I decided to treat my colleagues to a post-event celebration lunch at Whampoa Keng, which was first recommended to me by my boss during a senior managers’ lunch. Situated along a row of shop houses at Balestier, this tiny air-conditioned restaurant has had many celebrities eating here. Just look at all the pictures on the wall. Amazing publicity.
Stir-fry kai lan with garlic ($10)
The vegetables was cooked to perfection so the crispness was well retained. Not too oily too. It’s a must have if you just need to have your greens.
Salad tofu ($10)
The tofu was mashed and mixed with some ingredients (probably some carrots or mushrooms) and then deep fried with a nice crispy batter and drizzled with salad cream on top. Very nice but the deep fried batter can make you feel sickly very fast.
Prawn paste chicken ($12)
The prawn paste was not very strong flavoured so these were more like normal fried chicken mid-joint wings. Very crispy skin and very juicy meat.
Pomfret fish steamboat ($50)
This is what Whampoa Keng is famous for. Fish steamboat. There are several types to choose from (red garoupa, bardan sliced fish, pomfret or mixed seafood) and we decided to pick what we deemed as the most tasty – pomfret which was easy to eat as the fish was filleted before putting into the soup.
Together with dang oh (crown daisy chrysanthemum leaves), chinese lettuce, yam, dried fish and seaweed. It was indeed a steamboat brimming with goodness and sweetness! Best of all, I didn’t feel thirsty after gulping down a few bowls of the soup. Thumbs up!
Whampoa Keng
556 Balestier Road
Tel: 9769 4451 (Keng)
Opens: 11.00am to 11.00pm daily
The tofu looks nice and i'm loving the big chunks of fish in the steamboat! Mouth watering!