to 8pm
Closed on Sunday (So that the couple can attend Church!)

Recommended by Sker

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Fragrant Hong Kong Pork Rib Rice: Great Value HK Cuisine!: Hong Lim Food Centre 7 of 7

With iwatch_ueat, damien, liverpool and smart


When I was in Hong Kong recently, every Char Chan Ting (Tea House) I walked into had dishes around HK$20-30 (S$5-6). Even in Singapore, most of the Tea Houses that have sprouted up across our island have dishes for around the same price (ie for a dish you can eat to fill your tummy for dinner). So imagine my surprise when I found this Stall selling a Hong Kong meal for $2.50!



The thing about Hong Kong food is that when compared to Singapore food, there tends to be less use of chillies and spices. Some Singaporeans may find it bland. I certainly find Hong Kong food tasty yet satisfying without having to suffer the glutton's hangover (Indigestion). Aiya, as one gets older, sometimes we don't go for "Shiok Shiok" anymore as much as "Shiok and comfortable after the meal" and "Shiok and my cholesterol levels still ok".

That's the kind of feeling when I tried the Pork Rib Rice. I think "Fragrant" is the right word to describe it. The Pork Ribs were lightly seasoned, tender and savoury while the rice was surprisingly satisfying. It wasn't that the sauce was shiokadelicious, it was just that the rice was perfectly steamed such that the grains were nicely separated and firm to the bite. There was minimal oil in the rice and every mouthful feels just right. 4.25/5

When I was younger I used to love potatoes chips, pasta, steaks, hamburgers etc, but as I grow older I find that I can't go for too long without my bowl of simple plain steamed rice and this one really hits the spot for me. (It's scary but one day I might even start liking Rosewood furniture -- sure sign of old age!)



The rice is first steamed and the meat is then added on top and place in a steamer. When you order, they first remove the meat from the bowl, then mix the rice with the sauce and put everything onto the plate.

This second dish is the Mince Meat with Mei Chai which was really tasty. It's the kind of thing I love to order with my bowl of piping hot Teochew porridge but it went equally well with the rice. The taste of the Mei Chai was subtle and lends a bit of sweetness to the mince meat. 4/5



Our makanbro damien swears by their "tonic" soup. This soup is boiled for over 4 hours and like the other items here, you feel really comfortable after eating it. Good stuff to complement your rice and for $1.50 I'd say its real value for money. 4/5



Our pair of HK sisters have been in Singapore for almost 30 years. They started this stall over at the Chinatown Complex Food Centre 5 years ago and shifted here when they closed for renovation.

Conclusion

Simple, satisfying and definitely one of the cheapest Hong Kong food you can get in Singapore.

Fragrant Hong Kong Pork Rib Rice
Hong Lim Food Centre
#02-70
9.30am to 7pm daily

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Hong Kong Tea House - 70's HK cuisine

Have you ever had a HongKonger look at you funny when you tell him that what he is eating is a a plate of Hong Kong Mee? They will vehemently insist there is no such thing in Hong Kong. Well, the time has come to get one back. Now you can head down to the Hong Kong Tea House and let him order you a plate of Singapore Bee Hoon (Xin Zhou Chao Fen) and return him the favour. Yep, the famous Singapore Bee Hoon which originated in Hong Kong can now be found right here, where it is supposed to belong. Funny, I still find the taste a bit hard to get used to. The yellow colour of the bee hoon is due to the use of a blend of mild curry powder (The type used to make Ang Mo Curry). Maybe the HongKong Chefs were trying to imitate our Mee Goreng. Alas, they lack the most critical ingredient, a true blue (dark brown really) Indian chef!



There is a touch of real authenticity in the Hong Kong Tea House, a brainchild of two Hong Kongers who just miss Hong Kong street food from the 70's. They've set up this restaurant in the old Joo Chiat Police Station whose heyday was also back in the 70's. (The colonial architecture really adds to the nostalgic feel) They probably also raided their old storeroom to find LPs of Hong Kong Pop Stars to adorn the walls. So get ready to see some really young "old" faces adorning wide collars and showing off their lack of chest hair. You'd also chuckle when you see all the "Sheena Easton" hairdo on the ladies.



