Lai Heng Fried Kuay Teow stall is one of the favourites of regulars at Shunfu Market & Food Centre. It has a loyal following from its Lakeview food centre days since the 1970s.
Please note that Shunfu food centre is closed 28 Feb 2022 to 26 May 2022 for repairs and redecoration.
At one time in my life, we like to come to Shunfu food centre for lunch because they offer free lunch time parking here 😄 I am not sure about now as I take public transport nowadays 😂
Shunfu is not a large food centre - just around 30 food stalls but there is something for most people.
Inevitably, someone or two in the group will want fried kway teow from Lai Heng. It's one of the most popular stalls in Shunfu. I don't remember craving for it but recent raving reviews in social media piqued my interest to revisit my old haunt.
I was here before 10am but waited some 15 minutes as a couple of customers ahead of me ordered multiple takeaway packets.
When it was my turn, I ordered the smallest $2.50 serving. Uncle asked me whether I wanted to add on otak otak for another $1. I hesitated for a moment as I didn't want to waste calories on generic factory made otak otak. But, I took a chance anyway. (Lai Heng is the only stall I know that offer otak otak with char kway teow. I know another stall that serve ngoh hiang [fried meat roll] with char kway teow but that had closed decades ago.)
The fried kway teow had a slight sweet aroma from caramelised sauce. The otak otak turned out to be a rather huge though thin slab.
Besides kway teow, there's yellow mee, bean sprout, egg, chye sim greens, lup cheong (Cantonese sausage), fish cake slice, and blood cockles. Didn't come across any lard crouton.
The fried kway teow was slightly wet, tasted sweet savoury with a bit of spiciness as I asked for chili. No lard, little, if any wok hei but the sauce's sweet savoury flavour was likeable. There's also a discernible egginess which I don't usually get in char kway teow.
Lai Heng's fried kway teow has very competitive pricing, starting at $2.50 for a substantial portion (enough for me). A likeable sweet savoury sauce. Paired well with a nice, tasty otak otak which itself is a good buy at $1 a piece. Lai Heng also has a long history and multi-generational following.
Personally, I prefer char kway teow with more wok hei, drier, more intense savouriness, and must have lard.
Lai Heng is one of the oldest char kway teow stalls in Singapore with its loyal fans. It started as a road side stall around the Upper Thomson Road area in the 1940s, then moved into Lakeview market & hawker centre in the 1970s. When that was demolished in the 1990s, the stall moved to its present location at Shunfu food centre. Image courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.
I just recalled that Lai Heng at Shunfu has a related stall at Sembawang Hills Food Centre known also as Lai Heng, serving the same char kway teow and otak otak. I have eaten there a few times and the two stalls are, I feel, more or less the same.
Stall name: Lai Heng Fried Kway Teow
Address: 590 Upper Thomson Road stall #01-15, Sembawang Hills Food Centre, Singapore 574419
Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm (Mon off)
Written by Tony Boey on 25 Feb 2022
New fans of Lai Heng fried kway teow
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