June 4, 2010

hawker rocker 117 - a hokkien girl in love with teochew muay!

ever since i got my lumee, i have been pretty trigger happie and always on the look out for objects to take. one wednesday evening found us in quite an old school corner coffee shop at the junction of joo chiat road and dunman and i could not resist composing this shot as i think it pretty much sums up the meal that we enjoyed that evening. love the colors and  the simplicity of the wooden chopsticks...reflecting the simple yet colorful dishes we had to accompany that oh-so-familiar bowl of teochew muay.




i've driven and walked past this joint countless times and probably last eaten here a good fifteen years ago! it kinda explains why this place never comes to mind when we wonder where to go for teochew muay. having been back though (thanks to makansutra!), teck's teochew porridge would definitely be my number one choice, unless of course its a tuesday for they close on alternate tuesdays.

they have got quite a lean and mean operation going, with dedicated cooks, waiting staff, porridge servers and a cashier. with newpaper and magazine articles framing the shop front, there is no doubt you'll be wondering which to look at first, the variety of food laid out in front of you or the accolades recommending what to eat! there really is something for everyone, from the simple steamed egg, braised pork to the more elaborate steamed pomfrets and even crab. we went with the old school dishes to accompany the bowl of slightly sticky porridge - homemade fish cake, baby squid, braised brinjals, heh-bee (prawn paste) and of course salted veggies. the cooking was very home-style but definitely did not lack flavor. the heh-bee dish was an eye opener for me as i've never had it this way. adds a nice kick to the plain porridge and worked really well with the savoury brinjal and tangy squid. the salted veggies though won it for me. it was probably the best that i've had so far....think sweet yet slightly salty and crunchy not mushy veggies. it was so good i'd be happy just to have a bowl of salted veggie to go with my porridge! 

so there. reconnected with an old coffeeshop joint and happy that there is some kick ass teochew porridge in my neighborhood!


teck teochew porridge
300 joo chiat road
(65) 9237 2189 

1 comment:

Jo said...

we just went for teochew muay over the weekend as well at our favourite coffee shop along upp serangoon road (of course, this cantonese gal had rice instead of teochew muay as usual =)). good to know there's a good one at joo chiat, for future reference =)