Xin Kee Hong Kong Cheong Fun 鑫记港式肠粉 (Golden Mile Food Centre)

Accidentally stumbled upon this store with a long line at 10am and being the Singaporean that I am, I joined the queue. When the store only sells one dish - chee cheong fun in various styles, in this case - you know it's gotta be good. Besides the classic shrimp and charsiu cheong fun, they also offered interesting varieties like Chai Poh and Hongkong--style. As my stomach had limited space for only one dish, I went with the Hongkong-style ($3.50) - freshly made and steamed in front of you, the generous portion of thin silky smooth cheong fun was rolled and then drenched in a combination of sesame sauce and a sweet sauce. I added on the fried shallots, spring onion, and chilli and the result was just a flavour explosion in my mouth. So, so, SO good. Now I'm salivating just dreaming of the next time I return to try their other cheong fun renditions. Be prepared to queue; the chef only prepares two at a time and people WILL order multiple.

PEANUT BUTTER in chee cheong fun? 🥜 Say less! For $3.50, you can get a wholesome plate of Hong Kong Style Cheong Fun, freshly prepared upon order and doused with a generous drizzle of peanut sauce and sweet sauce! Idk about yall, but it was kinda therapeutic watching the chef making the rice rolls from scratch and pouring the sauces after - it's like a work of art!  
 
One bite in, and I already love the savoury oomph and roasted nutty fragrance from the peanut butter sauce! The sweet sauce layered on top gave some flavour balance so the sweet-savoury concoction wouldn't come across as overly jelat! While these rice roll parcels aren't the smoothest CCF I have had thus far, the quality and softness are definitely on par with several established places (and at such a wallet-friendly price too)! The portion size is good enough for one, but best to share if you wanna try the other flavours available. 

Type: Hawker/HK

Tried the Chai Poh chee cheong fan ($3.50), which was so good!
✔️ Chee cheong fan is freshly made upon order
✔️Super thin CCF
✔️Generous with fillings - 2 big scoops of chai poh for each plate
Recommend!!!

My rating: 5/5 ⭐️

It seems that the Hong Kong-style Chee Cheong Fun trend hasn’t seem to have quite ended — while there does seem to be a slowdown in such stalls sprouting up all around the island, there do seem to be that occasional stall serving up Hong Kong-style Chee Cheong Fun that can be seen opening their doors in coffeeshops and hawker centre stalls around. Opening fairly recently at Golden Mile Food Centre, Xin Kee Hong Kong Cheong Fun is a stall that serves up Hong Kong-style Chee Cheong Fun; the stall is situated at the upper level of the hawker centre, and is located along the same aisle where Thong Sum Hot & Cold Desserts is at — the blue signboard of Xin Kee Hong Kong Cheong Fun being particularly hard to miss since it stands out quite a fair bit from its neighbours. Serving up only four different types of Hong Kong-style Chee Cheong Fun here, the menu lists a Chai Poh Cheong Fun, a Hong Kong Style Cheong Fun (i.e. Cheong Fun with Peanut Butter & Sweet Sauce), a Char Siew Cheong Fun, and a Prawn Cheong Fun on the menu — all of them reasonably priced from $3 to $4; the most expensive being the Prawn Cheong Fun.

Going for the safest option of the lot and our usual go-to variant of the Hong Kong-style Chee Cheong Fun, the Prawn Cheong Fun was the item which we decided to settle for. Unlike most other stalls that seemingly just lay out their Chee Cheong Fun on a plate in a pool of soy sauce with spring onions and fried onions (or sometimes, sesame seeds) being sprinkled atop, the presentation of the Prawn Cheong Fun at Xin Kee Hong Kong Cheong Fun comes interestingly plated — the rice rolls occupying two sides of the plate with the middle being left empty to accommodate the garnish that comprises a stalk of cauliflower; pretty much of a unique look to a dish that is typically only plated in a single manner. First look at the Prawn Cheong Fun and one notices the smooth and silken texture — more akin to those that are served at Chinese restaurants serving up Dim Sum as compared to those from stalls that do stone-milled variants of the same that bears a more “wrinkled appearance”. As such, the rice vermicelli itself is pretty smooth, slippery and slurpy on its own here; slides down the throat effortlessly while all of that is doused in sufficient soy sauce to go around the entire dish. The soy sauce is deserves a mention here; whilst light, it also came pretty flavourful — amidst all that slight sweet and savoury note is a very subtle herb-like note that we found to give the dish an interesting flavour contrast that matched well with the Lao Gan Ma-esque that is smoky, savoury and crunchy, and gives a punchy kick of spiciness that would tickle the tastebuds of those with moderate tolerance to spiciness. Thought they were pretty generous with the portion of prawns here; every segment seemingly carrying a piece whilst the prawn is also pretty fresh — carried its distinct hint of natural sweetness and provided a good bite.

Having tried only a single offering from Xin Kee Hong Kong Cheong Fun, we must say that we are actually pretty sold by the quality of their Hong Kong-style Chee Cheong Fun here — we felt that the Prawn Cheong Fun here does surpass that of the same that some dim sum specialty establishments serve up; a very competent rendition that stands very well against what is typically served in more upscale spots, yet at a wallet-friendly price to cater to the average folk that visits a hawker centre. We are also particularly intrigued by their Char Siew Cheong Fun — they have seemingly added coriander in their rendition; something that isn’t quite the norm from other establishments from what we have gathered. Xin Kee Hong Kong Cheong Fun does seem to be off a good start even despite being a rather late entrant to the Hong Kong-style Chee Cheong Fun scene; despite it being very early in its days, it would be interesting to see if Xin Kee Hong Kong Cheong Fun would be able to garner a following especially considering how Sing Lung HK Cheong Fun, which has since been awarded with the Michelin Bib Gourmand this year, is just a stone’s throw away at Blk 1 Beach Road. Still, we would like to take the opportunity to congratulate Xin Kee Hong Kong Cheong Fun for their opening, and wishing them all the best in what is to come!