Ang Hoay Lor#4

Deep-fried siakap with bean sauce. I thought this was seriously exceptional. Papa Chow remarked that however you tried to replicate this simple dish at home, it just wouldn't taste the same. I think this means he's tried.

Stir-fried tau kua with leek: a very prosaic unremarkable dish again, executed perfectly. The taukua was fresh, soft and flavourful, heavenly in my mouth. The meal was an exquisite experience in Hokkien home-style cooking, easily one of the best in recent memory. Props to the chef, and to Papa Chow for bringing us there.

Ang Hoay Lor#3

An out-of-focus thumb mourning for loss of nail and bemoaning hideous appearance.
1. Char Tang Hoon: Fried Glass Noodles with pork, oysters, veges, prawns. Easily the best version of this dish I've ever tasted, the noodles tasted perfectly-flavour-infused, moist but retaining its texture.

2. Baci Teng/Soup: featuring porky bits covered with starch, strips of cabbage in a thick soup. Not a dish for the faint of heart, this is a dish I have thought about for a very long time. Last tasted at Goh Swee Kee well over a decade ago, I remember my secret enjoyment of this rather uncool dish. Meat & starch does not sound like an appealing combination- but something about that chewiness complements the heaviness of the soup, makes it hold its own and be a defining feature in the gluggy stronghold of the soup.

Ang Hoay Lor#2: Surrounds

Ha Ko Chau, a cool drink for a hot day.

Dejeuner en plein air: Ang Hoay Loh

This eat-out eatery is located next to the State Chinese Association building, across from the Askar end of Peel Avenue. We were told we'd have to wait half an hour for the meal.


Taka listens intently to Papa Chow's telling of the history of the restaurant: something about three brothers of unequal talents bickering and splitting up to do their own thing.