Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Chef Chik : Cantonese-style dishes at hawker price

Chef Chik Ka Chung, came from Hong Kong in the 90s to work as a Cantonese chef in different hotels including as an Executive Chef at Wan Hao Cantonese restaurant in Marriot Tang Plaza Hotel before starting this hawker stall with his wife in 2012. He is concentrating on Cantonese-style cooking like the double-boiled soups, claypot rice, and steamed dishes as well as some off-menu items depending on what he gets from the wet market. 

We ordered the Claypot Sausage Chicken Rice ($8), Black Fungus Steamed Chicken ($8), Salted Fish Pork Patty ($3.50) and Lotus Root Dried Oyster Pork Ribs Soup ($4.50) with a small bowl of rice. 


The Claypot Sausage Chicken Rice is done using gas instead of a charcoal fire, it was still aromatic with a nice crispy crust right below the rice. It was served with ingredients like Chinese sausage, liver sausage, cured pork belly, salted fish, chicken, and bok choy. It tasted quite similar to those that I had eaten in Hong Kong. 


The Black Fungus Steamed Chicken is a comforting dish. The chicken was tender and smooth doused in soy sauce, served together with soft black fungus and topped with chopped spring onions. I enjoyed eating this and it went well with rice. My dining companion did not like it as much though. 


Salted Fish Pork Patty tasted homely and that is the reason why I ordered a bowl of rice. The meat was finely chopped to have better textural contrast. The only taste of salted fish was from that small piece placed on top of the patty. My dining companion said, "I mashed the salted fish to mix it with the minced meat for more flavor. The choice of fattier meat has given it a softer texture."


The Lotus Root Dried Oyster Pork Ribs Soup was a pleasant surprise. My dining companion started looking for the dried oyster and there were 2 in total. It reminded me of those double-boiled soups that I had in Hong Kong. 


The dried oyster is not a common ingredient to be found in these soups offer by the hawker stalls here. It usually have a deeper, stronger and earthy flavor and not to everyone's taste but it has given it an extra flavor and not as monotonous as compared to most of the others. 


We were during lunch on Friday but the waiting time was a short one.


CHEF CHIK
14 Haig Road #01-36 Haig Road Food Centre SINGAPORE 430014
Operating Hours: 12.00 pm to 7.30 pm (Closed on Sundays and Mondays)/

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