Whenever my Western tourist friend asked me about trying an unique & quintessential hawker dish, I’ll recommend them to have a go at Kway Chap. Certainly not for any beginner Western tourists, perhaps for those who loves Scottish Haggis.
However it is well worth seeking out for its rich soy sauce-based gravy, delectable flat noodles and various tender pork offals. Forget high and mighty fine dining; this is the original real deal, a yummy authentic Singapore breakfast that can be topped up with more bowls of ‘kway’ long after the meat bits are gone.
Kway Chap is a dish of Teochew origin and was introduced to Singapore by early migrants from the Chaoshan region in China. The dish comprises broad sheets of rice noodles (kway) served in a bowl of piping hot broth (chap) made with dark soy sauce. It is usually enjoyed with an array of pork cuts including pork offal, pork belly, intestines, pig ears, pig skin and other sides that are customisable to customers’ preferences. The dish is popular in Singapore and some Malaysian states like Sarawak, Penang & Johor.
The key pork parts used includes skin and various types of intestines, which must be carefully and skilfully cleaned. That is why kway chap stalls are well-staffed by workers who start this process in the wee hours of the morning, earlier than most other hawker stalls. After the various organs are cleaned, they are then braised in a thick gravy made from dark soy sauce, meat stock and a variety of aromatic Chinese herbs. Kway chap stalls often put their braising gravy to good use by using them to braise hard-boiled eggs, bean curd & pork belly. Sides of boiled peanuts, salted mustard greens, fishcake and beancurd skin are usually available.
One of my favourite kway chap stall that is both cheap and good is located in Lor 8 Toa Payoh Market. It is called Teck Heng Leong Kway Chap. If you want to try it out, be prepared to brave the queue very early in the morning as the stall will close by 9 am or earlier. What’s interesting is this stall will stop selling when their ‘kway’ runs out, and not the ingredients.
I like that their intestines and other innards are well cleaned with no smell. They have a well-balanced braising liquid – both sweet and savoury with a tinge of herbal notes. All the ingredients, from intestines, skin, tongue to pork belly, are then braised for hours in the potent pot of umami flavour. Definitely one of my go-to stalls for Kway Chap in Singapore.