The tea house offers over 300 items that reflect the fusion of British and Cantonese cuisines. What happened in the 70's was that the British set up lots of restaurants offering Western cuisine that was out of reach for the Hong Konger on the street. So the locals set up Tea Houses that offered their interpretation of Western Cuisine. As a result, you can find stuff like french toast, spaghetti, baked rice on the same menu as Hor Fun, Fried Noodles, Dim Sum and so on. What's really interesting is when you see them cook spaghetti in a wok. And, all the spaghetti dishes also have a stir fried version! (Spaghetti with Wok Hei! Mama Mia! Chee Xin Liao!) The real reason they have so much food is because the owners just sat down and listed all their childhood favourites and insisted the chef put it on the menu!



I have never been to a real Hong Kong Cafe in Hong Kong, so it is hard to say how authentic this is. But the owners insist that the food is exactly what it tastes like in Hong Kong. Well, if that is the case, then I must admit that Hong Kong food is a lot less spicy and robust then Singapore food. That is not to say it is bad, it is just different.

One of the dishes that I really like is their version of Pork Trotter in Vinegar. Theirs is a bit sweeter then the ones we get here, but I love the taste of the blue ginger infused into the creamy sweet and sour sauce. The sauce really gets your salivary glands working. Best thing is they give individiual servings. $3.80 per bowl. Shiokness Score: 4/5

I also sampled the SzeChuan hot and sour soup, which I found a little bland. Like I say, the Hong Kongers don't like it as robust as we do. $3.50 per bowl. 3/5



I like this Crispy Fried Lotus Root with Pork. First time I am having this. Really tasty and gives you that umami rush. $3.50 for 3 pieces - a bit expensive to eat a whole bunch but definitely worth trying. 4/5




The full name of the restaurant is Hong Kong Tea House and Dessert Paradise. So expect some serious desserts. The Mango Smoothie with Black Chin Chow is very refreshing and is made from fresh mangoes. $5.50 3.75/5 The house speciality is the Red Bean drink which you can have with or without ice cream $3.80 and $4.80 respectively. I had the one without ice cream and found it was not sweet enough though I like the generous serving of soft and mushy red beans. 3.5/5 The one with ice cream should be really good



The turnip cakes are pretty good. You can really bite into strands of turnip (or are they radishes?) and there is a nice amount of chinese sausages and dried prawns. As good a turnip cakes go. $3 for 3 pieces. 3.75/5



You must have spotted the Wok Hei (Flambe) in the earlier montage. Hor Fun is No Fun without Wok Hei. The Hor Fun was good especially with the crunchy bean sprouts but hei, Wok Hei no enough! (I expected more when I saw the explosion in the kitchen) Otherwise this could have been a winner. $6 per plate. 3.75/5




The really good thing about the Hong Kong Tea House is the fact that they offer so many varieties of Siao Chi, (Small dishes) that you can sit down and eat with a cup of Hong Kong Milk Tea (Teh Si - $2). I particularly like the Capsicum with minced pork. And for $3 a serving with no service charge, gst and tax it is actually quite good value given that each dish is prepared fresh. 4/5




Owners Elaine and Victoria infuse the place with their cheery personalities. They basically set this up because they felt nostalgic for 70's Hong Kong Street Food. (Isn't it cheaper just to fly to Hong Kong and eat all you want?) But we are thankful they have chosen to share their passion with us Singaporeans.




Conclusion

With so many Hong Kong Cafes around why choose this one? Well, the ambience is fantastic, the parking is easy, it is opened 24 Hours and it is close to my home. The food is good though I have not had anything that is "die-die-must-try". But there are so many interesting things offered that I just have to go back to try the rest. Plus for me, it is much better then the alternative which is to sit in a cafe and drink latte and eat cheesecake. (So boring).

8.25/10 (T2.75+V2.5+S2+E1) Nice alternative to Starbucks, enough novelty to keep you coming back, and, where else can you go eat a nice Dim Sum at 12 mn without +++?

Hong Kong Tea House
Katong Village #01-09/10
Tel: 63451932
Always opened never shut!

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