Heng Long Teochew Porridge 兴隆潮洲糜
A greeting in Singapore is not “hello” or “how are you?” It is usually “吃饱没?” or “Jiak Ba Buay?” in Hokkien or Teochew (exact words except for the dialectal accent employed) which translates to “Have you eaten?”
According to Vinns, a Malaysian friend, this greeting was brought down by our ancestors during the Great Famine Of China in the 1870s. “吃饱没?” in any dialect was started with the people showing concern for their village folks by asking if they had taken their meal.
So Benny, a Teochew Ah Hia (brother), asked me “Jiak Ba Buay?”
Teochew Muay was elected as cuisine of the day on 11th July’s makan outing. Together with Mystery Man, also a Teochew, we drove to Hougang, where majority of the Teochews populated back in the early history of Singapore.
We wanted to eat at Soon Soon Teochew Porridge at Simon Road but couldn’t get a parking lot so we drove out onto the main road and saw Heng Long Teochew Porridge 兴隆潮洲糜 on the opposite side.
“Want to try this place?”
“Okay!”
I bet he’s a Teochew Ah Hia.
There were lots of duck in the main display but more braised ducks hanging in the background (near tiled wall on left) tells me this stall conducts brisk business and probably sell till dinner time or even supper!
Teochew Muay side dishes.
Is this Tofu dish a typical Teochew creation? I’m having doubts.
Teochews are good in cooking fish and other seafood dishes as Swatow (a prefecture-level city in China) where most if not all Teochew ancestors come from, is on the eastern coast of Guangdong province, China.
Let’s see what we’ve ordered:
Rice Porridge – 50 cents each.
I started slurping the gruel before the guys so that I can take this picture to show the rice grains.
Behind some dipping sauce, chilli for the braised duck and preserved fermented soybeans for the fish cakes.
Teochew Fish Cakes called 肉丸 (Bak Yee) meaning “meatballs” but the main star is fish paste.
There’s some minced pork and fats, chilli and cilantro in these.
I found these flavourful on its own although they are usually eaten with the preserved soybeans (taucheo).
Steamed Mince Pork Patties with Tang Chye and Salted Egg slices.
Definitely one of my favourite item here and will order 1 piece just for myself in future.
The preserved winter vegetable “dong cai” did wonders to the pork.
Originally I had wanted hard-boiled salted egg as a side dish but seeing this combination, the salted duck egg was cancelled.
Stir-fried Spinach with Anchovies.
As can be seen by the vivid green of the vegetables, this dish wasn’t overcooked.
The anchovies provided savouriness which complimented it well.
Teochew Lor Ark – Teochew Braised Duck.
The suace is thick but not overly gooey and that’s a plus!
Duck meat can be tough but here, they was tender with good bite.
Braising sauce had the right balance in flavour. I detest overpowering 5-spice in any food.
Braised Pig’s Skin.
I like the tender smooth texture and bouncy chew in this dish.
Hae Bee Hiam – Spicy Shrimp.
A perennial favourite of my children.
The texture was good with fine and coarse gritty bits of dried shrimps.
This wasn’t overly spicy and squeezing the lime over the dish made a difference in perking one’s appetite.
True enough, we order another 2 bowls of porridge later.
We’d almost ran out of side dishes and mystery man went to order assam fish.
The boys stopped me while I was taking photo of this Assam Fish.
Both of them chorused, “Salah liao! Salah liao… The fish is upside down!”
I told them that whenever they see a fish photo taken wrong side, it would be my photo, lol…
The Assam Fish, S$5, had the right sour and heat.
It would have been more enjoyable eaten with rice.
Easily one of the most enjoyable Teochew Muay lunch I had.
Click on photo to be redirected to map.
Good food at reasonable prices.
One of the uncles told me that I cannot take food photos while we were ordering at the display counter citing that the environment or health agencies do not approve that. I thought he sounded a bit rude in delivering the message but actually he wasn’t. His tone is just like that – curt and loud. Or perhaps I was too thin-skinned? I recovered quickly and continued to place my order. I’ll just take photos when the food arrive at our table.
When the food came, I started to sip on the watery gruel from my bowl. The boys were shocked that I had started before them. I am usually fussing over the dishes to take photos. They voiced their concern, “Errm… You not taking food photos? We can eat now???” Hahaha, fat chance! I was merely drinking the rice water to create texture for the white porridge in my photo 😉
Benny said the Teochew Bak Yee would be better if they contained more minced pork and pork fats. He continued to say that his mom made the best he had tasted. Other than that, the food in general suited my taste. I would like to come again and would recommend my friends to Heng Long for it’s variety and pricing. Our bill totalled S$24.90 for all the dishes you saw above including 5 bowls of porridge.
Heng Long Teochew Porridge 兴隆潮洲糜
Address: (Valley Road)
1006, Upper Serangoon Road.
Singapore 534744.
See other porridge stalls here:
Singapore
Joo Seng Teochew Porridge & Rice 裕成潮州糜饭店
Yun Xing Restaurant 雲星潮州糜
ABC 煮炒 GU ZAO REN 古早人煮炒台湾粥 @ ABC MARKET (Seafood & Taiwan Porridge)
Johor, Malaysia (I guest wrote for Tony Johor Kaki)
Goh Zha Lang Restoran Taiwan 古早人台湾粥餐馆 in Taman Sentosa, Johor Bahru (Guest Post)
Read here: http://johorkaki.blogspot.com/2013/05/goh-zha-lang-restoran-taiwan-in-taman.html#ixzz3kEnyYYw7
Happy eating and bonding 🙂
The Bonding Tool 
Why don’t you weigh 400 pounds ????
Good photos as usual..
Love, hugs and diets … ME and the Boss
Lol… Oh please don’t wish that for me, haha. In fact, the more I eat the less I weigh unless I’m depressed, just smelling food would make me fat! 😀
Looks good. Love the variety!
Taste good too 🙂
unhygenie stall and expensive.
吃饱没not包 包is char Siew bao or whatever bao.
Thank you very much, Audrey! I have corrected it. :)))