Ziweitang Folk Soup Pot Restaurant

We have been coming to this Hunan family-run eatery for a few years and here is the dish we never not order. In fact, the owner himself knows to scribble it down on his order pad without even us asking.
Featured in the fragrant stir-fry are thin slices of pork (they have moved on to using a leaner cut these days), plenty of huge green chillies, very spicy small pickled chilies and chopped garlic. I am sure just by reading those words you can tell how extremely appetising the dish is. And it is compulsory to savour it with steaming hot rice.
We like coming here because “Zi Wei Tang Folk Soup Pot” has a comfortable homely vibe. As the owner’s wife cooks in the kitchen at her pace, he runs the front of house and keeps an eye on their younger child, a toddler son, as he roams around with his minder close at his heels.

What a delicious dish this is! The fresh bamboo shoot is imported directly from China by the Hunan-born owner of this family-run eatery, and trust me, you can taste the difference. It is lighter and more succulent and tender in crunchiness. Compared to the canned variety, flavour is obviously more pristine as well.
The owner's wife stir-fries the sliced bamboo shoot with smoked pork (think bacon but with a slightly chewier rind), plenty of garlic, and both green and red chillies.
Many brows will break out in beads of sweat and tongues will need cooling but this is really shiok with a bowl of steaming hot rice.

The owner and his wife (who is the chef) of this family-run Northern Chinese cuisine eatery, recommended me this off-the-menu dish.
Those little green discs you see are sliced up "celtuce" (also known as "stem lettuce" or "asparagus lettuce") which have been dried. This process gives it a very crunchy succulence and slight saltiness. The chef did a fragrant stir-fry of this dehydrated vegetable with thin pieces of pork, loads of garlic and some chillies. Naturally, I gobbled it up (with the help of a bowl of plain rice) in no time 😋
I am a regular visitor to this homely joint because the couple is always hospitable and I honestly feel their food is cooked with heart.
If you do decide to try this place out, please be prepared to wait a bit, especially if the you see a few tables with customers. The dishes will take some time to be ready as it is just the two of them who do everything.

The Hunan-born owner of "Ziweitang Folk Soup Pot" created this dish for his menu because he missed eating it and couldn't find it sold anywhere in Singapore.
Honestly, it contains nothing more than simple fried eggs, garlic, a bit of fermented black beans and those big green chillies of medium spiciness that feature often in Northern Chinese cuisine, but by golly is it fragrant beyond belief! And so very tasty despite the eggs being a bit overfried. Naturally, it's now on my list of must-have's here 😋

It's been months since I was at "Ziweitang Folk Soup Pot" for dinner and the owner who hails from Hunan (if I recall correctly) had introduced a few new dishes. This "Hot & Sour Konjac" was one of the two we ordered.
The bouncy chewiness of the konjac jelly turned out to be subtler than anticipated, so it wasn't the super "QQ" sort. Ditto the level of sourness. But these factors didn't detract much from how appetising I found the dish to be. There's loads of chilli padi and chopped garlic, so hotness was dialed up high. I thought it was good with rice and also without.

The sliced pork is now thinner and crispier so they resemble pieces of bacon, albeit a less salty version. Fried with fresh green chilli, red chilli padi and a pickled variety of spicy small green chilli, this is one of the most appetising and "香啦" dishes I've come across.