Usually when I like eating something, there will be a major obsessive phase where I'm there as often as I can. That was what it was like with beef noodles at Scotts Food Court in secondary school, and it was the same with Teo Heng Teochew Porridge at Hong Lim Food Centre. I have no idea why it took me so long to discover this amazing stall, and once I did, I was there almost every week before work.
It's tucked away in the back corner behind Tiong Bahru Pao and the famous curry noodle shop at the 1st storey, and what an amazing treasure trove of plain simple good food. The range of stuff to go with the porridge is very decent, and almost everything is super delicious.
The presentation isn't fancy, but when everything is laid out there, it's attractive enough to make you want to order everything on display.
It's a really good selection of braised stuff versus other things -and one of the more interesting things in front was the stuffed tau pok.
This was taken from my first visit there where I didn't get to order -the person who brought me there did the ordering, and I'm really glad he did, since there was so much stuff that I got to try.
In my opinion, one of the most fascinating dishes served with Teochew muay is chye buay, or salted vegetables. In this place, it comes in a hot steaming vat.
And their muay somehow is perfect - the right consistency of rice grains versus liquid.
They do their lou ng in a style similar to the onsen tamago used for ramen - soft and slightly runny on the inside.
Nice and lean and tender braised duck
The stuffed tau pok is like the tau kwa pau from Joo Chiat, only that tau pok and not tau kwa is used. Interesting combo of braised stuff, cucumber and fishcake all chopped up.
Their fishcake and squid was not too bad either. Plain, but tender.
The most amazing chye buay in the world. We found a couple of fish eyes and realised that they cook their fish in the chye buay vat, which totally explained the super rich and sweet flavour.
Fish cake - great with their chilli dip
The braised eggs on a softer better day - and their braised tau pok is also not too salty.
Teo Heng Porridge Stall
#01-25 Hong Lim Food Centre
Opens from early in the morning until lunch time. Go as early as you can, because when I arrived there at 1.30pm once, they were out of muay.
I used to eat the beef noodles at Scotts food court too!
ReplyDeleteThe eggs looked wonderful. Thanks for this recommendation.