2 days ago
Food Picks: 24-hour chicken rice and steamboat in East Coast Road
SINGAPORE – Some restaurants survive by stepping up their social media game. Others get by on the abiding loyalty of regulars. Then there is the row of restaurants in East Coast Road, which has evolved to become all things to all men.
As The Straits Times reported in April, diners can now cross-order from any of the eight eateries in the East Coast Food Strip, regardless of which outlet they are dining at. Which means having a glass of wine with hotpot or aglio olio alongside prawn mee.
No matter what time you visit, you are guaranteed to find something. Beach Road Prawn Noodle House opens at 7am, Jag Wine closes after midnight. Most industrious is Feng Sheng Kampong Chicken Rice & Steamboat, which keeps it coming round the clock.
The 24-hour restaurant – the only along that strip – is best known for its titular dish: oiled rice with tender strips of chicken, either roasted or steamed, drizzled in garlic-infused oil and flecked with crispy garlic bits. This $6++ dish is best paired with a housemade ginger dressing.
The lala claypot steamboat ($22++) is another winner – the kind of hearty satisfaction you will be thanking your lucky stars for at 3am, when the weather is finally cool enough to slurp away at hot soup without regret, and few other options this substantial exist.
Steamboat set from Feng Sheng.
PHOTO: FENG SHENG
For greater variety, get the classic steamboat set ($58.80++). Just fresh and tasty enough to be considered of value, it is heaped with pork belly, abalone, mussels, prawns, yet more lala, enoki mushrooms, fried beancurd rolls, assorted vegetables and more. Diners can pick from five soup bases: chicken, herbal, tom yum, mala and pork stomach-chicken soup.
Besides the chicken rice and steamboat in its name, the restaurant also offers other dishes, including Ipoh chicken hor fun ($8.50++), claypot yee mee ($9.80++) and pork lard dry noodles ($5++).
I have not tried any of them with wine or Chinese dessert, but knowing the option is open does, in some way, make the meal sweeter.
All are welcome: residents, celebrities, taxi drivers – who get free-flow rice and a complimentary drink with their chicken rice – and even pets, though you will have to pick between your furry friend and air-conditioned comfort. Just cross your fingers and hope that it will be a windy night.
Where: 372 East Coast Road
MRT: Marine Terrace
Open: 24 hours, daily
Info: @ on Instagram
Check out ST's Food Guide for the latest foodie recommendations in Singapore.
