Best eats: Charcoal-roasted juicy char siew, crispy pork belly at Keong Saik Road
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Best eats: Charcoal-roasted juicy char siew, crispy pork belly at Keong Saik Road
In this calendar week's Makan Kakis, GOLD 905 DJ Denise Tan indulges in Cantonese-style roasted meats cooked the delightfully onetime school way at Foong Kee Traditional Charcoal Roasted.
GOLD 905 DJ Denise Tan with a spread of Foong Kee Traditional Charcoal Roasted'south dishes. (Photo: Denise Tan)
nineteen December 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 10 Jul 2022 08:40PM)
It'due south the season for roasted turkeys, glazed hams and other festive eats. But why non embrace the flavours of Asia instead and celebrate with Cantonese-style roasted meats?
After hearing about this place from my Gold 905 Makan Kaki Chef Lim Yew Aun of The Cicheti Group, I hurried over to Keong Saik Road for some flavour's eatings in the form of char siew (barbequed pork) and siew yoke (crispy pork belly), with some roasted duck thrown in for skilful mensurate. One seize with teeth and I knew I was going to take myself a tasty, er, merry little Christmas, thank you to Foong Kee Coffee Shop.
Chef-owner Derrick Wong Wai Chiew's traditional charcoal-roasted meats have fabricated information technology on to many "best of" lists, and after hearing his story, I understood why. In a nutshell, it boils down to a passion for cooking, humility, learning from the best, trial and error, quality ingredients and a personal love of roasted meats.
Formerly a shoe salesman, Wong decided to leave the footwear business organization behind in his 30s for a career in F&B. "I wanted to larn a proper skill," he explained in Mandarin. So he threw himself into learning the ropes, starting at the very bottom as a dishwasher and working his way up to chef's amateur.
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He worked in dim sum restaurants and at zi char eateries before a chef in charge of roasted meats at a hotel recognised his potential and taught him the basics of Cantonese-style barbeque. Along the style, he researched and experimented on perfecting his own method and recipes, earlier starting his own roasted meats stall, selling char siew rice (S$three.50), siew yoke rice (Due south$3.50), roasted duck rice (S$four) and wanton (meat dumpling) noodles (S$3.fifty).
Wong used to ply his trade at Commonwealth Crescent before he opened Foong Kee along Keong Saik Route 15 years ago. Since and then, his food has won accolades from critics, if the news clippings plastering his stall-front were annihilation to go by.
Yet, Wong believes he's only equally good as the food he serves today. Watching him lift ducks hanging from hooks out of the big, distinctive charcoal ovens that resembled sometime-fashioned space rockets, he admitted it tin be hard to continue up the consistency of his roasted meats because information technology depended on so many factors, including the quality of the meat supply (his ducks are from Malaysia and his pork is from Republic of indonesia and Australia) and the charcoal supply which tin touch on the fire and in turn the cooking process.
On the day I visited, Wong told me his ducks were a niggling on the lean side, simply hopefully with the right treatment, the meat wasn't dry. I decided it was definitely fourth dimension to tuck in to a selection of his choicest cuts to test this for myself.
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I ordered a bit of everything forth with some noodles (S$2) on the side. Rice (S$0.50) was, of course, available as well and all-time with a mix of roasted meats drenched in barbeque and chilli sauces.
Wong as well served upward a mix of duck chest and leg meat (S$40 for a whole duck), which were indeed on the leaner side, just no less tasty. Even without a thick layer of fat, the breast meat was not stringy or dry. A smear of sambal chilli, dark and deep with the brininess of dried shrimp, added season and moistness. The total-bodied, pleasantly gamey taste of duck filled my mouth and a crisp pare added a delightful textural dissimilarity.
Speaking of which, the siew yoke (Southward$forty per kilogram) was worthy of whatever top-stop Cantonese restaurant, boasting tender meat and a crispy skin. The roasted pork belly revealed gorgeous layers – a charred band of burnt ends on one terminate (where all the savoury flavours seemed to concentrate and intensify), followed by a strip of jiggly fat, a stratum of clean-tasting white meat and a thin, crunchy, crumbly crown of crackling on the reverse end.
Perfectly expert on its own, I popped piece after piece before realising I had a whole bowl of barbeque sauce for dipping or drizzling over my springy noodles tossed in lard. The piquant sauce was a glossy black puddle of roasting drippings, nighttime soya sauce and other seasonings, thickened to a syrupy consistency, yet meaty, savoury and not too sweet. Information technology tasted similar char siew in liquid form.
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Oh, the char siew. It's the accented best of the lot, the perfect balance between meat and fat, sweet and savoury. This wasn't the dry, dyed orange stuff that came like an reconsideration with some wanton noodles, simply thick slices of actually juicy, unctuous meat encrusted by a deeply charred bark.
Wong told me he only used a cutting called "bu jian tian" (literally, "doesn't run into the sky") or meat without tendons or tough sinews, taken from the armpit (betwixt shoulder and belly) of the pig. I didn't know what to feel about eating pig armpits, but I did know I loved how delicious the meat was.
At an almost 50:50 meat to fat ratio, some may find this cut too rich, but the fat added much flavour to the beautifully lacquered meat. Each glistening piece melted in the mouth with the mingled flavours of caramel, smoke and savoury soy. At Due south$xl per kilogramme, Foong Kee'south char siew wasn't cheap, but as Wong put it: "Because one pig only has two pieces of bu jian tian, it'south more expensive." My serving today was enough for two or three people and price Due south$10.
To cut through all that fatty richness, I dunked the roasted meats in the all-purpose chilli sauce (different from the one served with the duck). It'due south a unique accompaniment, a lot like sweet and sour Thai chilli sauce. The zestiness of calamansi brightened and lifted the smoky meat flavours, while the acerbity prevented things from becoming overwhelmingly cloying. All in all, information technology was all about balance so that all the flavours zinged around excitingly in the mouth. Even the condiments were carefully concocted for maximum deliciousness – a testament to Wong's passion for perfection.
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He admitted that while it'due south impossible to achieve 100 per cent consistency for his roasted meats, he tries every single 24-hour interval to coax the best out of the charcoal fires and his meats. "Personally, I aim for xc per cent at the very to the lowest degree merely even 80 per cent is acceptable considering the taste is already very good. Hopefully this will keep people coming dorsum for more," he said earnestly.
I, for i, certainly volition exist back – the char siew has officially fabricated it on to my Christmas Party menu. Cue: gustation buds singing falalalalalalala!
Foong Kee Traditional Charcoal Roasted is located at Foong Kee Coffee Shop, 6 Keong Saik Road, Singapore 089114. Information technology'southward open Mondays to Saturdays, 11am – 8pm. They close on Sundays and public holidays. Catch Makan Kakis with Denise Tan every Thursday from 11am on GOLD 905.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/dining/best-local-food-singapore-keong-saik-char-siew-roast-pork-256546
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