Ming Fa Duck Rice @ Hainanese Village Centre Hougang 🦆 One of my Fav Teochew Braised Duck with Power Sambal! 明发鸭饭

This is one of my favourite braised duck rice stalls now. The meat texture, taste of the duck and sauce, rice, soup, the pricing and even the sambal chili all ticked the right boxes for me ✅ 

Stall name: Ming Fa Duck Rice 明发鸭饭

Address: 105, stall #02-01 Hougang Ave 1, Hainanese Village Food Centre, Singapore 530105

Hours: 7:00am - 12:00 noon (Sun & Mon off)

I beo (Hokkien for stalk) Ming Fa Duck Rice for a few days liao (Hokkien for already). I am taking my time checking out the promising stalls at Hainanese Village Centre and today, I bet my calorie & cholesterol allowance on Ming Fa. It's a no brainer really, looking at the queue at the stall every day.

All these food for $3 - win already lo for great value.

So much meat for $3 - they were cut in thick chunks of meat and skin reminding me of Lego bricks. Actually, I prefer my duck served in thin slices so that they are more tender, less chewy as duck is a tougher meat than say... chicken.

In the end, I need not have worried. The chunks were tender enough and not that chewy. I like it because it's the right level of tender chewiness.

And that dark sauce has a nice taste profile - mildly sweet, Chinese 5-spice taste and savoury-salty. There is a subtle underlying taste of duck which I like. I prefer this taste profile for braised duck than the overly salty or herbal kind. Ming Fa's sauce taste is just right for me 😋

The rice browned by cooking in sauce tastes mainly sweet. Needed a few splashes of sauce from the plate of duck to give it a more savoury-salty taste. Almost free of grease, which is good. The rice grains were loose and did not clump together like in most duck rice places.

Eat this rice with the duck and it is perfect. Fills the stomach, and the sweet rice is complemented by sweet savoury flavour from the duck.

Ming Fa serve a good soup too. It is made with mostly duck bones and a little meat, preserved vegetables, garlic etc. Mainly savoury salty flavour.

Special mention for Ming Fa's sambal chili. It's chocked full of anchovies, so it is packed with dried anchovy umami which is complemented by sweetness (from onions?) and loaded with spicy kick. Works perfectly with the duck and rice.

Very nice lah..., this Ming Fa Duck Rice. I love it.

But, have to give the last word to my makan kaki today. (Auntie whom I am meeting for the first time joined me at the table.)

Ho Chiak! she declared 👍 (Hokkien for delicious!)

I was taking my customary "aftermath" shot when auntie unloaded her duck bones, used chopsticks and tissue paper onto my plate.

Bingo 😍

That means she is comfortable with me and we are friends already lo 😉

You may like to try out other top choices at Hainanese Village Centre 👈 click

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tony Boey Johor Kaki (@johorkaki)

Written by Tony Boey on 21 Apr 2021