Guan Kee Kway Chap

Address Blk 211 Toa Payoh Lor 8 #01-01

Opening Hours 10.30am-12.30am (midnight)

To me, kway chap, which instill horror among disciples of longevity, are way more healthier than any processed food stuff that you can find in supermarket shelves and what you may be stuffing in your face as you read this, like some biscuits, instant noodles and triple mix coffees, potato chips etc…

Remember, what you may be eating now can contain man made trans-fat, which can makes you sick and fat. Kway chap is heaven made, it just makes you fat. This dish of soy stewed pig organs with rice pasta sheets, when delicately done, is symphony of textures and flavours. Yup, it’s gooey and softly chewy at times, but if you like sotong and foie gras, then don’t miss out on this dying makan sensation.

The main reason, I gather, that we are not going to see much of this dish in the near future is more sinister than originally thought. It’s just that many such hawkers today can’t cook this refined dish any better even at gunpoint and worse, the customers now can’t tell a bad from a horrible version and they don’t care either.

Gone, for now, are the good old days when these “spares” supplies would come from Malaysia and master street chefs here can distinguish which farm the pigs came from what it was fed on. “ The intestines has a sheen that gives it a smoothness and texture you don’t get today from the Australian suppliers.”, is what kway chap chef Mr Ng Guan Chye believes. He has been at it since the 80’s because “it’s the only thing I’ve learnt to cook well”. “It’s the feed and the environment. Those from Malaysian taste, look and even feel different…more fragrant, slippery and crunchier. It takes more time and effort to wash and prepare them, as they came fresh from the abattoirs, but it was worth it.”

In today’s kiasu and kiasi makan mentality of the ignorant, kway chap stalls, with its reputation, are like striking a top 4D prize, rare and few between. So while business has generally cooled, save for the few die hard fans who keep this makan icon barely alive, it also tossed up a new problem for such cooks…keeping them fresh and well stewed while awaiting that rare customer.

“I partially cook them for texture, cool it then finish for done-ness when customers order. Which means I pay more attention to the stewing pot”, is the technique Mr Ng practices, of course, not revealing the density of the soy stew, fire control, size of the pot and innards when stewing and timing.

What he does not reveal is the reason why his kway chap is a tad more al-dente than most. It is digusting to bite into a stewed intestine that gets you on a five minute chewing exercise. It means that it is not well or worse, not cooked inside. Frightening.

Mr Ng’s platter comes with pork skin which is soft, rubbery and resilient. The big intestines, my favourite, has a chewy-ness that makes sotong feel like rubber. The stomach was just firm, and having it any softer can feel like it was rotten or half eaten .

One aspect customers overlook these days, which I concur with him, is the kway. These rice flour pasta sheets used to come curled, firm and not floury to the bite, when I first tried kway chap thirty years ago. Unfortunately it is still not so here, but Mr Ng’s version taste a lot more of rice than plain flour, which gives it texture and taste.

While, naturally, with smarter customers, the soy stew is a lot less salty these days, I adore the compensating factor at this stall…a stinging, spicy, thick and piquant chilli sauce. These are the little things that remind me of my Singaporean-ness.