Heng Hua Restaurant 兴化美食

Xing Hua cuisine is one of my favourite cuisines and just recently I came across some social media posts about such cuisine, thus it leads to my cravings. One of us suggested heading to Yishun Heng Hua Restaurant for a try as she find that the food is pretty decent there. 

We order a set meal for two at $32 which includes:

1）  Herbs-Food Prawns in Bamboo Shoot 药膳竹筒虾
2）Deep Fried Slices of "Tenggui Fish" 炸马鲛鱼
3）Braised Bean Curd with 豆皮芥兰
4) Lor Mee / Mee Sua / Bee Hoon
5)  Free Dessert 赠送甜品

as well as some other dishes to share among us. Xing Hua Restaurant is tucked at the far end corner of the HDB block.

Heng Hua Restaurant

Those who enjoy herbal soup may enjoy this dish. The number of prawns given was generous and the size of the prawn was relatively big. The natural-tasting soup in the Bamboo Shoot has a good subtle seafood taste in its light herbal taste.

Herbs-Food Prawns in Bamboo Shoot 药膳竹筒虾

I'm glad that they have this in their set menu. The fish is deep fruit to golden perfection and you can dip them in the homemade sauce with garlic. 

Deep Fried Slices of "Tenggui Fish" 炸马鲛鱼

A sweet gravy drenched on the pieces of braised bean curd and stirred fried with Kai Lan, slices of carrot and button mushrooms.

Braised Bean Curd with Gailan 豆皮芥兰

The White Lor Mee is also one of Xing Hua's Cuisine Staple Food to order. A version of Chinese La Mian soaked in a flavoursome broth and not as starchy as our traditional braised Lor Mee style. It was a comforting bowl of food especially when it was a wet day. The Lor Mee had included some crispy Pork Belly and vegetables in it. 

Lor Mee 卤面

The set meal includes a free dessert and it was white fungus with red date. It was refreshing and not so sweet. What a good ending to our meal.

Free Dessert 赠送甜品

The Stir Fried Sliced Yam is one of the classic Xing Hua Cuisines. These yams were fried and had a crisp exterior. They were then coated in a thin layer of sweet savoury sauce. While you bite down these blocks of yam, the internal was soft and fluffy. Quite addictive!

Stir-Fried Sliced Yam 酥炒香芋 - $10 (Small)

Of all Xing Hua Cuisine's Noodles, what I usually like most will be their Bee Hoon. The ingredients include crunchy peanuts, vegetables, clams, fried tofu puff, seaweed, prawns, pork belly and Chinese mushrooms. No doubt this plate of Bee Hoon was homely, but I still find that the taste was lacking and ruined somehow by the strong raw taste of the Bee Hoon.

Bee Hoon 米粉 - $4.50

The feel of ordering this dish is like having some Chinese banquet but in fact, we were in a coffee shop. The chicken was deep fried with crispy skin and was served with some crackers.

Deep Fried Chicken 香红烧鸡 - $12 (Small) 

Another staples from the Heng Hua Cuisine is none other than this popular chinese dish we had from Cze Char Stall. The Heng Hua's will usually include Lychee in this dish to differentiate their cuisine from others.

Heng Hua Sweet & Sour Pork 兴化荔枝肉 - $10 (Small)

Another Cze Char dish was ordered! The Fried Hor Fun with sliced fish was tasty and the overall taste was rather decent. The Hor Fun had a subtle Wok Fried taste.

Fried Hor Fun with Sliced Fish 鱼片河粉 - $5 (Small)

Perhaps my tastebuds were already spoilt by our Chained Xing Hua's restaurant in Singapore and had taken that as a benchmark. Nonetheless, in this neighbourhood, Heng Hua Restaurant still deserves a talk as their menu is rather extensive with a good list of Authentic Heng Hua dishes we can hardly find here.

Rating: 3 / 5

Heng Hua Restaurant
Location:  Block 748, Yishun Street 72, #01-212, Singapore 760748
Nearest Station: Yishun (NS13)

Ming Chung Restaurant

Henghua Cuisine is something I'm addicted to from time to time and it had been about 4 years since our last visit to Ming Chung Restaurant to enjoy the authentic Singapore Henghua Cuisine.

Ming Chung Restaurant

Menu

People of Henghua dialect group will term this as "Por Or 博哦". The deep and crispy fried Mackerel fish is marinated in their special soya sauce is tasty. It comes along with a small saucer of chilli sauce to give a good spicy kick to the dish.

Fried Batang Fish 煎馬交魚 - $10

Pronounced as "Chor Hua Ah 搓花啊" in Henghua language. Being clams lover, we can never miss this on the menu moreover this is one of their recommendations. Each and every calm is fresh and coated well in their homemade chilli sauce. You will not regret ordering this.

