After having my impacted wisdom teeth yanked out last week, you can say that I’m pretty much jook-ed out, yo. I never had sooooo much jook consistently for nearly every meal before. This post, boys and girls, is about jook, aka congee, aka porridge.
I’ve been congee-ing it for most of the last five days, my stitches are coming off in two more days and I am pretty much OD-ed on congee. I have had the three major versions there are around here: HK/Cantonese style, Teochew “mui” style, and Traditional Charcoal-cooked style. All three are delicious but the one I’ve been digging the most lately is the latter. The texture of this congee is somewhere in between the HK/Cantonese-style’s (silky, almost soup-like) and Teochew “mui”‘s (chunky grains).
You see, two weeks ago my gf Mong brought me to have congee (aka porridge – damn, how many names can rice cooked in water have!?! Imma stick to calling it congee) at this joint in Tiong Bahru called Ah Chiang’s Porridge. The awning boasted traditional cooked-over-charcoal style and when my bowl of Mixed Pork Congee (ground pork, liver, intestines, pork slices) arrived, I was very happy at how flavourful it was. It completely transported me back to when my grandfather and auntie used to bring me to this small hole-in-the-wall place situated inside a tiny alley in Surabaya, to have congee which tasted JUST LIKE the one at Ah Chiang’s. This is one nostalgic bowl of congee, I must say. And I don’t know if it’s me being sentimental or what, but I ended up going there a total of three times in the last two weeks. :9 There’s something about eating congee that doesn’t make me guilty one bit, no matter how much I’m eating it. It’s just rice dissolved in water, I tell myself! Hehehe.
Ah Chang also serves this Sashimi (Chinese-style) which is ultra yummy. I don’t recall every having eaten this before and I am now a convert!
Side-dish of cut up Century Egg, which is good served just as shown… shredded ginger, chopped scallion, julienned red chilli, a dash of white pepper and a splash of light soy sauce.
A plate of Sashimi (Chinese-style) as starter dish, and a bowl of Deep Fried Crulers to accompany the congee.
This is a very busy joint, with a steady stream of customers throughout the day. I forgot to ask what time they close because I’d go back there for supper next time, if they’re around that late.
My gf Mong, who warned me the first time she brought me here about how this place has outdoor seating only so be prepared to be sweating buckets while slurping the piping hot porridge.
Me *again*. Yes, yes, I’m OD-ed now. You won’t catch me there again anytime soon. Oh, my puffy jaws have gone down a lot, eh? :D
I gotta tell ya, I have mixed feelings about the congee portion served here. On one hand, it’s honestly adequate. But on the other hand, after you have the last spoonful it kinda leaves you with this almost-but-not-quite satisfied feeling and you inadvertently start scraping the bottom of the bowl. So you’re stuck in between wanting to order another bowl (a bit too big of a second helping though) or just walk away. -___-” All three times I was there, I managed to resist ordering a second bowl although the temptation was very very strong. Good job, MB. *pats self on the back* ;p
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