Welcome to Chinatown. Looking for Char Kway Teow places?

The fried kway teow flavourful, not overly sweet, moist and not dry, all balanced with moderate wok hei.
Served with pork lard and cockles.
Swipe to see how clean I eat my CKT 🤣
💰$5.5
📍Outram Park Fried Kway Teow.
Blk 531A Upper Cross Street, #02-17.

It’s hard to miss the queue at Food Street Fried Kway Teow especially y when they’re located so conspicuously at the middle atrium of Chinatown Complex Food Centre. And although I was enticed by the smokiness and noisy wok-frying from the stall, I thought that both the wok hei aroma and flavour didn’t come through that much in this plate. For $9, you do get a huge plate of char kway teow with four pieces of prawns, cockles and sotong mixed within with chilli if you will. The overall impression after everything was still pretty underwhelming, simply because there were many missing elements to what makes a good char kway teow. Forget the absence of wok hei char, the chilli kick was missing, and the noodles were more on the soft than springy side.

Rate:🌟🌟

This plate of char kway teow is surprisingly “healthy” tasting..? The flavours weren’t heavy on the lard. It wasn’t very salty or oily either, though you can still taste the wok hey. I guess you sacrifice tastiness for healthy eating - though I think I still prefer my char kway teow much more flavourful and unavoidably more unhealthy. After all, it is a sinful dish to begin with, so why not indulge yourself while you’re at it?

We visited on a Sunday in the early evening (slightly before the peak dinner crowd) and there wasn’t too much of a queue or wait which was honestly the biggest draw for us!

Read a lot about this CKT stall in Smith Street Chinatown Food Center so I finally had to came and try it. Arriving at 2pm, the queue in front of me was about 10 patrons. Took about 30 mins to get to me as uncle fries each order separately and in between, he pre-fries a batch of noodles and kway teow with soya sauce.

Ordered the $4 portion. Not allowed to add anything like eggs or cockles. Sad.

The CKT is something in between wet and dry types. A little bit of wok heat and the taste is more savoury than sweet. You get about 6 cockles, 1 tail-on shrimp, a few pieces of Chinese sausage. No chives or fish cakes.

All in, it’s just an above average plate of CKT.

The never-ending queue is the reason why this has been on my wish list forever. I knew it was finally time for me to try when I was early on a weekday morning for work. This has got to be one of the shiokiest CKT in SG. The CKT served here leans towards sweet and savoury with a good amount of crunchy bean sprouts in there. Very sinful and definitely worth the cholesterol 》$4

At Hong Lim Food Centre

Back here at this stall 😋. Ordered the S$4 portion. There's always a queue and the wait time might be a bit long, as uncle fries the noodles one plate at a time.

🔥Freshly fried with a nice smokey flavour and savoury-sweet taste. Lup cheong, cockles, bean sprouts and spring onions are fried with egg and kway teow. Serving size is good for the price.

Ate this a few times already. Recommended 👍 The stall is located right at the corner, in the Yellow zone of this hawker centre.

📍Location:
Hill Street Fried Kway Teow (02-32)
Chinatown Complex Food Centre
335 Smith Street
Singapore 050335

Founded by Tan Chiang Boo in 1969 and still operated together with his wife, this is one of 2 stalls bearing the name 'Hill Street Fried Kway Teow'; no relation aside from hailing from the same defunct hawker centre - the Tan's stall was on the 2nd floor, while their competitor was on the 1st floor.
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Queues for their rendition stretch up to 30 minutes during peak periods, especially as their opening hours are limited.
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They've struck a balance in frying the wide flat rice noodles and long cyclindrical yellow wheat noodles with pork lard, light soy sauce, and dark sweet soy sauce, evenly cooked and tending towards the wet sweet version.
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Classic ingredients with crisp bean sprouts, crisp garlic chives, chewy lup cheong / dried cured pork sausage, tender fish cake, wispy egg, and juicy blood cockles. The premium version also has added deshelled prawns, fresh and juicy.
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This carries robust savoury salty sweet eggy flavour throughout, with a good smoky wok hei / breath of the wok. Yum.
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Char Kway Teow
Hill Street Fried Kway Teow (Chinatown)
@ Chinatown Complex Food Centre, 335 Smith Street #02-32
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More details:
https://ivanteh-runningman.blogspot.com/2022/06/best-of-singapore-hawkers-char-kway-teow.html

Operated by Ng Chin Chye and his wife for over 2 decades, this legendary stall has a history stretching back to 1939, and still attracts queues of up to 30 minutes.
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Ng learnt the trade by watching his father and practising. To prepare for each day, up to 18kg of pork lard is deep-fried, and his blend of signature sauce is made with dark sweet soy and fish sauce.
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Frying in batches of 20 plates each time takes great strength and skill, and his mastery of fire control ensures the noodles are evenly cooked with smoky wok hei / breath of the wok.
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His version tends towards the wet and sweet side, with lots of gooey beaten egg, crisp bean sprouts, crunchy pork lard, bouncy fish cake, and plump blood cockles, combining for robust smoky sweet savoury salty eggy flavours.
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Char Kway Teow
Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee
@ Hong Lim Market & Food Centre, 531A Upper Cross Street #02-17
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More details:
https://ivanteh-runningman.blogspot.com/2022/06/best-of-singapore-hawkers-char-kway-teow.html

Millenials would probably not heard of Hill St Food Centre which was located in the empty plot of land beside Central Fire Station and behind Funan Mall, and demolished in 2000.

Most will however have heard of Hill Street CKT in Bedok which was much loved by the late Anthony Bourdain and located on the ground floor of the demolished food centre. However, few will know that there is actually another Hill Street FC which was located on the 2nd floor and which can now be found at an obscure corner of Chinatown Complex FC.

This stall has 50 years of history and is run by a friendly elderly couple. They serve the old school dry version of CKT with a nice hint of wok hey. Each plate is served with nice thick slices of Chinese sausage, prawns and sea hum. For those who like sea hum, they were decent sized, juicy and cooked nicely to remove the metallic aftertaste.

This is a good plate of CKT which I will gladly get in line for!

The fried kway teow still as good as last visit , flavourful, not overly sweet, moist and not dry, not too garlicky, all balanced with moderate wok hei.
Served with pork lard and cockles.
💰$5.
📍Outram Park Fried Kway Teow.
Blk 531A Upper Cross Street, #02-17.

My ah gong's favourite plate of char kway teow is also my father's favourite of char kway teow, and is needless to say my personal favourite plate of char kway teow.

My first plate of this CKT was at the ground floor of a now demolished block of flats behind Outram Park MRT Station and across the road from SGH, and we have followed them wherever they shifted to. It used to cost $2 per plate and now costs $4 per plate but the taste of the wet gooey and umami laden plate of CKT remains consistently golden.