Stir-Fried Flower Clams (La La) 炒花蛤 (啦啦) - $12 (Small)

Wonder how to pronounce this in dialect? It's "Oh Lai Toon 哦喇吞”! The seaweed soup is ordered, satisfying my craving of soup dish for dinner. The dish is executed simply with seafood consisting of clams, prawns, eggs, peanuts and pork in a clear broth.

Seaweed Soup 紫菜汤 - $5

Ingredients Plentiful

The hungry man cannot resist an omelette from his meal and here comes the oyster omelette.

Oyster Omelette 蠔煎蛋 - $10

Yummy! Sweet and sour pork is pleasantly placed in front of our eyes in its beautiful colours made up of vegetables like coriander, cucumber, green pepper, onions and pineapple. The sour taste was robust and the dish was to die for. Every piece of meat was delicious and the bites strike a good balance between fatty and lean meat.  

Sweet & Sour Pork 咕嚕肉 - $12

The Henghua Lor Mee is significantly different from the Hokkien Yellow Mee drenched with thick gooey brown gravy we had. Theirs is white and this White Lor Mee is also better known as Rickshaw noodles, handmade and wok-braised in a white broth infused with robust flavours of hearty ingredients including pork, seafood, fried bean curd, yam and vegetables.

Lor Mee (Braised Noodles) 鹵面 - $5

The Fried Mee Sua is also known as a Longevity Noodles which is a mandatory dish on the first day of Chinese New Year for Henghua people. The stir-fried handmade wheat vermicelli dish is well cooked with seafood (Lala & Sotong), pork and vegetables topped with seaweed and peanuts. If you enjoy Henghua Fried Bee Hoon, the ingredients in this dish are pretty similar.

Fried Mee Sua 炒面线 - $7

It's quite amazing that we are able to stomach in 7 dishes for dinner because we simply missed the cuisine so much after a long period of time. 

Other than the biggest chains of Henghua restaurant in Singapore, it's not a very common sight of their stalls here, moreover the authentic and tradition of Ming Chung Restaurant since 1933 has given a good assurance to patrons on their well-executed dishes. She has been reputable throughout these years and definitely a good choice of eating place not only for those who enjoy the food but also serve a wonderful family gathering meal places during weekends especially.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Ming Chung Restaurant 

Location: 67 Maude Road (off Jalan Besar) Singapore 208348
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Ming Chung Restaurant

Ming Chung Restaurant is one of the oldest eating place that sell authentic Heng Hua Cuisine. Many have not heard of Henghua food but if you all are aware of PUTIEN, the popular chinese restaurant with number of branches here in Singapore, that's the kind of cuisine Ming Chung are selling.

Ming Chung Restaurant

I came to know of Henghua cuisine from my mum whom dialect is that and once in a while she will cook my favourite Henghua Bee Hoon. Henghua is a minority Chinese dialect of the immigrants from Putian in Fujian province. Since Putien is located near the coast, Henghua cuisine features most of their ingredients items like seaweed, clams, oysters etc.

Bringing mum to her own dialect cuisine can be a little bit tricky at times as she do cooks some similar dishes. Nevertheless, we managed to order the deep-fried crispy Mackerel fish that was marinated with their special soy sauce.

Fried Batang Fish - $10 (Small)

These deep fried chicken wings were well marinated with prawn paste and served with their special kind of chilli. Tasty but not the best I had so far.

Prawn Paste Fried Chicken - $10 (Small)

Fried Peh Kueh is similar to the fried Nian Gao or Rice cake that we had from the chinese restaurant. Dish was fragrant and came in dark soya sauce with ingredients like prawns, sotong, clams, pork and vegetables.

Fried Peh Kueh - $7

I have never heard of Cha Hoon and since my mum recommend it, we had ordered this dish for sharing. Its actually a combination of Henghua's Bee Hoon and Mee Sua braised in a white broth with ingredients such as sotong, prawns, pork, bean curd and vegetables. I like the texture of Henghua's Bee Hoon as they are much finer compared to the usual bee hoon we have.

Cha Hoon - $7 (Small)

Henghua Lor Mee is a must have among the regulars. Thick noodles in white tasty broth is usually known as White Lor Mee or Rickshaw Noodles, these handmade noodles were wok braised with hearty ingredients like that Cha Hoon and Peh Kuah dishes.

Lor Mee (Braised Noodle) - $8 (Big)

I'm pretty impress by the level of service as they were patient for our orders even though we took quite sometime to decide. Upon ordering, there was also not much of waiting time and food were dished out pretty fast. Overall, it served a very good place for those who prefer authentic Henghua Cuisine and give a very good reminiscent to the earlier generations as Ming Chung has been very reputable since the earlier days.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Ming Chung Restaurant
Location: 67 Maude Rd, Singapore 208348

Putien

Putien has been around for quite sometimes and is among one of the top Chinese chain restaurants where family tends to gather around for meals. It was mum's birthday and nothing beats having a meal that reminds her of her dialect group, Xing Hua which Putien is absolutely known for.

