Continuing our hunt for under the social media radar but good zhi char stalls in Singapore, our target today was Xing Long Food Stall 兴隆菜社 in Chinatown Complex Food Centre (red zone). We went to Xing Long not knowing what to expect but it turned out that all of us enjoyed the delicious food and were pleased with the competitive pricing.
Xing Long is in the red zone of Chinatown Complex Food Centre. Xing Long occupies two stall units. Stall #02-134 is directly opposite Hawker Chan, the famous soya sauce chicken stall. This is actually the "back" of Xing Long.
The stall front where they receive customers is at stall #02-161. The stall faces the outside of Chinatown Complex - the sitting area is spacious, breezy and bright during the day. It's a nice, cozy place for a meal.
According to Xing Long's website, the stall was founded in 1983 by Mr Ngo Meng Nguen who learnt the craft working at his mother's Joo Heng coffee shop at South Bridge Road since the 1970s. Xing Long is in the second generation now, run by Mr Ngo's two sons.
Xing Long has many regulars and today it was "full house" - I mean most of the tables in front and near stall #02-161 were occupied by XL customers.
Once orders taken, the dishes were served at the table (like in a restaurant) and they come fast
First up was Ginger Fried Chicken (price $10).
Chicken was chopped into bite size pieces, deep fried and then served in a starch thicken savoury ginger spicy sweet aromatic sauce. The chicken was fried till crisp, a bit chewy and dry. But, the fried chicken went very well with the ginger sauce.
Next up, Sambal Cuttlefish Kang Kong (price $10).
We love this and highly recommend it. The mound of blanched kang kong was topped with rehydrated dried cuttlefish and a savoury spicy sambal sauce (different from the usual jiu her eng chai dish).
Not many pieces of cuttlefish but I like it that they were cut in big pieces so that we can really appreciate its soft-tender springy texture and jiu her taste. The mildly savoury spicy sauce was a little sparse but complemented the cuttlefish and greens well.
Pork ribs with bitter gourd (price $10).
Fried pork ribs served with stir fried bitter gourd, carrot, cauliflower and fermented black bean sauce. A homely dish with a blend of savoury and naturally sweet flavours.
Beef hor fun with black bean sauce (price $10).
I love it that they use hor fun as broad as chee cheong fun for this dish (I dislike fried skinny kway teow). The hor fun were fried to a nice sear outside, so we can taste toasty wok hei in the noodles and also in the black bean sauce. There was a layer of lardy flavour and aroma from the frying oil (lard) and liberal scattering of lard croutons on the dish. I missed out tasting the beef slices. Must order this, if you come.
Steamed fish head with hot bean sauce (price $15).
Half a Song fish head smothered with an old school fermented black bean sauce with lard and lots of lard croutons. The Song fish was fresh and tasted sweet. There was very little of the characteristic Song fish earthly taste which was very well taken care of by the savoury lardy sauce. We loved the soft tissues in the head crevices like the eye in the eye socket 😄
Do be careful when enjoying this dish with good company (eating while chatting) as Song fish is a very bony fish.
This simple joy is enough for me 😌
Oyster omelette (price $10).
Get this oyster omelette. I actually missed out tasting the succulent looking oysters but the light, fluffy, moist omelette is enough to make me crave for this dish thinking about it now. The omelette had a nice eggy flavour with a little bit of savouriness. There was very little grease in this dish.
Five of us had six dishes and paid a grand total of $66.50 (including three small bowls of plain rice).
Another worthy zhi char option in Chinatown Complex. Every dish we had today was nice. My favourites today were the beef hor fun with fermented bean sauce, sambal cuttlefish kang kong, oyster omelette and steamed fish head with hot bean sauce.
Written by Tony Boey on 11 Jan 2022
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