Joo Hing Restaurant 裕興 is a popular Chinese restaurant along Joo Chiat Road that serve chi char style food in a simple restaurant setting. The menu shows all dishes that would be commonly available in chi char places. However, what made Joo Hing popular is that they cook these common dishes much better than the rest. Ever since HY and I had a simple hor fun and stir fried venison with ginger, we've been dying to go back to Joo Hing for another session. This time round we gathered mum and dad to have 'Chi Char' dinner.
As we arrived at Joo Hing, my dad recognized the boss of Joo Hing. Boss used to have the chi char restaurant at Dunlop street more than 20 years ago and was my grandma's customer. My grandma used to sell Joo Hing vegetables. Since then, Joo Hing was here to stay in Joo Chiat inside the shop houses with air conditioning. Dad had a little catch up with boss and I think he was quite happy about it.
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| If I didn't order this steamed grouper 红班, the cost of our dinner would be just slightly more than any other chi char place, but I think I've ordered the more expensive fish they have on the menu. We ask to have the grouper steamed Hong Kong style. As we dig our chopsticks into the fish, the meat slide off the bones easily. It was fresh and sweet. |
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| Tapioca Leaves stir fried with sambal is a must-try. The tapioca leaves were actually slightly sweet and apart from the sambal chilli some preserved beans seemed to be added to give a differentiated taste than what you normally get elsewhere. |
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| Another of Joo Hing's signature is the Tofu Prawns. The prawns curled up into a ball of succulence while the tofu was pre fried till it had a fragrance before mixing up in the appetizing egg white sauce. |
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| I must say one of Joo Hing's 'unsung hero' was this dish of Sambal Chilli. It's a really good dip for the prawns that we had. One of the uncles from a nearby table was helping himself with several helpings from the condiment counter at one side of the dining area. |
Other than the dishes recommended above, we ordered the lotus root soup. However, this was a pass. It's either making soup is not Joo Hing's forte or they gave us the last bit in the soup pot. The soup had too much sediments. My MIL's version definitely tops this one. I've to tell HY to stop ordering double boiled soup in future cos' we always have MIL's standard as reference. It's not fair to the restauranteurs out there.
When you visit a chi char place, you wouldn't be bothered with service standards. I think you can expect the same here in Joo Hing. They don't allow booking for dinner during the weekends so there may be a good wait for tables.
360 Joo Chiat Road
Singapore
Tel : +65 6345 1503
Opening Hours :
Daily 11am~2pm, 5pm~10pm
Closed on Monday
2 comments:
Red grouper is always expensive but its worth the price if its fresh. When its steamed, it will be very obvious if its not fresh!
It's a small one that cost about S$30+. It was obviously fresh else I will complain. :)
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