White Restaurant

September 26, 2015

Oh, I really could not find time to write. There was certainly no writers' block. This is not a good thing as I try to contain the brain jumping all over. Too often, I got mentally exhausted after a hard day's work. Perhaps it is a sign of ageing? Oh time O time, why have you forsaken me? Let me bring back something most of us love - the joys of eating!

Sometime ago, after a golf game at Sembawang delayed by afternoon rain and lightning on a late evening, we decided to go to this tze char restaurant in an old coffee shop in Sembawang. There was scant car park space and a long queue. As I was running late, I wanted to just da pao some food for dinner.

I parked at the end of a lane lined with private landed homes and I was careful to note that I was in no way obstructing anybody. While in the queue, my friend thought he saw a red flashing light far away and thought the summons guy was there. We quickly went back to our cars but alas it was too late. So I joined them for a quick bite and got my da pao famous white bee hoon. The bee hoon cost $12 but with the summons ticket that costs $50, the total sum came up to be $60. This was the most expensive bee hoon I have ever eaten in my life. I could imagine tears rolling down my cheeks as I ate the bee hoon back home. To ease my pain, a friend kindly paid for my bee hoon but it was still expensive at $50!

Being the good citizen I am, I promptly paid the fine to URA but was shocked when I received another summons a week later for $70 for the same offence from the LTA. I wrote to them explaining that I have paid the fine of $50 to URA so I should not be punished twice. Another week later, they replied without explanation but that they would revoked this $70 fine. Heng ah! I can only figure out that a resident there must have taken a photo and sent to the LTA. In other words, the LTA fined me without even being there. Ah, the wonders of technology. Now, I would be more diligent and I have never forgotten the taste of that bee hoon.

As I frequented Punggol End now called the Punggol Settlement, I found a place called the "White Restaurant''. It is air-conditioned but with the bigger tables outside. This is the same restaurant where I had that white bee hoon.

With the place packed with people in the evenings especially on weekends, I could not understand why they did not build a bigger space for car parks since it is not as conveniently accessible by other mode of transport. So I would usually shun the place on weekends in the evenings unless I could be there real early.

Even on weekend lunch time, folks would be there before the restaurant opens at 1130 hours.

It is a small restaurant so there is always going to be a queue during peak lunch hour.

The signature dish is the ''white bee hoon''. A simple dish of rice vermicelli with seafood and simmered in really wet and tasty gravy. There is something special about that gravy!

Though a large plate here now costs $15 instead of $12 at Sembawang, it is probably the rent that warranted the steeper offering. Well, we all know a plate of bee hoon could never cost that much, but it is truly wonderful and if you are a bee hoon lover, it can get addictive. Moreover, from my personal experience previously of $60 bee hoon plus fine, this was a good deal.

Needless to say, you have to order the white bee hoon when here. It is like tugging at your heartstrings.

The heh cho here is also wonderful. It is fried to a golden brown and the skins are really well done. Instead of just sweet sauce to accompany the heh cho, they provide a sweet chilli sauce.

You should also try the sausage omelette. Most tze char stalls do their omelette by mixing it with some other stuffs but here they do just pure eggs. A nice departure from the standard fare.

For chicken wing lovers, try this. This is no ''har cheong kai'' the typical prawn paste chicken. I thought I have tasted lots of ginger in the seasoning of these wings. A delightful change from the now all too common and overated har cheong.

Another absolute must is the sweet potato leaves with belacan. I have not tasted a better version of it anywhere else. Serious.

There you have it. No frills food that are authentic and tasty at still reasonable prices and plenty of parking space in the afternoon. I have finally and courageously exorcise the demon of that past experience. It was like Rambo going back to Nam. The months of pain and flashbacks of the past. It shall haunt me no more.