I got here by 7:30am and there was already a long queue. Teck Heng Leong opens at 6am.
Action inside the tiny stall was frenetic but organised, so the long queue actually moved quite fast. I enjoyed the rhythmic tock... tock... sound of the chopper hitting the wooden block as boss chopped up the stewed offal swiftly. The familiar comforting sounds is one of the allures of Singapore hawker centres.
There were lots of old school type kway chap items on the menu. Uncle was very friendly and patient as he listened carefully at each customer's customised orders.
My breakfast for $6 which I felt is very reasonable.
I had big intestine, small intestine, pig skin, and tau pueh (bean skin) roll. Yeah... I very old unker one.
I wanted "big intestine head" but they were sold out before 8am 🥲
The offal were beautifully braised in my humble opinion.
I was blown away.
The braised offal were soft spongy with a squishy squeaky feel to the bite. The braising stock was mildly savoury in a complex layered way. I tried hard to discern Chinese 5 spice flavour but couldn't detect any. The offal tasted sweetish savoury with a bit of underlying subtle porcine flavour. They were also "pung" or aromatic in Teochew language. Wonderful - flavours were well balanced, and at just the right intensity for me. (I don't like those tasteless "detergent" scrubbed type offal.)
The braised pig skin was soft with a light spring to the bite. Had a bit of the braising stock taste.
The braised fried tau pueh skin roll was nice too. Pillow soft and infused with braising stock flavour over its natural soy bean sweetness.
The soup for the kway tasted savoury with a bit of flavour and aroma from fried shallot and sweet rice sheets.
The kway (broad rice sheet) was thin and very smooth. I was frustrated had difficulty picking the soft kway up for this picture 😅 Slurpy delicious once I am able to pick it up 😬
After finishing my meal, I went to kaypoh kaypoh chat with boss. Alamak! He was my neighbour whom I never met till now. He lived in Blk 63 Toa Payoh while I was at Blk 65 in the 1960s. Boss' mum was running this stall in the old Lor 8 market and he had taken over for more than 40 years. Chatted awhile about the old wanton mee, zhi char, prawn mee, fried kway teow of old Lor 5 but I had to leave him as he was busy washing, packing and getting ready for the next day.
Come quick for the old school taste of Singapore kway chap before boss retires.
Thank you Ray for your recommendation! It was great!
I love to read your blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you. From Tony
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