Soon Kee Teochew Porridge: Rustic Teochew porridge in Sembawang

The one thing I look forward to during reservist training is the opportunity to discover food places in the Northern part of Singapore.

At my recent reservist, I went to Sembawang Shopping Centre looking for a Thai tze char restaurant that I used to frequent. However, I couldn’t find it anywhere in the newly renovated complex, so I decided to cross the road to the old shophouses on the opposite side to see if we could locate it. It was there that we chanced upon this rustic Teochew porridge stall. The crowd of people slurping their hot porridge along the sidewalk got me even more excited.

Sure enough, the food here was absolutely rustic and tasty, which explained why it was so good. On top of that, it was cheap too! The steamed fish was cooked to perfection. It was tender, moist and the steaming sauce was delicious. Though it was rather oily, like a steamed version of fried fish, it was really tasty!

The mei cai (preserved radish leaves) were equally oily and delicious. Teochew porridge is plain so this dish went well with it. It was even better together with the braised pork. I would have liked the braised pork even more if the skin was fried before stewing. The style of braised pork here was not really Teochew style as it had a thick gravy instead of a watery one, but it was excellent with the porridge.

It was too bad that by 1pm, most of the dishes had already been sold out. So I would have to go there again or wait for my next reservist training to try more dishes.

Overall rating: 4/5

Rating – Food: 4; Service: 3; Value: 3

Soon Kee Teochew Porridge

#01-04/07, Hong Heng Garden, 33 Sembawang Road

Tel: 98329787 (Tan Boon Huat)

Opening hours: 6am-2pm; closed on Sun