Chye Poh Kway Teow is a dish typically found at Teochew restaurants. It’s essentially peasant food made of simple, everyday ingredients like rice noodles (kway teow), chye poh (preserved radish), eggs, and kai lan. However, when it’s fried by an expert wok master who manages to infuse “wok hei” into the dish, the four simple elements magically sync together to create an exquisite dish that is to die for.
But to experience the magic of Chye Poh Kway Teow, you’d need to visit a Teochew Restaurant, which means you need to order some other dishes. It’s not a dish that you can just order on its own for lunch. Fret not, if you are hankering for a plate of chye poh kway teow, you can now head to Smith St Food Centre and satisfy your craving from this stall.
The man behind the dish is Chef Ng Tham Siew who used to work at various hotels and restaurants before he decided to come out on his own to sell wok-fried dishes. He was at Empress Food Centre for 8 years before moving to Chinatown Food Centre one and a half years ago. Aside from his signature chye poh kway teow, he also serves a simple menu of other wok-fried dishes.
A different kind of Chye Poh Kway Teow
The chye poh kway teow is something which Chef Ng said was something he came up with. It isn’t quite the same as the chye poh kway teow sold at Teochew Restaurants as it doesn’t have the chopped kai lan.
It is very similar to chai tow kway (fried carrot cake), except that hor fun is used instead of steamed radish cake. The radish is very good and Chef really gives the hor fun a char in the wok. Not mind-blowing but quite good if you are looking to satisfy your craving for chye poh kway teow. 4/5
Conclusion
One of the few places you can enjoy chye poh kway teow. I am sure some of his other dishes would be good too, but I never tried them.
