Heng Hua Cuisine

Being a Heng Hua (兴化), how can I miss out my own cuisine. Heng Hua is a rare dialect group in Singapore. Through my whole school life, I only have 1 classmate each during my secondary and poly days. My grandfather was from Putian in China, part of the Fujian Province. He cooked very good Heng Hua noodles, but he left us when I was in primary school.

Heng Hua like noodles a lot and they have their very own type of noodles and way to cook them. Heng Hua mee sua are thicker and less saltish than the hokkien mee sua. Heng Hua bee hoon are almost fine like hair, no soaking needed before cooking and are fried in stock. There is also a thick fat white noodle which we call "Pah Mee" which sound like "beat noodle" in hokkien. For pah mee, you can cook it in soup, fried or lor mee style (starchy soup base). Heng Hua like seafood, so they will use seafood like la la (clams), prawn and sotong in cooking the noodles. They also have their very own tau pok which is long and thin. There are limited places in Singapore that sell pah mee and heng hua tau pok. For my family, we will have to travel to Boon Keng wet market to buy them whenever we need.

Ming Chung Restaurant at 67 Maude Rd is my no. 1 choice when I crave for Heng Hua cuisine. They are around since 1933, started off selling by the roadside but subsequently shifted to the present shop house. They are 3 dishes that I will definitely order when I am there, lor mee, fried beh kah fish and spicy la la. For the lor mee, you have to add in the black vinegar before you eat it. Lately, I found the taste of the lor mee had changed. Maybe to suit the local taste. But I still prefer the old taste which is more authentic. I especially like the spicy la la, I can easily finish half a plate. Chilli, ginger and garlic are used to fried the la la. Other recommendation are fried bee hoon, fried mee sua, kai lan with bean curb skin and fried prawn ball.

The photos below show lor mee, fried bee hoon, spicy la la and fried beh kah fish.

Jai Thai @ Clover

Craving for some authethic Thai food. Give a try at Jai Thai at Clover Road. Both the owner and the cooks here are all Thai. Although this restaurant is small and the decoration is simple, the food here is good and the price is reasonable.

Over here, they serve both ala-carte and set meal. For a set meal for 2 persons with less than S$20, you will have soup, whole fish and vegetable. You can also change your plain rice to pineapple rice or olive rice with an additional of S$1.50/person.

Of the dishes I ordered as shown below, all are good except for the soup which I found it too spicy for me. Remember to ask for less spicy if you can't take spicy food like me. The fish is well fried, the skin is crispy yet the meat within is still juicy. I also like the green curry, the coconut milk is thick and rich. Its go very well with the plain rice.

As for the drink I would like to recommend the Thai Chendol. It is served with their self made jelly and red ruby. The coconut milk for the chendol have the taste of sweet and slight saltish, this is different from most of the places where the coconut milk is only sweet. For the photo below, the one on the left is red ruby while the right is Thai chendol.