Return To Ming Chung Restaurant
I last shared with you and promised to be back with more. More food, more information and more pictures. So I set up for this mission and this time I brought the family along including my parents. You see, mum is a very good cook and dad is discerning about his food. So they can only lend credence to what I already knew. This time, there were nine of us. I was in the driver's seat.
Of course we have the usual stir-fried thin bee hoon and the lala. The lala was not too spicy such that you get your full taste of garlic and the natural sweetness from the ingredients.
These prawn fritters were given a light touch of flour that it was easy on the palate. Use your tongue and let it touch the roof of your mouth. What you are touching with your tongue is your palate. When someone says they have expensive palate that means he likes only expensive treats. If you only like fancy food then you have a sophisticated palate. You are said to have well developed palate if you are able to detect the slight differences in the taste of food.
Cuttle fish with kang kong. Quality is good but I found it lack my kind of oomph as I would like mine to be a couple of notch more spiciness. They were generous with the cuttle fish.
The "har cheong kai" or prawn paste chicken was excellent. Well-seasoned, soft inside and golden brown crispiness outside suggesting good "wok hei" or simmering with "breath of the wok" due to a strong and sturdy fire. Mum gave it special mention which means it was better than I thought. If you have this at most "tze char" stalls, you are more likely to get lots of flour on the outside which is not the way to savour this particular dish.
We have to come back to the special Heng Hwa "lor mee" which is really a favourite. It is certainly my favourite. Simply delicious!
And the usual deep fried mackerel. Again the preparation to season the fish is essential to bring out its flavour and the way it was fried doubled its mouth-watering effects.
We also have the Oyster Omelette. Omelette in any style done with wok hei is a great dish anytime, anywhere. This was probably good for the younger set of people. I noticed that younger Singaporeans these days do not consume, prefer not to consume or unable to take lots of spicy stuffs. Our national palate has changed. This could be due to the influx of lots of Western style food influence. Of course I am fully aware that everything flooded with chili defeats the full aroma of certain foods such as our favourite dish of chili crab, creamy crab, pepper crab, etc. as compared to a simple steamed crab which by itself is equally or more tasty. Anyhow, my oyster omelette needs to be spread with a good chili.
This braised bean-curd was an absolute gem. Very soft and tasty tofu with "pek chye". All tze char stalls in the old days can do wonderful pek chye either in soup or pan fry. Today, you go to a tze char stall and ask for it and they look at you blankly. A must try!
Finally, as I have promised. I vow to bring back a picture of me with the boss Mr. Peter Ho at Ming Chung which I missed the last time. Peter is probably the most unassuming man you will ever meet and he has been working to keep the tradition of his family going, a tradition since 1933 and is one of the oldest Heng Hwa restaurants in Singapore. If you were to ask me "hungry go where?" I will surely say to you: "hungry come here!" Great food with great value. Where to find? Call 6296 3428. You will see a long queue forming outside during peak hours.
I was distracted at the entrance.
Interesting bamboo bicycle.
I picked a cold one as recommended by my favourite only nephew. The rest have hot or shared coffee and a few slices of cake. I explained to dad and mum that this is what young people do today or where they normally hang out and when they overspent just blame the government. Haha. My parents were even more surprised when I pointed out to them that the coffee and cakes costs about half of the quite sumptuous dinner. Lifestyle. Choose carefully. Otherwise "style ada, sakit tidak apa". But the coffee is good and its nice palace to chill out.
Even the toilet is special. Circular but ...
Steep "Stairway to Heaven".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q7Vr3yQYWQ
Not for the faint hearted. Ladies be careful. I was only happy that looking down I could still see my feet and the tummy is just a speed hump.
It was a great evening. Good food in the company of loved ones. The Samsung S3 has a good camera that produces vibrant and nice pictures but if you look carefully at the pictures of the food I shot this time it was done with a new and special Leica camera which I brought along (except for the tofu). See if I have made the food more alive.
I need to add and learn a new hobby - in photography. Shoot! Shoot! Shoot! Practise, practise, practise! I'll be trigger happy.
When I grow up I might become a great photographer, even famous. I am a dreamer. They say dreamers are always great!
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