[CLOSED] Yaowarat Thai Kway Chap (Cheong Chin Nam)

[ Food Review — Like kway chap? Why not try Thai kway chap then? ] TFW you let your photos sit for months before posting, oops. (We literally went the week the Cheong Chin Nam branch opened!)

I know I rarely feature kway chap on my Insta, but it’s not because I dislike it — for the record, I used to eat it once or twice a week without fail! — but more of the difficulty of getting any decent ones without needing to get behind the wheel. But with Yaowarat now just down the road, finally, my kway chap woes are over!

Here’s one thing you should know though: YWR isn’t just any ol’ kway chap stall — it serves Thai-styled kway chap! You won’t see the usual signature dark soy-based broth here. See that light translucent broth with coiled rice noodles sheets? THAT is Thai kway chap.

The main difference is really just that. The broth is made of a much lighter pepper base; Yaowarat claims to use over ten different spices in their mix, which means while you don’t get as rich a body as traditional Teochew kway chap soup, you end up with a more nuanced broth that actually goes better with a wider variety of toppings/sides. As for the rice noodles, they’re mostly the same — just sliced into smaller sheets and coiffed for better slurping pleasure. (Seriously tho, being able to funnel streams of soup instead of passively eating the sheets in water is so much more dynamic!)

For newcomers, go for their Signature Thai Kway Chap ($5 dine-in/$7.50 takeaway). It gives you a sampler of everything without needing to commit: Lean pork, pork stomach, crispy pork belly, and Thai fish sausage. Or if you want something lighter, get their plain kway chap ($3 d.i./$4 t.a.) and add some dishes.

Our sides for the day included: Thai Fish Sausage ($6 or $8 d.i./$10 t.a.) — not bad, but too sweet and oily for my liking — Stir Fried Cabbage w/ Fish Sauce ($5 d.i./$8 t.a.) — hands down my fav item because of how well the wok hei and fish sauce blended together — and Braised Beancurd ($4 d.i./unavailable) — another unexpected star with how tender it was!

(We did get clams ($10/450g) as well from YWR’s (also Thai) partner stall, Ob Woon Sen, but they were quite bland and mediocre. Meh.)

I can claim this is the first bowl from their Ob Woon Sen concept, because I was the first to order this on their opening day. Unfortunately it's not on the level of Shrimp Prawn Seafood. Besides the prawn, there really were only tang hoon and spring onion. There was no/little lard or garlic to raise this dish. Prawns also meh.

Nice but portion is so little. Need to eat 3 bowls of this to fill my tummy.

Although it's crackling, it's quite dry. But the chilli-soy sauce thing was damn shiok!

I'm principally against buying this in Singapore because it's so cheap in Thailand, but there's no travel right now. It's thick and juicy, but was missing the flavour of Thai moo ping.

I've never been a fan of Thai-Teochew kway chap. The rolled kway reminds me of supermarket kway chap. And I'm not into peppery stuff eg bak kut teh, black pepper whatever. Funny how I patronised this outlet on its opening day while residing minutes from their original outlet at Kovan. I'll say the ingredients made this better, while the soup was quite tasty, but I still can't stand the kway.