Zi Char - Hong Kong Chef's Kitchen
51 Hougang Avenue 9
#01-23 Ci Yuan Hawker Centre
https://hkchefkitchen.getz.co/
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| Steamed Red Spotted Grouper Hong Kong Style (SGD $6.10 for 100g, $48.80 for 800g) |
Restaurant Quality Heartland Zi Char
(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 7
Ambience & Setting: 7
Food & Beverage: 8
Service: 5
Value for Money: 8
Spent about SGD $14 per person.
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Established in July 2015 by an actual chef who hails from Hong Kong (and was previously serving in Crystal Jade), Hong Kong Chef's Kitchen is a heartland Zi Char in Hougang that serves up delicious Chinese Cantonese Zi Char dishes, and also provides catering and banquet services. Located within Ci Yuan Hawker Centre, Hong Kong Chef's Kitchen is usually crowded during dinner, with waiting times that can stretch up to 30 minutes.
Ambience at Hong Kong Chef's Kitchen benefits from the modern hawker surroundings. The place is brightly lit, clean, and functionally comfortable, with wide tables and benches spaced neatly apart. The atmosphere is cool and breezy, with ambient bustling noise in the background.
Service at Hong Kong Chef's Kitchen is partially self-service, with ordering and payment at the storefront, though staff will serve orders to your table. Staff display good product knowledge, able to describe dishes and offer recommendations. Cleaning up is done periodically by the hawker centre's cleaning team.
Food at Hong Kong Chef's Kitchen is mostly Chinese Cantonese cuisine, with several Modern Singaporean Zi Char dishes that are popular as well. Think fresh ingredients, prepared to restaurant quality here. Dishes are tasty, and portions are small to large, depending on number of diners. Prices are affordable, budget about SGD $14 per person.
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| Hong Kong Chef's Kitchen Facade |
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| Hong Kong Chef's Kitchen Facade |
The White Rice (SGD $0.80) features simple soft steamed white rice, with a sticky fluffy texture and mild grainy sweet flavour.
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| White Rice (SGD $0.80) |
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| White Rice |
The Scallop With Corn Egg Drop Soup (SGD $12) is a hearty bowl of comforting soup / broth. Filled with bits of juicy corn kernels and wispy egg, the thick and gloopy egg drop soup is enhanced with chewy dried scallops. The result is a bold savoury note complementing the natural vegetal grainy eggy sweet flavour of the soup / broth, making this a delight. Good!
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| Scallop With Corn Egg Drop Soup (SGD $12) |
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| Scallop With Corn Egg Drop Soup |
The Stir-Fried Milk Cabbage With Garlic (SGD $6) is a simple stir-fry of fresh crisp nai bai / milk cabbage tossed with garlic. The unique point here is the garlic, which is pre-fried, lending a fragrant herbal spice note to the natural vegetal sweet flavour of the milk cabbage. Good!
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| Stir-Fried Milk Cabbage With Garlic (SGD $6) |
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| Stir-Fried Milk Cabbage With Garlic |
A straightforward Stir-Fried Sweet Potato Leaves With Garlic (SGD $6), where the soft wilted sweet potato leaves are tossed with garlic. This has deep earthy vegetal sweet savoury flavour; although I expected it to be more sweet in taste. Could be improved.
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| Stir-Fried Sweet Potato Leaves With Garlic (SGD $6) |
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| Stir-Fried Sweet Potato Leaves With Garlic |
We got a medium order of Stir-Fried Broccoli With Garlic (SGD $12) on another visit. This has bright fresh broccoli florets, crunchy and juicy with lovely vegetal sweet spice flavour from being stir-fried with garlic. Nice and clean-tasting. Worth ordering!
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| Stir-Fried Broccoli With Garlic (SGD $12) |
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| Stir-Fried Broccoli With Garlic |
The 3-Flavour Eggs With Chinese Spinach (SGD $9) is a hearty soup / broth, featuring crisp spinach and a trio of eggs - wispy regular egg, soft salted egg, and bouncy century egg. The result is a dish with bold vegetal eggy sweet salty flavour, very enticing. Good!
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| 3-Flavour Eggs With Chinese Spinach (SGD $9) |
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| 3-Flavour Eggs With Chinese Spinach |
The Fu Yong Egg Omelette (SGD $6) is fluffy and soft, with the egg omelette studded with a generous amount of ingredients, from tender white onions to chewy pork loin. This has decent eggy sweet savoury salty flavour, and pairs well with any order. Worth ordering!
