Last night, on my way to an appointment, an old familiar alluring, quite pungent aroma caught my attention. I paused for a while at Kong Kee Mutton Soup at 209, Jalan Besar and made a mental note to come back for it soon.
I came right back to Kong Kee Mutton Soup 江记羊肉汤, the very next day, jettisoning some earlier plans.
Lady boss 谢三妹 has been selling mutton soup for over 30 years, first at Kitchener Road and here at Jalan Besar for around 7 - 8 years (as at 2020). 谢's husband who was a kopi kia (coffee boy) learnt the original recipe from his master but they have tweaked the recipe over the last 30 years based on customer feedback. Most of Kong Kee's clientele are regulars who have been loyal to the stall which had weathered some ups and downs through the decades.
The New Zealand mutton is slowed boiled with herbs for hours. 谢三妹 meticulously trimmed off the fats from the ribs.
My highly anticipated $10.50 meal. Chinese mutton soup has never been a mainstream dish as many people do not appreciate the gamey taste and smell of lamb. It's a niche "unker" (middle aged male) dish. In recent years, the dish is slowly but steadily disappearing from the Singapore hawker scene.
The tea colour soup was light and almost free of grease (which Mdm 谢 skimmed off meticulously). The soup tasted mildly savoury herbal with a gentle spicy ginger overlay. It was tasty and highly drinkable.
The meat was oh... so.. tender, it was slipping off the bone like a loose wet sleeve when I picked it up. The soft meat fibres were engorged with juices and soup. I like it that the meat though soft still had a bit of last stand resistance, a subtly squeaky bite i.e. it was not mushy.
The meat tasted sweetish with a bit of lamb gaminess which I like. The herbal soup sponged into the fibres imparted its savoury herbal taste to the meat. It's a very tasty piece of mutton.
The tendon was boiled till it was soft like a stretchy jelly, barely holding together. It infused a bit of savoury herbal taste from the soup.
The tulang (shank bone) marrow was jelly soft and greasy with a sweetish taste and a bit of infused savoury herbalness. Nice!
Information for you 👍 Look... ma... all finished. Kong Kee is one of the handful of Chinese mutton soup stalls remaining in Singapore. If you like old school mutton soup that is mildly savoury herbal and gamey, this is for you.
Other Chinese mutton soup stalls in Singapore (these are about all we have left now):
Hong Wen 👈 click
Ivy's 👈 click
Lao Wu 👈 click
Chai Chuan Tou 👈 click
Update 23 Mar 2023:
Kong Kee Mutton Soup will close after pulling down the shutters for the last time on 31 Mar 2023. The owners both 66 are retiring, tired of the pains from years of toil. Boss Chen and wife Xie suffer aching legs and back, as well as numbness in their hands from long hours.
None of their four children wish to take over the business or legacy. They have no plans to sell their recipe at the moment.
The couple's immediate plan on retirement is to take a well deserved break by visiting their ancestral home Fuqing, Fujian, China. Source
Restaurant name: Kong Kee Mutton Soup 江记羊肉汤
Address: 165 Kitchener Road, Singapore 208532
Nearest MRT station: Farrer Park
Tel: 9819 9153
Hours: 10:00am - 9:00pm (Sunday off)
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