The House of Steamed Grass Carp Head
If you are a Singaporean and you don't know this place, then shame
on you! I am of course talking about Sik Wai Sin Eating House at
287 Geylang Rd. near Lorong 15. It is famous for a fine range of
Cantonese home-style food, but the steamed Grass Carp Fish Head
is legendary. Last night I went there with my constant eating
companion Masaki Okada and two of his friends Mr Kashiyama
and Mr.Kawaguchi, three Japanese who love our Singapore 'street
food'.As usual, the place was crowded, and I had to wait for a table.
But the owner's wife gave us a good table when she saw Mr. Kashiyama
step out of his chaffeured Mercedes-she thought he was a well-known
property developer! And after seeing Senior Minister Lee talk about
property speculation on TV, she hoped he would give her a discount
on condominiums too.
Now about the Grass Carp Head. It is fresh, with a smooth shiny
look, steamed in a mixture of soya bean paste,shallots, garlic,
ginger, rice wine, and garnished with fresh sliced red chilli,
spring onions and pork lard.The smell was heavenly and we ate,
not one, but two fish heads; washed down with good Singapore Tiger
Beer.
Other dishes we ate included: minced pork steamed with salted fish.
I should add that this salted fish is of the best Penang type made
from Ikan Kurau, with a smoky taste that comes from slow sun-drying.
There was also the Toufu with Prawns, which my Japanese friends
liked very much. Also green Kai Lan vegetables simply fried, and
a soup of pork with Watercress. Every dish was of good standard
because the owner-cook has all these years refused to let anyone
else, not even his wife, do the cooking. She can only help with
the preparation of ingredients. But I wonder if this can go on
for long, as he is my friend and I can see the stress and strain of
cooking before a hot fire seven days a week, for about 15 years
since he was 'discovered'.
If you ask me to name the style of cooking here, I am at a loss
for words. I can only say that it is quite unique, a robust,
country-side style,unashamedly strong in flavour, fit for those
with good appetite. I think the best testimony to how close it is
to family cooking is when you go there on weekends and see
many good sons bringing their mothers and grandmothers here.Maybe
mothers and grandmothers find the cooking of Filipino maids
too gentrified.
Reader's comment:
For your info, the chef pictured in your article is not the first chef
of sik wai sin eating house. The founder is the chef's father-in-law
who has since passed away. The cooking's still as good though. There
used to be roasted duck and a really good stewed yam with pork loin that
they no longer make because these 2 dishes take too much effort. - Wong Chiang Yin
- brought to you by our feature writer Ng Tian Khean
|