Beng Hiang

We took my parents out for dinner on Monday to celebrate their wedding anniversary. I had originally planned for something fancy, but my mum suggested we eat near Chinatown instead, so that we could stroll over to the CNY street market after dinner. Like me, she was anxious to make our first visit to the market. So, we ended up eating at Beng Hiang, in Amoy Street.

This restaurant is billed as specializing in Hokkien food. It has been around for a long time – 25+ years. Through those years it has maintained a steady and loyal clientele. I have eaten there once before – more than 10 years ago! – when they were still at the Maxwell Food Alley. I don’t remember anything of the last visit, so this would be like discovering a new restaurant.

Stepping into the restaurant was like stepping back in time… back into the 80s or early 90s. The décor, the ambiance, the service staff were that of a typical, true-blue Chinese restaurant of that period. A whiff of nostalgia washed over me. One thing I liked was that they had a couple of interesting Chinese calligraphy hanging on the walls. I liked the one pictured above, which caught my eye as we entered the restaurant. It is the Chinese word for dragon - “loong” - written nine times continuously to form a picture of a dragon. Nine dragons into one – lots of auspicious symbolism in that.

The food was very homely in taste and feel. I liked the fact that none of the dishes were over-salted (which happens a lot in most restaurants), and I could not detect any MSG in the cooking. That in itself wins a thumbs up from me.

We started with the “thick fish maw soup” (S$12) (US$7), recommended by the Captain (that’s what the Maitre'D is called in a Chinese restaurant). It looked rich, thick and chock full of ingredients – fish maw, Chinese mushrooms, carrot strips, some chicken I think and egg. The egg came raw (you can see the raw yolk near the rim of the bowl), and we were supposed to stir the soup whilst it was still piping hot so that the eggs would cook into beautiful lacy strands running throughout the soup. My family loves fish maw. I don’t eat fish maw. So I only had a taste of the mushrooms and veggie in the soup. Nice flavor.

(I just have to mention this: I was so thrilled when I looked through the photos and saw the photo of the soup… I could see the steam rising from the soup! I’ve never been able to capture that before. Ah! Sometimes, it’s the little things in life that bring the greatest joy! )

On account of the recent festive over-indulgence, we decided to skip the signature Hokkien dish of “kong bak with mantou” (braised pork belly with steamed Chinese buns). We ordered instead the “pai kuat wong” (S$12) (literally translated as King of Ribs). However, the dish served was more pork chops than pork ribs. In fact, it was slightly Hainanese in style. Pork that had been tenderized by “chopping” with the back of a knife was breaded, fried and served with what the menu called “a delicious sauce”. The actual English name given on the menu was “pork ribs in delicious sauce” even though the Chinese name said “pai kuat wong”. Nevertheless, I quite enjoyed the dish. The meat was tender, and the sauce was tasty.

This dish was interesting - “chicken with lotus seeds” (S$28) (US$16.50). It was a whole chicken, de-boned and stuffed full with lotus seeds (lian zhi). Actually, there wasn’t much chicken meat at all, as the entire cavity of the chicken had been removed to accommodate the lotus seeds. Only the chicken breast, wings and skin were left, for wrapping around the stuffing. I love lotus seeds. I don’t know why. But it’s one of those things I could eat lots of and not get sick of it. I like them in sweet soups (tong shui), I like them in savory soups, I like them cooked in dishes… all as long as they are cooked down long enough to be soft with a melt-in-the-mouth texture. Of course, the fresh ones are nicer than the dried ones.

This chicken had evidently been patiently braised for many hours. The lotus seeds were nice and soft, and had fully absorbed the flavors of the braising gravy. The chicken was beautifully flavorful too, but because it had been braised for such an extended time, we found the meat to be a little too mushy for our liking. There was no “bite”.

This is our family’s perennial favorite. We order it almost everywhere. Sweet and sour fish (S$14) (US$8). I know many Chinese food connoisseurs frown upon this dish, but I find it very yummy. And one would be surprised at how difficult it is to find a truly well-made plate of sweet and sour fish in Singapore. I can probably only count 2 restaurants that I know of in Singapore that do what I consider to be very good versions of this dish.

This version wasn’t bad. They didn’t use any red coloring. That was nice. The sauce was the natural color of the tomato sauce and light soy sauce used in cooking the dish. It had a nice balance of sweet, sour and saltiness. The fish was tender, flaky and succulent. I was happy.

Another family favorite – stir fried dou miao (pea sprouts) (S$14). Theirs came with a sprinkling of pieces of deep fried dried bian yu. (Sorry, I really have no idea what the English name of this fish is, or if indeed there is an equivalent English name). I enjoyed this dish. The veggie had wok hei without too much oiliness. Broth/stock was used for the sauté and it showed in the natural sweetness and flavorfulness of the vegetables, which were perfectly complemented by the crisp crunchy bian yu.

Last but not least, their signature “fried Hokkien mee” (S$7) (US$4). The whole family enjoyed this. This is what we consider to be “real” fried Hokkien mee – the black version, not the white versions normally served in hawker centres. They used flat egg noodles rather than the normal round yellow noodles. Very tasty.

Complimentary dessert of green bean and sago tong shui (sweet soup).

It was a satisfying meal. This is a good place to come for home-styled cooking at very reasonable prices.

Oh, and one last thing… this is unrelated to the food or the restaurant… I think Michael Buble was sitting at the next table from us, directly facing me. I was pretty sure it was him – unless there is a man who is the splitting image of Michael Buble running around Singapore. My family either didn’t know who Michael Buble was or felt I had mistakenly identified the person - "Michael Buble wouldn't eat in a place like this". But I was pretty sure it was him.

It looked like he was dining with two executives from his record company’s Singapore office, and maybe his manager. It also looked like he found some of the Chinese food rather hard to enjoy, particularly the “kong bak with mantou”. I felt a little sorry for him as he good-naturedly tried to finish the piece he was given, with the thick layers of fat and all. Hmmm… I thought the record company executive should have been sensitive enough to order something more palatable to a visitor and a foreigner. Oh well.

I was sort of surreptitiously watching him, and he was also sort of watching me (perhaps in amusement) as I took pictures of each dish that we were served! Haha! He would watch each time I snapped a dish. He must have thought Singaporeans were rather weird. Rather embarrassing actually. But then again, since starting this blog, I’ve learnt to develop a rather “thick skin” to take pictures whilst out dining. Sorry, no pictures of him though. Let the poor man eat in peace.

Okay, enough of this rambling. I just wanted to share that. I’ve always enjoyed his singing and music. I just didn’t realize he was that good looking in real life. And he seemed such a nice, decent guy – shy almost.

Anyway… our tummies were satiated and we were ready for some shopping!

Right next to the exit, there was a second Chinese calligraphy that I liked…

It says (reading from right to left): “ming yi shi wei tien”. When literally translated, it says: “for Man, food is the Heavens”. I guess the English equivalent would be: “to eat, is to live”. What a nice thought to leave the restaurant with as we took a leisurely saunter down to the Chinese New Year Festive Market…

Beng Hiang Restaurant
112-116 Amoy Street
Singapore 069932
Tel: 6221 6695, 6221 6684

Copyright © 2004 Renee Kho. All rights reserved.
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