Review of Ah Xiao Braised Duck Kway Chap

Block 56, New Upper Changi Road, Hoe Hup Eating House

Nearest Mass Rapid Transit Station: Tanah Merah MRT

Buses to Hoe Hup Eating House: 2, 9, 14, 24, 31, 35, 45, 222, 506

Opening Hours: 10:00 to 22:00 (Daily)

Queue: 1 to 3 people (Waiting Time: Less than 5 minutes)

Service: Fast and good

Environment: Clean but crowded coffee shop

Reputation: Traditional Singapore Duck Rice and Kway Chap

Thoughts after eating: No pig intestines, pork skin and tau kwa

Value for money: 55/100

Will I come back again in 6 months' time? No, there are better alternatives

My opinion:

Ah Xiao means "Mr Crazy" or "Mr Humorous" in Chinese. This stall sells traditional Singapore duck rice and kway chap. I have tried their kway chap for lunch. There were 12 pieces of pork meat, 5 pieces of tau pok, 4 slices of marinated egg (1 egg) and huge amount of rice sheets in my food portion. For the first time in my life, a kway chap stall owner did not include pig intestines in their set meals (severe minus points). It was like eating fried kway teow without cockles or Hokkien noodles without prawns or sotong.

All the food items did not soak up on the goodness of the braising stock. Pork meat was plentiful but average tasting. Tau pok was so little that it did not add any bonus points to the food's attractiveness or my appetite. Egg was also not properly marinated.

Rice sheets were rough and tasteless. Although the soup was not oily or salty, it was plain tasting and greatly worsened the tasteless problem of the rice sheets. Honestly, I only finished 30 percent of the rice sheet and soup.

As my blog readers knew, I rarely commented on kway chap chili but this review was one of a few rare exceptions. The chili was addictive, robust, sourish, spicy, had small little onion bits in it and added some much needed flavor to the food.

Ways for the owners to improve their food ratings:

First, they should decrease the amount of pork meat and add pig intestines into their kway chap meals. Second, they must review the preparation and production processes of both the rice sheets and soup.