Braised pork offal has always been one of my favourite street food. It is affordable and packed with flavours and interesting textures. I always marvel at how something so humble can be turned into such delectable food. I appreciate that preparing pork offal is very hard, time consuming work.
After blogging 15 kway teow kia 粿條仔 places in Johor Bahru, I am coming full circle, rediscovering kway chap 棵汁 in Singapore. The two dishes, both based on braised pork offal and rice noodles are similar like cousins, yet are different.
I am starting my Singapore kway chap trail with Lao San Kway Chap 老三棵汁·猪什汤 in Ang Mo Kio town where I spent my teens.
Our plate of mixed pork innards, tongue and skin. At kway chap (and Johor Bahru kia teow kia) stalls, I reserve my stomach space for the main actress (innards) and usually avoid supporting cast like eggs and fish cakes. My must haves are tip of large intestines, small intestines, tongue and skin.
Lao San's braised offal are relatively lightly flavoured by Singapore standards (which tend to be on the too salty side 死咸 for my meek taste buds). The braising stock is mildly savoury sweet, so we can taste the natural sweetness of the pork. It reminds me of JB kway teow kia offals minus the herbal flavour. Lao San's offal were very well cleaned - we could detect nothing other than pleasant porcine flavours.
Extra tender, spongy 大腸頭. Not for the faint hearted as this is near the (pardon me) rectum 😛
Small intestines with powdery insides.
The pig skin was floppy soft with a light bounce.
I like kway 棵; rice in broad sheets. (I prefer this broad kway over the skinny kway teow used in JB's kway teow kia.)
Though the medium bodied broth looked dark, it was just mildly savoury and was balanced by sweetness. There was little (if any) herbal flavour but the presence of garlic oil and bits was pronounced. Not overly greasy, the broth was drinkable. I emptied two bowls 😛
Tender, slippery kway with the savoury sweet broth clinging to its large surface and also trapped between its soft folds. Yumms.
A little bit of tangy savoury sweet, crunchy braised preserved vegetables (chai buay) spiked with fried pork and lard always goes well with kway chap.
The salty, spicy, sourish chili dip. I didn't use this much as I like to taste the offal's natural flavours.
The queue at Lao San is long on weekends, and more often than not, the
The friendly boss Uncle 老三 was extremely busy but he graciously obliged my request for a photo 😄
老三 (literally "old number 3") works the day shift while his elder brother 老二 "old number 2" runs the night shift on Thursdays and Saturdays.
Plenty of seats at the heartland coffee shop though it can get very crowded on weekends. The normally ample parking can get scarce too.
Lao San kway chap is at the same HDB block 232 as the famous Melben Seafood renowned for its crab dishes.
I like it at old school Lao San as the braising stock's light savoury sweet flavours allow me to enjoy the offal's natural flavours.
Credit: Screen grab from Google Map
Restaurant name: Lao San Kway Chap 老三棵汁·猪什汤
Address: #01-1222 Blk 232, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3, Singapore 560232
GPS: 1.367604, 103.837329
Tel: +6594870693
Hours: 8:00 am to 9:00 pm (Closed on Thurs)
Non Halal
Date visited: 10 May 2015, 21 May 2015
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