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| Weng Kiang Kee Porridge | 335 Smith St, stall #02-082, Singapore 050335 (Chinatown Complex Food Centre) 🚅 5 minute walk from Chinatown or Maxwell stations ☏ 8839 3686 ⏰ 7:30am - 1pm (Mon off) |
✍️4 Apr 2025. Came for Weng Kiang Kee Porridge today to get my fix after a long while.
Weng Kiang Kee Porridge is still the same - restaurant quality porridge at hawker centre prices - just see for yourself.
I ordered the "signature" and added fried intestine and birth "intestine".
The porridge was thick, dense, weighty, the rice grains almost (but not) completely dissolved i.e. Hainanese style.
Boss Charlie uses a blend of Thai jasmine rice, glutinous rice and sushi rice (short grain Japanese) boiled in stock for body and layers of flavours.
Then, Charlie's porridge is loaded with so much ingredients. It is an elevated version, a luxury, an indulgence most people can afford easily thanks to Charlie 🙏
The customary jullienned raw ginger, fried shallot, chopped scallion. I was busy chit chatting, a dash of soy sauce, sesame oil, and puff of white pepper would have taken it to another level - only realised I forgot when I am writing this now 🤭 Meaning, the porridge was already flavourful enough without customary condiments 😁
Fresh, chunky lard croutons, crisp and saturated with aromatic grease.
Crunchy crisp, double fried you char kway for added texture.
The "signature" comes with slices of crunchy tender fresh liver.
Chunks of marine fish, tender and so sweet. Charlie no longer uses river fish like toman as they have a earthy taste (although actually I don't mind as it is another kind of acquired taste).
Signature comes with lean pork slices but I told Charlie to leave them out (don't want to eat so much meat lah) 😁
Add things that I like better 😬
Such as birth "intestine" . Compared to pork intestines, birth tubes are smoother, more tender with a light springy crunch. It has a subtle sweet taste without the bitterness of some intestine sections.
Truth be told, I was expecting the crisp no fat kind of pork intestine, so the health conscious part of me was a little hesitant about this.
But, they were so beautifully fried crisp golden brown outside, soft spongy moist inside. We were busy chatting and I unknowingly finished off all of them 🤭
Finished my porridge 😋
My only complain was I was so full after this! 😅
Still one of the best porridge that I know of in Singapore, certainly in a hawker centre.
Stall name: Weng Kiang Kee Porridge
Address: 335 Smith St, stall #02-082, Singapore 050335 (Chinatown Complex Food Centre)
Nearest MRT: 5 minute walk from Chinatown or Maxwell stations
Tel: 8839 3686
Hours: 7:30am - 1pm (Mon off)
Written by Tony Boey on 4 Apr 2025
✍20 Jul 2019. Drinking coffee, eating claypot rice, curry mee etc in Chinatown Complex Green Zone, I noticed a new stall serving porridge. Weng Kiang Kee Porridge though new here, seemed to already have a good following whom are familiar with the friendly owner and lady boss.
Truth be told, I do not naturally gravitate to porridge stalls or shops. Porridge is comfort food to me and I am drawn to it only when I need comfort, like when I feel a little under the weather. Otherwise, when I go to a hawker centre or restaurant, I look for something that can tingle or titillate my taste buds a little.
But, I did casually remarked audibly that the new kid on the block looked interesting. I would give it a try on another day as I am already over stuffed today, anyway.
Big mistake.
Buddy took it as a cue to get Weng Kiang's Signature Porridge, their largest serving at S$4 😂
"Don't worry, can't finish I tabao for my son" he said as he came back with the big bowl of hot porridge.
Dug a little below the surface, the porridge was choked with ingredients - pork slices, minced pork balls, liver, intestine, fish, cuttlefish, century egg etc.
Woh ho... this porridge is nice 😋
The porridge had just the right thickness and mouth feel. It was smooth but we can still make out traces of the fragrant Thai rice grains - it was not a wet paste (i.e. unlike Hong Kong congee). It had a mild natural rice sweetness complemented by layers of savoury sweetness infused from the multitude of fresh ingredients.
Very tasty lah.
There's fresh toman fish (snakehead) slices which were tender and sweet.
Fresh soft spongy crunchy pork liver with nice natural taste.
Small intestines well cleaned, soft tender and sweet.
Everything in the bowl was nice and the most memorable thing was the "birth intestines" 生肠 (fallopian tube). It's hard to describe the texture accurately - let me try. They were soft like jelly and had a tender feather light crunch that went pop gently, to the bite. The "birth intestine" was clean tasting and slightly sweet.
We caught up with stall owner Charlie Chang Weng Kiang who was sold out for the day at 1pm - he was cleaning and preparing for the next business day. He was soaking the "birth intestines" in a flour solution and later clean it with baking soda.
Charlie started his culinary career as a waiter in a Hainanese Western diner in Orchard Towers in the 1970s. He then graduated to work in the kitchen. In the 1980s, he followed his mentor to work in Chinese and Indonesian restaurants in Paris.
After his stint in France, Charlie returned to Singapore to work in the newly opened Crown Prince Hotel in Orchard Road. His resume includes the kitchens of Mandarin Oriental, Ritz Carlton, Raffles and Fullerton in Singapore as well as Setai in Miami, USA. Charlie's last position before retirement was Executive Chef in Grand Millennium Hotel in Beijing.
Charlie is a big fan of Joe Pork Porridge stall in Chinatown Complex. So, he felt a bit sad when Joe closed his stall. As Charlie doesn't want to see the Singapore style of porridge disappear, he decided to bid for the stall and opened Weng Kiang Kee Porridge about 6 months ago.
Charlie has kept his prices affordable despite premium ingredients like air flown Aussie pork etc because keeping the Chinatown community together is one of his goals for Weng Kiang Kee Porridge. Affordable traditional porridge is one of the social glue that bonds the elderly folks in Chinatown. For decades, they come to Chinatown Complex daily for that comforting hot porridge fix. For me, hopefully Charlie also gains a younger following that brings younger folks into the community to keep the porridge culture thriving for generations to come.
Thanks Chef Charlie.
Recommended for you 👍 Restaurant quality traditional porridge personally prepared by a 5 Star hotel executive chef at hawker prices - what more can one ask for?
oh... we finished everything, so buddy's son had to go get a packet of char kway teow instead 😂
More good food in Singapore Chinatown 👈 click
Updates from Subsequent Visits
Restaurant name: Weng Kiang Kee Porridge 荣强记粥品
Address: Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre, 335 Smith Street, #02-082, Green Zone, Singapore 050335
GPS: 1.282668, 103.842873
Hours: 7:00am to 1:00pm (closed on Mon & Tues)
Non Halal
Written by Tony Boey on 20 Jul 2019 | Reviewed 16 Apr 2022
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Looking at the intestine, my saliva flow non stop
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