Teo Heng Teochew Porridge at Hong Lim

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. 

 Their braised duck and streaky pork is awesome

 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. 

The best meal you can get for 5 bucks (sans fish) - makes me almost want to be teochew. Leslie Tay has a great write up here. 

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. 

Xu Jun Sheng (Long Ji) Reprise

We headed back to Xu Jun Sheng one weeknight with a very old friend who was deeply interested in trying this old favourite family haunt, especially the cold crabs. They didn't disappoint us - but just in case, I decided to ring up to reserve 3 crabs, which worked out to 1 crab per person : )

Check out the vermillion-hued roe

We ordered a pork trotter with more meat less fat

Their hae chor is probably one of the best in Singapore

Otak was really good too - the right combination of lemak + spiciness, and not too soft and soggy.

Minced pork with salted fish - terrific with white porridge

We ordered tua tow which was slightly too fishy. Otherwise the black bean sauce was great

Sweet potato leaves with sambal - this was fairly ordinary, but still good

The lala was outstanding - the clams were fresh, and the sambal+taucheo+garlic+chinese wine sauce was so good we were drinking it straight

All that, for 3 people plus 1 bowl of muay each, came up to just over $100. And we managed to finish everything, down to the last clam. We did extremely well, I reckon.

And we headed off to One Twenty Six for peach lambic and dessert.

Xu Jun Sheng is at 121 Joo Chiat Road. Somehow the vibe at lunch is much better than at dinner time, but the food is just as good no matter what time of the day.

Post publish edit: Their closure was reported in Apr 2014 - a very sad day for all fans of real Teochew food and Joo Chiat residents. 

Xu Jun Sheng (Long Ji) Teochew Cuisine again

We hadn't been to Xu Jun Sheng (Long Ji) in a while, and were happy to head back there for lunch after church one Sunday.

We ordered a platter of chye buay, belly pork, and tau kwa, which was great with the porridge.
Their cold crab is always a winner. Loved the roe - but oh, so sinful!

We had a fried fish - not that Teochew, but nice nonetheless

Sweet potato leaves cooked with chilli and garlic

Another longstanding favourite - tua tow with black bean sauce

Pork ribs w bittergourd and black bean sauce

Hae chor - beautifully fried and wonderful with the sweet dipping sauce.

They've moved to 121 Joo Chiat Road Singapore 427140. Open for lunch and dinner from Mon to Sat, and only lunch on Sunday, but somehow better for lunch than dinner, me thinks.

Choon Seng Teochew Porridge

Teochew muay ranks very highly - maybe even at the top of my list of comfort foods. So I was pretty excited when the FIL talked about this shop at Cambridge Road, which was only open during lunch on weekdays. One of my ex-bosses - an extremely (maybe obscenely) well-paid person who has yet to take a pay cut also told me about this shop being one of his favourites. It has a huge following based on the number of online posts about this shop, and yet the profile of teochew muay fans normally doesn't include tech-savvy persons.

The muay was perfect. It was grainy, and still had some bite.

We ordered the prawn omelette, cooked with fresh prawns. It was super tasty, and very good with the chilli dip.

Their fish cake wasn't too bad, but I've had better fish cake in Maxwell Market.

We ordered a steamed fish, since every other table had one as well. This promfret cost me $60- I'm not sure if it was worth the price, but it sure was fresh and the stock was completely drunk up by the time we were done.

Their chye buay is ok - not bad, but not fab.

I didn't quite enjoy their minced pork, as the black bean paste was rather salty. But it's ok for teochew muay I suppose.

The cost of the non-fish items came up to less than $20, with 3 bowls of porridge, so it's a pretty reasonable place as long as you don't order the fish.

Choon Seng Teochew Porridge
Blk 43 Cambridge Road#01-09 Singapore 210043
Tel: 62930706
Opens 11.00am to 2.30pm, closed on Sundays and public holidays

Meng Cheong Teochew Food Stall at Ghim Moh Market

Another of my favourite teochew muay stalls is at Ghim Moh Market. Way back in the 90s, when I was wearing a white shirt and green skirt, I used to eat at this stall pretty frequently when we had the opportunity to escape though the side gate. Since I happened to be in the area for a meeting, I was very pleased to be able to visit my old haunt.

It was super crowded! Argh. They used to do table service. Now you need to queue!

All the yummy stuff on a tray

Chai Poh Nng and fishcake - teochew muay staples.

Tau pok and lor bak - such good flavour!

Chye buay - another teochew muay staple. In case you're wondering why everything is a staple for me, it's because I really like to eat EVERYTHING.

The fish cake has chye poh inside - oh so yummy (I don't know why iphone rotated my photo like that and I can't rotate it back)

Lim Joo Hin Eating House - Teochew Muay

Teochew porridge is one of my absolute favourite foods - I can eat it any day, any time. So when I saw Tan Hsueh Yun feature this place in her facebook page, I marched the husband down the next day to give it a try.

Lim Joo Hin is located along Havelock Road, close to Beo Crescent. I love the idea of eating good old hearty food along the open walkway.


There's a lot of stuff on display. More flavours than Baskin Robbins.

I love the grain-iness of the muay.

Taupok - a must have for teochew muay. This was good - the braising sauce wasn't too salty nor porky.

Chye buay - another teochew muay must have.

I love hae bee hiam with my porridge.

The husband loves lor ab, or braised duck. I thought it wasn't too bad.

Fishcake - good for dipping in the tangy chilli sauce.

I liked the beancurd skin although the husband wasn't a fan.

The minced pork wasn't too fatty

And we had to order the token healthy veg

And one of our favourites - braised peanuts.

It was a fabulous meal - and considering what we've been spending on food, great value for money.

Lim Joo Hin Eating House

715 Havelock Road

Tel: 62729871

Apparently open from 11am to 5am, although I've never been there past 10pm.