Cheok Kee Braised Duck Rice @ East Coast Lagoon 作记鸭饭 ☏64454222

We were driving from east to west and back to east discussing what two persons can eat in Singapore 🤣 Finally, settled on Cheok Kee Braised Duck in East Coast Lagoon because "What!? You have never tried it before!?"

Yeah.... brother..., I am Johor Kaki nia nia.

So here we are.

Brent has been a fan of Cheok Kee 作记 for over thirty years.

I don't come to this part of the country often (ever since I left Tanjong Katong Secondary in 1978). East Coast Lagoon is one of the most interesting hawker centres in Singapore but most of the stalls work the night shift as it is really hot 🌞 🥵 during the day.

The last time I was here was for Han Jia's famous pork trotters, also with Brent. Wow that's four years ago already 🤣

Brent is a young and big guy, he came back with all these food for two persons 😮

The duck was how I like it. Mostly breast, some innards, egg, and tofu. Just nice, not overly indulgent.

The secret to life is balance and moderation 🤭😬

The breast sliced moderately thin came slathered with a light brown sauce.

The meat was tender moist subtly ducky sweet but not in the gamey way (I don't mind a bit of gaminess). The strip of fatty skin had the same savoury sweet ducky flavour but slightly more intense. Then, the sauce added another layer of savoury sweet with subtle hints of spices like anise.

But, one thing, I noticed the braising stock / sauce didn't have the layers and robustness of Teochew nor the intensity and gooey thickness of Hokkien. Cheok Kee's sauce is more moderate tasting, giving the natural sweet flavour of the duck more presence.

Tender braised duck liver.

Nice umami spicy sambal to go with the duck.

For some time already, I opt for porridge when I eat duck.

When I was younger like Brent 😉, my default was sauced rice.

Cheok Kee's porridge texture wasn't what I expected. It was relatively heavy, thicker, like congee at dim sum / yum cha places.

Stir in the savoury brown sauce. So nice! A sweet savoury cottony 棉棉 (that's how Cantonese would describe it) gruel. Chopped scallion added a bit of aromatics.

This congee pairs very well with the savoury sweet duck.