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O Kee Roast Delight O ่ฎฐ ๐Ÿฆ† Third Generation of Toh Kee Roast Duck Preserving a 100 Year Old Legacy ๐Ÿฆ† Formerly Wen Dao Ji ๆ–‡้“่ฎฐ

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Though not as tender or juicy as I like my roast ducks, I was blown away by the flavour of Wen Dao Ji's rendition of the Cantonese classic. It's that old school savoury flavour that I have not found anywhere else in Singapore.

Stall name: Wen Dao Ji (third generation of Toh Kee)


Address: People's Park Food Centre, Block 32, #01-1014, New Market Road, Singapore 050032


Tel: 8031 0103


Hours: 9:00am - 7:00pm (Monday off)


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Needing a quick dinner on a thundery Sunday evening, I stumbled upon Wen Dao Ji, a traditional roasts stall in People's Park Food Centre. The last two roast ducks of the day were hanging in the window. As we were tired and famished, we just settled for this rather than survey the sprawling food centre for the most promising stalls.

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We had a mixed platter of roast duck (lower quarter ไธ‹ๅบ„) and char siew. Everything here for $13.

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The meat was a little chewy, moist but not juicy. The golden brown skin wasn't crisp. The flavour, however, was roast duck epiphany for me - it was a layered savoury seasoning flavour I remember from my childhood but have forgotten for a long time.

I was delighted to taste this flavour again.


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Our plate of char siew were lean cuts - chewy and dry but flavour was nicely savoury salty.

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I didn't pay attention to the sauces but just dipped in a little when I was finishing my food, just to know what they taste like. I was blown away.

The orange-brown plum sauce tasted well balanced savoury tangy. Nice.


The surprise was the chili sauce - it's savoury, spicy, dried plum tangy. Lovely. I finished the sauces, folding some into the rice.


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Delighted with the roast duck and sauces, I went back to the stall to chat with the owners. Boss Shao Zhong is the sixth grandchild of Mr Ng Chow Hon, founder of Toh Kee Roast Duck.

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The stall name Wen Dao Ji ๆ–‡้“่ฎฐ is in honour of Shao Zhong's grandfather Ng Chow Hon who hailed from Panyu district of Guangzhou. Ng Chow Hon came to Singapore in the 1910s and started selling roast ducks in Kreta Ayer (today's Chinatown) as a two basket hawker. He named his humble stall, Toh Kee 
้“่ฎฐ.

After more than 100 years in operation, Toh Kee founded by Ng Chow Hon closed its Cantonese roasts stall in People's Park Food Centre on 1 Feb 2020. It was a sad day for generations of Toh Kee fans. 

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Shao Zhong and former Toh Kee head chef Fook Choy (front) opened Wen Dao Ji in Dec 2020, reviving the century old legacy of Toh Kee. 
The name Wen Dao ๆ–‡้“ means “Intelligence, Persistence and Loyalty” in honour of Toh Kee founder Ng Chow Hon.

Dear Toh Kee fans, your favourite Cantonese roasts stall has returned. 

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I need to be back at Wen Dao Ji in the morning to catch their roasts at their best, hot off the oven. Wen Dao Ji was about to close for the day when I ordered my roast duck today, so the duck wasn't quite at its best (but it still moved me enough to write this post). Next time, I shall ask for fatty cuts of char siew and go for their popular siew yok (crispy skin roast pork belly). I will also try to get a picture of Toh Kee's heirloom Apollo oven (roaster).



Written by Tony Boey on 21 Mar 2021

3 comments:

  1. A pricy place to satisfy your carving for Chinese roast.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We are toh kee pte ltd , officially the 3rd generation of toh kee (้“่ฎฐ) roast duck/meat and we are not affiliated and/or associated with any other company, and do not have any other branches, outlets and/ or subsidiaries.

    We have made settlement with the above registered stallholder and they are in the process of rebranding,

    Toh kee pte ltd take pride in providing our customer with fresh roast duck/meat with minimum marination to retain the original flavour of the duck/meat.

    We would like to take this opportunity to thanks all our customers who have supported toh kee for past 95 years.

    ReplyDelete
  3. We are toh kee pte ltd , offically the 3rd generation of toh kee (้“่ฎฐ) roast duck/meat and we are not affiliated and/or associated with any other company, and do not have any other branches, outlets and/ or subsidiaries.

    We have made settlement with the above registered stallholder and they are in the process of rebranding,

    ReplyDelete

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