Zi Char review: Whampoa Food Street (Keng) Fish Head Steamboat Restaurant

Zi Char review: Whampoa Food Street (Keng) Fish Head Steamboat Restaurant

SINGAPORE - One night several years ago, my friends and I left a party early and headed straight for the Rangoon Road branch of Whampoa Food Street (Keng) Fish Head Steamboat Restaurant.

Parking here is easier than at the other outlet in Balestier Road and I remember the excellent soup from the fish steamboat and juicy prawn paste chicken.

Fast forward, oh, five years, and I am no longer a zi char newbie.

The prawn paste chicken ($8) is still pretty good, with a crisp crust that makes a happy sound when you bite into it. But the mid-joint wings do not have as much of a kick as the version at Ka-Soh in College Road.

I still like the cloudy, garlicky fish soup but our steamboat ($30) is full of overcooked fish. It is a real pity because the red garoupa comes in generous chunks. They have just been sitting in hot soup for too long and that is a real crime.

Otherwise, the food here is terrific.

Braised pork knuckle ($22), a special on the night I dine there, is luscious. The knuckle is deep fried before a long, slow braise.

Why take the trouble, you wonder. The skin loses its crispness during the braise anyway. But the deep frying adds another layer of flavour, the way browning cubes of beef before stewing produces a more nuanced end result.

There are days and weeks when I cannot bear the thought of eating anything with a thick layer of fat but the knuckle here is not fatty, just gelatinous. Collagen is good for the skin, one of my friends says, in a vain attempt to justify eating more. It is as good a reason as any.

A dish described as Sambal Cockle ($10) on the menu is actually la la, a kind of soft-shell clam. They are exceptional on the night we dine - fat, fresh and juicy.

I would gladly eat them just steamed and dipped into the punchy garlic, chilli and vinegar dip Whampoa Food Street serves. The sambal is a tad sweet and needs a little more heat.

It might benefit from the version used to fry the kangkong and cuttlefish ($12). It is bright and spicy, with not a trace of sweetness.

I also like the Indonesian chicken claypot ($12), with small pieces of bone-in chicken deep fried and covered in a lightly spicy and tangy sauce.

Flavour accents include curry leaves, sliced chilli and barely cooked onion.

But at the heart of the dish is that delicious chicken. It is a little less tender than supermarket birds, but I'd give that up any day for flavour.

On the way home after dinner, I cannot stop thinking about that fish steamboat.

What should I do the next time I dine there?

Not order the dish? But I like the soup and the chunks of yam are delicious. Perhaps I'll ask if they can plate the raw fish separately and we'll add them in ourselves.

It will solve the problem of overcooked fish and we will not have to gobble it up before it loses its magic.

hsueh@sph.com.sg

www.facebook.com/tanhsuehyun

Whampoa food street (Keng) Fish Head Steamboat Restaurant
116/118 Rangoon Road
Tel: 6356- 7371
Open: 11am to 3pm, 5 to 11pm (weekdays), 11am to 11pm (weekends)
Rating: ****

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