Times have changed, but their makan is timeless. |
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There was a time when going to a Cantonese cze cha stall or small family run similar eatery would inevitably meant a little dining dally with fried rice, hor fun, steamed fish head, prawn paste chicken, sambal kangkong, hotplate tofu, fried chicken with salt, pepper and lime dip, some double boiled soup or pai kwat wong (sweet and sour pork ribs). So last century. Today, we believe we’ve moved on to the 21st century menus which includes cereal prawns, coffee ribs, fancy chicken and shmancy geoduck – simple because trends has to reinvent itself to suit the times and expectations of an unrelenting, demanding and fashionable feeding community. So not true. There are a few die hard, old fashioned household Cantonese makan names, which just won’t give up on the slide into oblivion. Till this very day, they stubbornly offer the same near perfect same old, some old signatures as they once had nearly half a century ago. You don’t go to eateries like Dragon Phoenix and expect some new interpretations of good old crispy baby sotong nor do would you expect foie gras to appear atop some steamed dim sum item at the old world Red Star Restaurant. And the roast chicken at Moi Lum along Maxwell Road, still comes crispy and juicy with a dab of salt and pepper beside. They did not try too hard to reinvent as customers would not let them. So they just be.
Ditto for Loy Sum Juan. My love at first bite moment there was some twenty over years ago when I was sent to photograph their signatures as a Kodachrome toting photographer with the local morning daily. They operated a perpetually packed simple little HDB-void-deck restaurant at Outram Road which was practically closed for wedding parties every weekend. Their fried garlic chicken had me at “heeeello, what’s this?”. It was bite sized chicken chunks deep fried with raw garlic cloves and then tossed in a sweet savoury sauce laced with hints of Hua Tiao wine. It came all crispy, sticky with soft cloves of sweet garlic, topped with crispy garlic chips. Strange, but I have not seen much of this relatively common-sense (hello, garlic and chicken!) dish offered in similar eateries since. Another dish that’s regularly seen being demolished at each table there is their steamed fish head with bean sauce – a fresh carp fish head steamed then doused with a comforting soy and wine sauce enhanced with strips of lard, a bed crackling and spring onions, served on a steel platter warmed with tea light. Yes, these fish heads, today, are like ERP gantries in the city, found at every turn, especially in Chinatown. But they, together with the Sik Wai Sin family at Geylang, had been steaming it for decades. They render a consistently pleasing plate every time and you can reason out why the families throng their doors every evening then.
“Once, my head chef just decided to threaten us with a walkout in the middle of lunch, knowing we were fully booked for dinner that night, unless we meet his demands for an immediate raise.”, lady boss Madam Wong Choi Foong recalled that infamous turning point, “ So, I said- sure you can leave.” , hiding her initial fear, as she has never handled a professional kitchen although she cooks quite well. Today, her son and family lords over the kitchen and front service action. Son Roy Loi helms the wok and sister Canny directs front end service. I have to add that their prawn paste chicken, is one of the best I’ve had and they still do it they way they only know how. It comes very juicy and soft, yet crumbly and crispy outside- and without that irritating red hue. Their other classic signature which Roy can cook while sleep walking, is the steamed ginger prawns- done with a sweetened-with-wine, soy and sugar minced ginger sauce. One gripe I have is that they have taken the stir fried morning glory greens off their menu, “difficult to get supplies these days”. Sayang la. They have moved yet again in August this year, but that’s frivolous trivia. Their makan is still the same.
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