KEK Seafood at Pandan Gardens : best Salted Egg Chicken Burger ever

Keng Eng Kee, is also known as KEK, they first started out as a hawker stall along Old Havelock Road in the 1970s. Their forefathers,  Low Peck Yah and Kok Yok Jong came to Singapore from Hainan Island, China in the 1950s. With the skills in authentic Hainanese cooking, they started out by selling Hainanese Chicken Rice in a small coffee shop located at Old Havelock Road. They then expanded their business after it prospered to include a Zi Char hawker stall. Koh Liang Hong, their elder daughter was tasked to manage that stall. She eventually fell in love with Liew Choy, their Head Chef and they got married. Liew Choy acquired the culinary skills of the old couple and mastered his own unique culinary style much later. And, they moved to Alexandra Village. 

Paul Liew, their elder son, is in-charge of the operations. Chef Wayne Liew, their younger son, started cooking in the kitchen at the tender age of 19 and took over as Head Chef at 26 years old. Geraldine Liew, their daughter, is managing the day-to-day running of the restaurant.  Their mother is in-charge of the financial management and their father, the former Head Chef is still taking charge of the overall operations.

The KEK in Pandan Gardens is started and managed by the third generation after working on the menu for almost 2 years. The kitchen is helmed by Chef Wayne and supported by Paul and Geraldine, manning the front-of-house services.

The menu still includes those popular dishes like Chili Crabs, Black Pepper Crabs and Moonlight Horfun with the newly created Wok Hei Burgers, the first of its kind, it includes choices like Coffee Pork Burger, Salted Egg Chicken Burger, Salted Egg Pork Burger, Salted Egg Sotong Burger, Marmite Chicken Burger, "Pai Gu Wang" Pork Burger and Sambal Beef Burger. They also serve Wok-fried Spaghetti that has the unique wok hei, the choices are Chilli Softshell Crab Spaghetti, Salted Egg Yolk Spaghetti, Prawn Paste Chicken Spaghetti, Lala Spaghetti, Sambal Squid Spaghetti and Black Pepper Beef Spaghetti. There are also other newly created dishes on their menu.

When my dining companion asked, "What are we having there?" which I replied, "Spaghetti and Burger." He looked at me with disbelief followed with a loud "Huh?".

Chilli Soft Shell Crab Spaghetti ($12.00). The spaghetti was wok-fried to infuse it with a rather slight wok flavor together with chili crab sauce, served together with fried soft shell crab. This is one of the best East-meets-West dishes that I ever came across as it was well-executed. 

Salted Egg Chicken Burger set ($9.50) including a choice of drink. The fried chicken was tossed in salted egg yolk sauce with curry leaves and bits of chili. This has to be the best Salted Egg Chicken Burger that I ever had, it is much better than those served by Western food joints.

They have been listed in the guidebook by Michelin consecutively for 2 years.

KEK SEAFOOD PANDAN GARDENS

200 Pandan Gardens #01-12 SINGAPORE 609336

Operating Hours: 11.30 am to 2.30 pm / 5.00 pm to 10.00 pm (Daily)

Keng Eng Kee Seafood : Recommended Zi Char Place

It started from their forefathers, Low Peck Yah and Koh Yok Jong that travelled from Hainan Island of China to Singapore in the 1950s. They were determined to use their authentic Hainanese cooking skills to serve delectable local delights to the Chinese community then. They started by selling Hainanese Chicken Rice in a small coffee shop at Old Havelock Road and by using the freshest ingredients coupled with their excellent culinary skills, their business expanded to include a zi char stall in the 1970s. 

Their elder daughter, Koh Liang Hong and their employed chef, Liew Choy was taking charge of this Zi Char stall and eventually, they got married. This led to the Keng Eng Kee Seafood (KEK) now after moving from the the already demolished Havelock Road Food Centre to its current location, and expanded from a hawker stall to take over the whole coffee shop. They are a family run business and the authentic culinary skill has now handed over to the next generation, it is helmed by Chef Wayne Liew. His elder brother, Paul Liew is taking charge of the operations. 

Stir-fried Mee Sua at $5, $8, $12 or $16. Though it might be just a simple dish but it is not easy to di it well particularly to keep the mee sua intact without broken them into pieces. There was a slight hint of wok hei with quite a bit of ingredients added to worth the $5 for this smallest plate.

Moonlight Horfun at $5, $8, $12 and $16 is one of their signature dishes that you do not quite get it in other zi char stalls. It was stir-fried well to give it an aromatic wok hei but a little too greasy. It is served with an egg yolk cracked in the middle of the dish and to start, give it a good stir to have it mixed well with the horfun so to coat it slightly for a smoother texture. 

Salted Sotong at $18, $28 and $38. It was well-fried to give it the crispiness before well coated with the creamy salted egg, it still tasted crispy even after left it for a while. This is definitely one of the better salted egg dishes that i ever tasted.

Another must-order has to be their Mingzhou Rolls at $9, $12 or $15. This dish is inspired and created by Madam Koh, the lady boss of KEK. It serves an alternative choice apart of the usual zi char fare and it has been chosen as one of the dishes featured in SG50 Deliciously Singaporean, specially dedicated to delicacies that is a part of the food heritage culture of Singapore. The roll is stuffed with salted egg yolk, ham, mushroom, prawn and parsley in a tau pok then deep-fried it to give it the delightful crispiness. You could eat it with the accompanied sauces though it is good enough to eat it on its own. 

They have just recently expanded to another branch at Pandan Gardens, this outlet has aircon and outdoor seating. Though the menu is quite similar but they are also introducing modern zi char dishes like Popcorn Crabs, Mango Prawns Rolls, Slated Egg Soft Shell Crab with Wok-fried Spaghetti, Seafood Platter with 3 different dips and many more.

KENG ENG KEE SEAFOOD

. Block 124 Bukit Merah Lane 1 #01-136 SINGAPORE 150124

. 200 Pandan Gardens #01-12 SINGAPORE 609336

Operating Hours: 12.00 pm to 2.30 pm / 5.00 pm to 10.00 pm