190. Por kee Eating House 1996

Por Kee is hidden behind 2 rows of shophouses and a short walking distance from the Tiong Bahru Market. I'm a frequent patron of Por Kee because their food is good and reasonably priced. Have been there for more than 20 times. Indonesia's ex-president Mdm Megawati is once a patron too! Her visit there even had the road to the restaurant closed. Wao.....

Deep-fried Soon Hook fish @$53

Soon hock's meat was very cotton alike. Simply melts in your mouth. The elderly and babies should eat soon hock. It was cooked the Hong Kong style. A strong hint of the shaoxing wine or hua diao wine as we commonly known it as. I felt the chef had added too much wine. The fish wasn't crispy enough.

The fish dish that is a big hit with diners is the Thai style fish. They usually use tapila fish. In clear broth that exudes a strong and choking lemongrass aroma, the fish which was put on food warmer boiled. Every diner was sweating and gulping water and yet their hands never stopped. If you visit Por Kee, it's a must-try!

Seafood Udon @$14

This was my favourite dish from Por Kee. It's a must-order for me whenever I dined there. I like their seafood udon. I think it's 1 of the better flavoured seafood udon I had so far. It was fried with black pepper sauce. It wasn't too spicy. I wouldn't say it's not oily because without sufficient oil, the udon would not have tasted nice and most probably would be soggy. However, it wasn't oil-laden so it was still a thumbs-up from me.

Champagne ribs @$20

A few years ago, when they first introduced this dish, it was a hot favourite among diners. Now, it is still the same. It is their signature dish! Note, it is champagne and not coffee ribs. Coffee ribs will be bitter if the chefs did not control the fire well. The champagne ribs were nice but I felt they were much tastier a few years ago. Maybe I have eaten too many of them and now I'm numb to it. No longer surprised. Haha.

Salad Prawns @$26

The prawns were big and tangy. They weren't oil-laden. Each prawn was coated with a thin coat of flour. Everything looked fine but eat them and no...not so good. I supposed the prawns were those crystal prawns that were usually used in dim sum, judging from the appearance. Well, I could be wrong. Anyway, what I had wanted to say was the prawns were tasteless, the original prawn taste was not there. It was like mock prawn except that it was tangy.

Mixed Vegetables @$14

It's a simpl dish. I like the tang-hoon. It was a better dish to have other than the usual pick - sambal kang kong which I felt was a tad too oily with the kang kong immersed in chili oil. I like black fungus. It's healthy!

Overall bill worked out to be $140.50 for 5 pax. I felt the food was quite good. It was crowded on weekends and public holidays. They even had to make use of the paved basement next to the restaurant. Business is very very good. I was surprised that the restaurant was also fully booked for the air-conditioned seatings on a Monday night. The outdoor seatings were also full. We were lucky because we reached there earlier. By the time we finished our meal, the outdoor tables were all taken and some who arrived a while later even had to wait.

We didn't eat any desserts because we were too full. Their mango pudding was yummy. Add a generous serving of cream milk, it was heavenly! Must-try!

Por Kee Eating House 1996

Blk 69 #01-02

Seng Poh Lane

Singapore 160069

Tel: 62210582