Our Sunday tradition is to have a hearty warm bowl of porridge for breakfast. If we’re lucky, we could even have a rainy morning eating this piping hot bowl of goodness. Sin Heng Kee Porridge is situated in the neighbourhood of Hougang, and widely-known by communities living both nearby and far out.
First introduced by Cheryl, it was her family’s go-to eatery for Cantonese-style congee – the one that’s mushy and silky-smooth. Indeed, they were right. This small shop really is the place for an awesome porridge. The snaking lines forming every morning can’t be wrong.
The queue line moves quickly thanks to their very efficient system. One would order with the cashier, pay for it and then the order will be tagged to a number. Simple as that.
Getting seats here can sometimes be quite a challenge. Often, we have to share seats with another guest when dining in. Waiting, however, is a common occurrence. The porridge is usually served between 10-15 minutes of waiting, and occasionally, 20-30 minutes.
Our usual order is the pork porridge ($3.50). It consists of sliced pork and pork meatballs for our meat, shallots and spring onions, and a top-up of egg ($0.50). Without you tiao, a porridge feels bare. So I highly recommend having a you tiao as an accompaniment.
The porridge is really gooey and smooth, much like the Cantonese style. The good part about the clump and thickness is that you won’t mistake it as a rice purée. On first taste, I could feel the flavours of pork bursting with a hint of sesame oil in the thick porridge.
The meat we got was really soft and tender, and the sliced pork is really lean. The pork meatball is the tastiest meat between the two, and I really like how the juices and porridge flow out of the meatball on biting.
If you would like to get the you tiao, Sin Heng Kee offers it. However, the ones I had often tend to be soggy. For this, I strongly suggest that you cross the road to the coffee shop nearby the NTUC Fairprice and find this small stall with freshly fried you tiao at 80 cents a piece. You can tell by the queue and a middle-aged lady selling fried dough fritters of different kinds (tau sar piah, hum chee peng, and more). Trust me, it’s worth the wait.
If you’re wondering if it’s a hit or miss for you – it’s often subjective. But the snaking queues are a testament to people’s preference. This is the best porridge in Singapore so far, and one that has become part of my Sunday tradition.
Expected damage: $3-5 per person
