Heng Huat Char Kway Teow: Healthy…..yet Still can Eat

With Damien

Char Kway Teow must be one of the top three dishes with the worst reputation for being unhealthy. Just ask anyone which is the most unhealthy hawker dish and I think most people will mention Char Kway Teow.

To counter this bad rep, an increasing number of Char Kway Teow stalls are putting more vegetables on top of their Char Kway Teow in an effort to disguise the artery clogging properties of what is essentially rice noodles in a lard based sauce.

But if you think that the drive towards a healthier Char Kway Teow is a recent trend, then you would be surprised that this man has been frying his Char Kway Teow this way for over 20 years, from the time he took over his father’s stall in Spottiswoode Park. He started adding the vegetables not because of health reasons, because he felt that it actually tastes better that way

He claims that he was the first one to actually fry Char Kway Teow this way and that other people, especially the famous one at Golden Mile FC had copied him. Is this true? Don’t really know. Perhaps there are readers out there who can support or renounce his claim?

Anyway, I actually liked this CKT better then the more famous one at Golden Mile. He adds chye poh to the CKT and that adds a bit of kick. Still, I am a firm believer that CKT requires lard and without lard it is impossible vfor a CKT to reach its full potential. So I would rather eat a good CKT once in a long while and enjoy it rather then to eat partially healthy CKT more often. That said, this one is actually quite enjoyable although they don’t put the lard in. Not something I would go all the way to Pasir Panjang to eat, but I’d say it is better then a lot of CKT I have eaten. 4/5

Conclusion

Not a bad CKT considering there is no lard and the vegetables will definitely soothe your conscience.

So what would you consider to be the top 3 most unhealthy hawker food?

PS: Westies should be happy that I am venturing this far West eh?

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