Johor Road Boon Kee Pork Porridge & History of Johore Road

Johor Road Boon Kee Pork Porridge is one of the oldest and most popular pork porridge stalls in Singapore. I love its lumpy texture and deep layers of full blown sweet savoury flavours from fresh ingredients. This is one of the best porridge stalls in Singapore that I've tasted.




Restaurant name: Johor Road Boon Kee Pork Porridge
Address: Yi He Eating House (coffee shop), 638 Veerasamy Road, Singapore 200638
Nearest MRT station: Jalan Besar
Tel: 6296 9100
Hours: 7:00am - 2:00pm (Mon off)

Buddy had been jio-ing me to go eat Johor Road Boon Kee Pork Porridge for a long time. "You so-call Johor Kaki, never eat Johor Road porridge before meh... ?"

Yeah.... I get cruelly goaded like this too often..... 😤

And so, today I finally made it.

Oh my.... 😋 what took me so long? 🤔



OK porridge is never a very photogenic dish but I was actually quite blown away by the depth of sweet savoury flavours from the first obligatory, tentative mouthful.



The fresh minced pork, liver, raw egg, chopped scallion, you char kway, tung chye (preserved nappa cabbage), fried shallot, aromatic oil, and probably pork & bone stock all added their sweet savoury flavours into the thick rice gruel. (They have different combinations of ingredients including cuttlefish, pork slices, pig stomach, chicken, century egg etc at different prices.)

The Hainanese style porridge is thick and lumpy. In the mouth, it had layers of softness and it was all sweet savoury flavours. So delicious and comforting. It is so easy to like or put another way, how not to like this porridge?



I especially love the pork liver. They were cut to the size and thickness l like. Done barely medium, the liver slices were tender, "powdery 粉粉" and had a soft crunch to the bite. It had the characteristic liver taste plus a bit of natural sweetness.

Nice.

There was once a Johore Road in Singapore.

Map of Singapore 1976. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

Johore Road (spelt with an "e") was a colourful street during its heyday in the 1950s to 1980s before it was demolished.

Johore Road 1980. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

Johore Road temple 1981. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

Taoist priest at Johore Road in 1980. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

Johore Road temple 1981. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

There were shophouses, street hawkers, temples, and brothels. Johor Road Boon Kee Pork Porridge was one of the hawker legends of Johore Road but the little backstreet was really famous notorious for other things.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

A stone's throw from Bugis Street which was popular with tourists, Johore Road offered the same entertainment menu for a local clientele.

A Johore - Singapore express bus in 1955. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

Queen Street 1978. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

Johor Road Boon Kee Pork Porridge was popular with passengers at the Johore - Singapore express bus station at the adjacent Queen Street.

Johore Road 1981. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

Johore Road had a rough and tough image, so the Police often made their presence felt here.

Durian stall at Johore Road 1979. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

Johore Road 1977. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

Enjoying chicken rice together under a banyan tree in 1979. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

Johore Road also had its more idyllic, softer side.

Johore Road 1980s. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

Demolition of Johore Road started in the 1980s and by 1990, it was all done.

Johore Road 1980. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

Neighbours enjoyed card games as usual for a while longer, even as their homes and shops were torn down around them.

Image credit: Google Map

Today, all that remains of the once colourful street are two patches of grass (since the 1990s). Perhaps there were big plans for Johore Road which hasn't come to fruition yet.

The only thing left to remind us of this once happening street is Johor Road Boon Kee Pork Porridge stall now at Veerasamy Road.

What are your memories of Johore Road? As a child, I just remember being warned not to venture or roam there 😂

Hainanese pork porridge over in Johor Bahru  👈 click

Date visited: 9 Aug 2020 | Reviewed 31 Dec 2021