This restaurant (8/9/10 Mosque Street, tel : +65 6222 3654) is an institution for rustic Teochew food.
pork aspic
We started off with an order of pork in aspic. Little chunks of pig trapped in a chilled gelatinous stock. This would be considered an Asian cold cut of sorts which is unfortunately, not commonly found anymore. I was glad to discover that the flavour of the stock could be found in the jelly surrounding the meat.
liver rolls and prawn balls (hae cho)
The next dish that was to quickly follow were assorted deep fried rolls of liver and chestnut along with prawn balls. I was expecting more liver-y flavour from the liver rolls, but the taste was quite moderated. Both the rolls and balls were pretty tasty and weren't excessively greasy.
Teochew styled braised duck
There was also a plate of braised duck in dark sauce which is one of the hallmarks of Teochew cuisine. It was quite tasty, but I wouldn't say that it's one of the better ducks that we've had.
oyster omelette
The oyster omelette was a winner here. Unlike the common variety that one can find in hawker centres, there isn't any flour involved in the omelette. It was a hundred percent slab of fried beaten egg that was topped with semi-cooked small fat oysters and spring onion leaves.
sea cucumber stuffed with minced pork patty
The texture of the sea cucumber was a little chewy but no real complains here about this dish. At what the restaurant charged, I am guessing that they aren't of the top tier quality sea cucumbers.
cold crab
Cold crabs were pretty good. The flesh was a little stiff from the cold but tasted sweet. The bodies were filled with heady tasting crab fat (tomally).
orh nee
Dessert was another tradition item of yam paste with sweetened pumpkin and ginko nuts. No lard and fried shallots in there for the aroma but I guess it was still one of the better done ones outside of a pricey Chinese restaurant.