I was at Hong Lim hawker centre today, and decided to join the queue at Heng Kee, one of my favourite chicken curry mee stalls.
I can smell the curry spices and coconut milk while waiting in the queue.
A heap of poached chicken sat at the stall front. It made me feel more hungry 😂
Ah Huat sported a new hairstyle - next week is Chinese New Year 😄
Heng Kee was founded by Ah Huat's grandfather over 60 years ago along the Singapore River at Boat Quay & Synagogue Street. The street side stall moved to Hong Lim hawker centre when it opened over 40 years ago. Ah Huat worked with his dad for nearly two decades, taking over the stall 5 years ago when his dad Tay Yong Heng passed on.
There are the $5.50 and $8 options - I opted for the latter. It's a lot of food - a mound of yellow noodles submerged in fiery looking curry topped with large chunks of poached chicken, potato and tau pok.
The curry had moderate to full body and full savoury spicy sweet flavours. There was a bit of graininess from the rempah (spice blend) in the curry.
The tender chicken meat had a squeaky chewy bite like kampung chicken but the meatiness and juiciness of American broilers 肉鸡. The meat tasted sweet with natural chicken sweetness like those at top Singapore chicken rice stalls.
The floppy fishcake stick was soft and added a nice gently savoury sweet touch to the dish.
A soft boiled potato well infused with curry spice flavour.
Simple generic yellow noodles done just right with flavoursome curry clinging to its tender bouncy strands - I like.
The tau pok stewed in the curry till it was like a wet rag gave the curry a bit of savoury taste while sponging up loads of spicy sweet flavours which bursted in the mouth.
Recommended for you 👍 One of the chicken curry mee stalwarts in Hong Lim hawker centre, three generations old. Excellent curry and poached chicken.
Restaurant name: Heng Kee Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee 兴记咖喱鸡米粉面
Address: #01-58, Hong Lim Food Centre, 531A Upper Cross Street, Singapore 510531
GPS: 1.284966, 103.846049
Hours: 10:00am to 2:00pm (Closed on Sunday, Monday, Public Holidays)
Tel: 9362 3372
Non Halal
Date visited: 29 Jan 2019 | Updated 17 Oct 2021
I have been eating at Heng Kee Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee 兴记咖喱鸡米粉面 long before my blogging days. Heng Kee is a pioneer of curry chicken noodles in Singapore. Curry, chicken and bee hoon / yellow noodles is a great combination of my comfort dishes. It's a brilliant idea to put all three together in one dish.
I waited 30 minutes before I reached this point in the queue. Many customers were taking away several orders each.
Since I waited so long, I opted for the large SGD7 bowl of curry chicken bee hoon. (The regular bowl costs SGD5.)
The curry broth was heavy bodied with coconut milk, chicken stock and slightly grainy with ground curry spices. It was aromatic and tasted quite sweet, slightly savoury, and just mildly spicy. It was not too greasy as the floating oil had been skimmed off. Even people new to curry will be comfortable with this "friendly" curry broth.
If you want more kick in your curry broth, add in Heng Kee's house made sambal chili sauce. The sambal chili is deeply savoury, quite spicy and has slight bitter notes.
Heng Kee's curry chicken is poached like those at good chicken rice stalls. The flesh was smooth, very tender and juicy. The fat just beneath the skin congeals into a sweet jelly like gel. Heng Kee's chicken has that lovely chickeny flavour and aroma which even many chicken rice stalls fail to deliver.
The fresh chicken is cooked 95% done which is perfectly safe to eat - I like it this way. If you prefer it cooked through, bury the chicken pieces in the hot curry broth for a couple of minutes.
There were many pieces of this taupok. The spongy taupok itself were quite flavourless and rough, but it did a marvellous job soaking up the curry broth.
There were several long slices of bland tasting fish cakes which I livened up with a bit of house made chili paste.
The potato was peeled and fried before cooking till soft in the curry broth. The potato was sweet with infused curry flavours through it.
The generic bee hoon picked up the curry broth well. We also have the choice of yellow noodles.
Mr Tay Khang Huat 鄧康發 or Ah Huat is the third generation owner of Heng Kee. Together with his elderly mum, Ah Huat runs the stall founded by his grand dad more than 40 years ago.
Ah Huat's dad (the late Mr Tay Yong Heng) used to poke his nose around Singapore's Little India to sniff out inspirations to spice up his curry broth. Ah Huat has vowed to keep up his dad's recipes and techniques.
Waiting time of at least 30 minutes is expected.
There may be debates about which chicken curry stall's curry is better but for chicken, I think Heng Kee is hard to beat.
Restaurant name: Heng Kee Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee 兴记咖喱鸡米粉面
Address: #01-58, Hong Lim Food Centre, 531A Upper Cross Street, Singapore 510531
Map: http://bit.ly/HengKee
GPS: 1.284966, 103.846049
Hours: 10:00am to 2:00pm (Closed on Sunday, Monday, Public Holidays)
Tel: 9362 3372
Non Halal
Date visited: 2 May 2015
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