Putien's Wet Towel

Interior decors flashed out a luxurious and modern Chinese restaurant with ample of seating.

Environment

Family Set at $68 ++ for two was a fuss free option where you can enjoy a value meal with Starters, Main Course, side dishes, Dessert and Fruits.

Starters

Starting with Seaweed with Mini Shrimps where by seaweed were tossed with their quality mini shrimps imported from the South China Sea region. The texture of the seaweed was very inviting and delighting, giving a refreshing kick off to the set of 2.

Seaweed with Mini Shrimps

Braised Bean Curd is one of Putien's specialties and was also a perfect choice for a start as it was soft and full of flavour. It tasted on a mixture of sweet and salty side, friendly to the gums of the folks.

Braised Bean Curd

Out of the 4 main dishes, we had chosen Ma Zu Mee Sua. Symbolizing longevity, their long Mee Sua was handmade traditionally with their unique method. Premium quality ingredients were used in the production of Mee Sua thus even how moist the gravy was, it did not turn them into a soggy dish.

Ma Zu Mee Sua

Crispy pork ribs and water chestnuts had hit the right notes. They were coated with mouth watering sweet & sour sauce. I like it best especially when the chestnuts were so crunchy and pork ribs were notably tender.

Crispy Pork Ribs & Water Chestnuts

Beverages were only served halfway through our dinner. The homemade Barley's sweetness was mild even with winter-melon added. Instead of seeing the whole long pieces of winter melon in the drink, it was being cut into bits form easily for diners. 

Barley with Melon Bits -$3.50 Each (Not in the set)

Specially flew in from the habitat, the “100-Second” Stewed Yellow Croaker was stewed precisely at 100 seconds with ginger. It was a healthy dish in fact on top of being fresh and tender. For 2 pax meal, each of us was served with a fish in the claypot.

"100 Second" Stewed Yellow Croaker

Dessert of the day was fixed by the chef. However we asked if we could change to our choices and they had agreed.

Hot Yam Paste with Ginkgo Nuts was served with the right level of sweetness. Smooth yam paste with a few gingko nuts and with coconut milk in the right amount.

Hot Yam Paste with Ginkgo Nuts

While I got myself a Chilled Lemongrass Jelly with Fruits in which the lemon grass flavours was not too overpowering, in fact the scent was light with tiny bits of Fruits and wobbly jelly.

Chilled Lemongrass Jelly with Fruits

Desserts did not mark an end to our meal but the fruit platter does. A platter with watermelon, dragon fruit and big grape was served chilled with ice by the side.

Fruit Platter

Service as a whole was sincere and friendly. Staff were pretty on the ball and responsive. After taxes together with drinks included, it cost about $88 for 2 pax without the appetizers and wet towel. I don't mind returning to Putien for her food again for occasion.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Putien
Location: Jurong Point, 1 Jurong West Central 2 #02-34 (JP1) Singapore 648886

Putian (Xing Hua) Kitchen (Closed)

Dean's Cafe was located deeply into the neighborhood and if it wasnt through my colleague's recommendation, I would not have known of the place existence despite having myself staying in Jurong for such a long period.

Environment of the cafe was quite welcoming especially as it has alfresco dinning with wavy trees by the side. Place was rather airy with no mozzies around and seems relaxing. We were dinning in outdoors at the lower ground and looking up into the upper ground, one will get to see the traffic of the road heading towards Jurong East direction. Bus stop is just a stone throw away and is readily accessible.

Putian (Xing Hua) Kitchen

Garnished with roasted nuts and laver with a generous amount of seafood was actually quite a steal. Each strand of Xing Hua Bee Hoon is characterized by light natural flavour of Xing Hua Cuisine.

Xing Hua Bee Hoon - $4

The Qing Fen is another level up of the former but in a wet version distinctively filled with toufu cubes, more pork and tau pok. It was tasty and as good as the Xing Hua Bee Hoon.

Xing Hua Qing Fen - $4

Sweet and Sour Pork with Lychee was second in serving. Pork was crisply fried and was coated with sweet sour savory sauce consisting tomatoes, pineapples, capsicums and cucumber. If not for the added sweet lychees, one would have not known that this is actually representing a Xing Hua dish.

Sweet and Sour Pork with Lychee - $8

Lychee

With such a minority occupancy locally, Xing Hua Cuisine had been too commercialized and was portrayed as an expensive cuisine to start with. However, Xing Hua (Putian) kitchen has given us an alternative fix enjoying such Cuisine at a wallet-friendly pricing. If one don't mind its non air-conditioned environment and can do without a restaurant service, this is definitely a good find in the West!

Rating: 4 / 5

Putian (Xing Hua Kitchen)
Location: Blk 267A Toh Guan Road, #01-01 Singapore 601267