Teochew Peng ah...
Do you know that Hougang is known as a Teochew enclave. There used to be an old Kangkar wharf (now part of Sengkang) where the Teochew community once thrived in their fishery business here. However these days, it’s hard to find authentic Teochew cuisine in the Hougang area.
However dig a little deeper, and you will unearth a little gem of a restaurant located along a quiet row of shophouses in a private estate in Hougang. Peng's Restaurant Catering Services is a traditional Chinese Teochew Zi Char restaurant that has been quietly operating at Lorong 1 Realty Park for more than 3 decades.
Ambience at Peng's Restaurant Catering Services remains largely the same from the yesteryears. The small, brightly lit place is clean and functional, though the decor does shows signs of aging.
Walk into the restaurant & you will see a larger than life size photo of the owners with Bishop Nicholas Chia from the nearby Catholic Church. The limited outdoor seating did however provide for an idyllic and tranquil alfresco dining experience for the two of us on a cool Friday’s evening. Do note that the portions here are big and meant for sharing. As there were only 2 of us, we opted for only the liver roll and a steam fish.
The Liver Roll served here are chunky and when you stare at the well-stuffed cross section, you cam see liver, pork, greens and carrot, encased in a thin, crispy bean skin, beckoning you to pick it up and put into your mouth. The liver rolls here are delicious if you like your liver chunky and gamey.
I heard that the Teochew style steamed pomfret here is one of their specialty. However we opted to go with a Steamed Threadfin (Ngoh Her) FishTail in a spicy fermented bean sauce laden with lots of decadent fried lard pieces.
The fish was fresh and sweet and the steaming was well timed. The umami taste from the bean, the lard and bits of chilli padi goes well with the fish. Perfect accompaniment for a bowl of white steamed rice.
We rounded off our meal with the classic Teochew dessert Yam Paste (Orh Nee) with Pumpkin & Ginkgo Nuts. It comes as a thick, almost gooey paste, that is sweet and fragrant in flavour. While I felt that there was too much coconut milk, overall it was a fairly decent version of Orh Nee.
The next time you are in the Hougang area, do check out this old school restaurant, as there’s not too many of these treasures to be found in Singapore anymore 😋
