Tony Johor Kaki Travels for Food ยท Heritage ยท Culture ยท History

Food Explorer Storyteller with 63 million+ reads ๐Ÿ“ง johorkaki@gmail.com

Seng Kee Black Chicken Herbal Soup • Kembangan Changi Road Zhi Char with over 100 Dishes

Seng_Kee_Black_Chicken_Herbal_Soup

Every time I passed by Seng Kee Black Chicken Herbal Soup on a bus or in a car, I see a big milling crowd and full house - it makes me hungry ๐Ÿคค I told myself that I must come here, one day.

So when I saw buddy Cat shared her visit to Seng Kee on Facebook, we quickly arranged an encore with a few more kakis (buddies).

Restaurant name: Seng Kee Black Chicken Herbal Soup


Address: 475 Changi Rd, Singapore 419892


Nearest MRT: 3 minutes walk from Kembangan station


Tel: 6746 4089


Hours: 11:30am - 2:00am



Seng_Kee_Black_Chicken_Herbal_Soup

Seng Kee is a large restaurant spanning two shoplots just steps from Kembangan MRT station - super convenient.

I had always wondered how by just serving black chicken herbal soup Seng Kee can command such a large crowd. Now, I realised that Seng Kee actually serves a wide range of dishes and is more like a zhi char ็…ฎ็‚’ (cook and fry) place. They have over 100 dishes on the menu ๐Ÿ˜ฎ

They have the ordering process fine tuned down to a T. Give your orders to the order taker at the front. They have a large photo menu covering the entire wall like a fast food restaurant. When in doubt, just pick the signatures on the top row, which was what we did ๐Ÿ˜ฌ  

Seng_Kee_Black_Chicken_Herbal_Soup

The spread for five of us. Cat gave us a treat. So nice of you. Thank you ๐Ÿ™

Seng_Kee_Black_Chicken_Herbal_Soup

First things first, the black chicken herbal soup, Seng Kee's claim to fame.

The piping hot herbal soup was just mildly herbal in flavour and aroma. The blend of flavours was nice, balanced and quite smooth. The black chicken was tender from all the stewing in the soup but still had a bit of chew left which I like. It was not overly soft ๆฃ‰ๆฃ‰ which is the reason why I seldom order such soups.

Seng_Kee_Black_Chicken_Herbal_Soup

The kidney mee sua was pretty enjoyable too. The soup felt thick from starch leached from the mee sua and had depth of savoury flavours with subtle herbal taste. The mee sua was slurpy but a little soft probably because of all the time I took to take photos ๐Ÿ˜ ๐Ÿ™‡

Seng_Kee_Black_Chicken_Herbal_Soup

The kidney pieces were nicely tender crunchy, fresh and had no off taste at all.

Seng_Kee_Black_Chicken_Herbal_Soup

We were all quite excited to see Seng Kee's rendition of the Johor Bahru icon san lou bee hoon which is named "Crispy Panfried Beehoon with prawn, pork, bean sprout" in Seng Kee's menu.

It looked beautifully executed with a nice brown crust on top which looked like it got a good searing from a wok well lashed by flames.

Seng_Kee_Black_Chicken_Herbal_Soup

The bee hoon was crisp on top and below they were moist and softer (the way good san lou bee hoon are). The dish was also not overly oily. Though the contrasting textures was interesting, the taste was a little flat savoury salty. I spotted only egg but no prawn, pork or bean sprout. It could be I missed them because I was busy chatting ๐Ÿ˜ฌ 

Seng_Kee_Black_Chicken_Herbal_Soup

Fermented beancurd marinated fried pork. 

Seng_Kee_Black_Chicken_Herbal_Soup

Everyone likes this fried pork as the tender juicy pork was fresh, nicely marinated with nam yu ๅ—ไนณ and well deep fried to a nice golden crisp outside. For me, I prefer the savoury nam yu marination to be a little more intense, and even exude a little pungent aroma to the bite.

Seng_Kee_Black_Chicken_Herbal_Soup

La La in Chinese rice wine.

Seng_Kee_Black_Chicken_Herbal_Soup

The fresh clams were very well cleaned, the tender meat was briny and sweet with a bit of Chinese wine taste and aroma. Everyone liked this and I would actually like it better if the clams were made a little more drunk with more wine ๐Ÿ˜ฌ

Seng_Kee_Black_Chicken_Herbal_Soup

Stir fried pea sprouts ่ฑ†่‹—. Nicely done. The pea sprouts were given a quick sear with oil in the wok which took away any green taste but retained the fresh sweet vegetable's crunchiness and juiciness while adding a layer of savoury flavour.

Seng_Kee_Black_Chicken_Herbal_Soup

So, Seng Kee Black Chicken Herbal Soup is really a big zhi char place with over a 100 dishes. The dishes we tried were nicely done - flavours were relatively mild (for me) and well balanced in all the dishes we tried today. I am keen to go through the extensive menu and try a few other dishes next time. I spotted stir fried sayur manis with eggs ๐Ÿ˜ฌ

For black chicken herbal soup, one of my favourite places in Singapore is at Ser Seng in Geylang.


Ser_Seng_Turtle_Soup_Restaurant

Restaurant name: Tan Ser Seng Herbs ๐Ÿ‘ˆ click


Address: 29 Lorong Bachok (Lor 21 Geylang), Singapore 387791


Hours: 11:00am - 8:00pm

               

No comments:

Post a Comment

All comments submitted with genuine identities are published