Xu Jun Sheng (Long Ji) Chao Zhou Mei Shi

In an earlier post, I mentioned that my father's family used to live in Joo Chiat Road. Since the lifting of the Rent Control Act in 2001, many families (including mine) and commercial tenants had to relocate elsewhere. Even though many of the buildings had been gazetted for conservation allowing the streetscape to be retained, the physical memories were meaningless once the old tenants gave up their leases due to inability to afford the higher rents. Far from being a link to the past, these conservation buildings actually stand as a bitter and painful reminder of how life in Katong used to be, and how different it is now.

While I was in school and up till university, my father would take 2-3 weeks vacation leave during the school holidays and we would bring my grandmother out to eat at various places around the East. I've already shared earlier that my Nyonya grandmother was a brilliant cook, which meant extremely high standards when it came to food. One of our favourite haunts was a Teochew food stall in a coffeeshop at the junction of Tembeling Road and Joo Chiat Place, opposite a URA open-air carpark. My grandmother would have to simultaneously hitch up her sarong higher, hold on to her walking stick, while trying to negotiate the uneven concrete slabs placed over open drains. But the effort was all worth it to eat at the Teochew food stall. When we were told a couple of years back that the Teochew stall had closed down to due the building being restored, we were honestly devasted since we didn't even know the name of the shop and had no idea how to contact the owners. All we knew was that it was run by 3 brothers.

Two weeks ago, I saw an article in the New Paper featuring a Teochew stall at Joo Chiat Place, and it was simply wonderful to read that our favourite Tembeling Road teochew muay shop had resurrected close to its original site. We managed to make it there for lunch on Saturday, but were slightly alarmed since the Business Times, of all weeks, had decided to do a zi char special that day and had also featured the stall. The stall is named Xu Jun Sheng (Long Ji) Chao Zhou Mei Shi (which kind of explains why we had no idea what it was called), and is now located at 59 Joo Chiat Place, at the junction of Joo Chiat Place and Tembeling Lane. We arrived there at 2pm, and almost every table was taken.

There are two stalls in the coffeeshop, one selling char kuay teow and the other our beloved Teochew stall. Don't let the empty table fool you, it had just been cleared before I took the photo and was quickly occupied after.

I love Teochew muay shops that are generous with their chilli.

Finally the food arrived! Chye buay and tow pok.

Otak (very yummy)

Cold crabs ($14 each) which are the best in Singapore. I'll never eat the yellow stuff at any other shop. Here, I'll gobble it all up.

Wonderful grainy teochew muay which is the stuff dreams are made of.

Hae chor (comes with sweet dipping sauce)

Sambal kangkong

Tua Tow

A loving parting shot at the remaining crabs in the showcase

The bill came up to $80 for 6 people, which isn't cheap, so be warned.

Xu Jun Sheng (Long Ji) Chao Zhou Mei Shi
59 Joo Chiat Place
Opening hours: Mondays to Saturdays - 11.00am to 9.00pm, Sundays - 10.30am to 3.00pm.
Closed on Wednesdays.
Phone: 9847 2946, 9030 8600 (Ask for Botak Koh)