Char Siew is a food of which dreams are made of. There are broadly two versions of this delicacy. One which is the Malaysian, KL style, featuring sweet, caramalised, often slightly burnt flavours. And the Hong Kong style, where the taste is led by saltiness of the soy sauce rather than the sweetness of the other.
I love both, but if put to the test, would give the nod to the Malaysian sweet style. I wrote about my adventures to seek out the best, and found Meng Kee and Oversea in KL which feature what I think is where the state of the art lies. Oversea did open a branch in Singapore, and here is my review. But unfortunately, they closed within a rather short period. And the restaurant space taken by Garoupa King, a seafood restaurant famous for their giant garoupa offerings.
A foodie friend of mine told me that they managed to keep the char siew chef from Oversea, who had been trained in the HQ in Jalan Imbi, KL. And that the char siew was still rather good, perhaps still the best in town.
I went for a couple of tastings, and letting the cat out of the bag, I do confirm this is the best of this style of char siew in town. Other candidates being Alex Eating House, just across the road from the Shaw Towers building housing Garoupa King, the famous, or rather infamous Kay Lee Roast Meat Joint, and Sally Roast Meats.
And boy was it gorgeous! Wonderful, caramel flavours, sweet, sticky, slightly burnt and crisp.
The meat was fat, glistening, and truly melts in your mouth. Very good, and in my opinion, for now, equal to when Oversea was here, and the best in Singapore. One of my friends in my tasting panel was rather less sure, and she thought it was rather not as good, perhaps a bit sweeter than the original Oversea Singapore one.
This dish alone is sufficient to have me back every once in a while. BTW, for some reason, the char siew is not on the menu. But they do have other fabulous dishes too.
The salted egg yolk prawns are fabulous as well
The prawns were rather large, very succulent, very sweet. The richness of the salted egg yolk, smothering the prawns provided a wonderful mouthfeel and aroma. Very nice.
As many regular readers will know, I have a soft spot for tofu...and they do a great tofu dish...with brocolli and pork floss
The tofu is soft, fragrant, and goes very well with the brown sauce and the pork floss. Very nice.
Of course, being in a restaurant famous for their giant garoupa, we had the giant garoupa sliced with hor fun..
Needless to say, superb. The fish, was particularly nice. Very firm flesh, sweet, but in a savoury way...if that makes sense. Very nice, fresh, aromatic. Just magnificent. The horfun is fried with good wok hei.
Definitely well recommended. Excellent, excellent char siew, and the other dishes are very good too.
King Grouper Seafood Restaurant
100 Beach Road
#01-27 Shaw Leisure Gallery
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