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| Fu Yong Egg Omelette (SGD $6) |
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| Fu Yong Egg Omelette |
The Jing Du Pork Chop (SGD $10) is delicious. The boneless pieces of pork chop are marinated in a sweet and sour glaze, which is robust and piques the palate, and is distinctly different from other versions elsewhere. With a tender juicy chew to texture, this was a stand out. Highly recommended!
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| Jing Du Pork Chop (SGD $10) |
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| Jing Du Pork Chop |
The Coffee Pork Ribs With Almonds (SGD $10) have meaty juicy tender bone-in pork ribs, coated in a generous sticky glaze of coffee sauce marinade. This imparts a robust floral earthy bitter salty savoury sweet flavour to the pork ribs, very enticing. I like that it's well balanced, not too bitter and not too salty, just right. The garnish of crisp shaved almonds lends a mild nutty note to complete this lovely dish. Highly recommended!
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| Coffee Pork Ribs With Almonds (SGD $10) |
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| Coffee Pork Ribs With Almonds |
Loved the signature Cereal Chicken Ball (SGD $12), which feature boneless chunks of tender moist chicken, coated in crisp crunchy oatmeal tossed with curry leaves. The result is bold savoury grainy sweet salty spice flavour to the dish, nicely addictive. Kept reaching for more. Highly recommended!
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| Cereal Chicken Ball (SGD $12) |
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| Cereal Chicken Ball |
The Steamed Red Spotted Grouper Hong Kong Style (SGD $6.10 for 100g, $48.80 for 800g) is actually good value for money. The red spotted grouper fish is large and fresh, with fish meat that is firm and tender, flaking off easily from the small bones. Served Hong Kong Style in a blend of light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, white sugar, ginger, and spring onions, the steamed fish takes on the salty savoury herbal notes of the gravy, complementing its natural sweet savoury flavour. Good!
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| Steamed Red Spotted Grouper Hong Kong Style (SGD $6.10 for 100g, $48.80 for 800g) |
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| Steamed Red Spotted Grouper Hong Kong Style |
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| Steamed Red Spotted Grouper Hong Kong Style |
The Steamed Sea Bass Hong Kong Style (SGD $4.10 for 100g, $33 for 800g) is likewise good value for money. The sea bass fish is of medium size, fresh, and with fish meat that is soft and flaky, coming easily off the small bones. Served Hong Kong Style in a blend of light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, white sugar, ginger, and spring onions, the steamed fish takes on the salty savoury herbal notes of the gravy, complementing its natural sweet savoury flavour. Good!
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| Steamed Sea Bass Hong Kong Style (SGD $4.10 for 100g, $33 for 800g) |
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| Steamed Sea Bass Hong Kong Style |
Loved the Salted Egg Shrimp Ball (SGD $18). These nuggets of juicy bouncy deshelled prawns / shrimp are coated in a crisp salted egg batter, which crunches lightly to release a beautiful salty savoury sweet spice flavour. Yum. Highly recommended!
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| Salted Egg Shrimp Ball (SGD $18) |
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| Salted Egg Shrimp Ball |
The Scallop With Beancurd In Black Bean Paste (SGD $12) features house-made silken tofu beancurd, wobbly and super soft, in a rich thick dark gravy of black bean paste, topped with bouncy scallops and fried shallots. You first get the bright sweet savoury notes of the scallops, followed by grainy sweet flavour of the silken tofu beancurd, and lastly the robust earthy salty savoury taste of the gravy. Good!
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| Scallop With Beancurd In Black Bean Paste (SGD $12) |
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| Scallop With Beancurd In Black Bean Paste |
The Home Style Beancurd With Mushrooms (SGD $10) was excellent, and I understand they painstakingly make their own tofu beancurd with gypsum powder and soy milk, resulting in a beautiful wobbly soft texture. Paired with crunchy broccoli and a duo of tender mushrooms (shiitake and straw), this has deep robust earthy vegetal grainy sweet savoury flavour. Better than other versions elsewhere. Highly recommended!
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| Home Style Beancurd With Mushrooms (SGD $10) |
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| Home Style Beancurd With Mushrooms |
The Yang Zhou Fried Rice (SGD $5) was decent at best, rather underwhelming after experiencing how good the other dishes were. I like that they used actual pieces of char siew within, but it lacks sufficient wok hei / breath of the wok, and some parts of the rice was clumpy. Seems to have been cooked with less care. Could be improved.
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| Yang Zhou Fried Rice (SGD $5) |
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| Yang Zhou Fried Rice |
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