Fatty Weng, Guillemard Rd, Singapore

Fatty Weng is indeed a Singapore institution. This place at 89 Guillemard Rd has been around for a very long time. After getting pretty bored of all the "zichars"(coffeeshop restaurants) that have popped up serving similar Hong Kong Street food I needed to get an authentic "zichar" fix really bad. I craved; Fatty Weng delivered.

These nice shiny bits aren't little gold nuggets but they are definitely worth their weight in gold. Fried crispy pork bits are like the original food enhancer (much more natural than MSG as well). Just toss in some (or lots) of these babies into anything you're eating and it'll just taste that little bit nicer. Or you can just snack on them straight like I do. Did I hear someone say, "Defibrillator STAT!!!"?

This dish is called King of Spareribs (literal translation) but it's actually fried spareribs with a mild sweet and sour sauce. Well marinated and tender with just enough fat, this stuff just glides down your throat. The sauce wasn't excessively sweet and had a really nice smokey aroma as well which reminded me abit of a toned-down version of" Sugar Ray's Smoky BBQ Sauce".

Fried oysters in special sauce came next. This has a very nice crispy edge on the outside despite little evidence of much flour or batter. The oyster flesh within is still soft and juicy and the savory special sauce complemented the dish perfectly.

Refried roast pork belly with dark soy sauce. You can taste that they use good quality soy sauce here because it's fragrant without being overtly salty. I would have preferred it if they would toss in some diced garlic and ginger as well which is how I normally cook this dish but this pure simple flavor went down really well too.

The dry-fried beef flat rice noodles which came next was even better than some I've had in Hong Kong. The beef was tender and the fine balance of sweet and soy sauce permeated into the very being of the noodle. It was also glistening with enough oil to make a really smooth feed.

The pork liver in claypot was cooked just nice. Cooking liver is a very delicate process because if it's too raw it's still bloody but if it's overcooked it's too rubbery. This however, was just nice. Tender and succulent with heaps of spring onions, this is the dish for all you liver-lovers out there.

Fried prawn paste chicken was next. This is done the style I remembered when I was kid. It didn't have alot of batter, wasn't excessively dyed red and actually had other parts than just the wings. Although it was just abit dry, I really appreciated crunching down the crispy bits of skin.

Ahh, the obligatory it's-all-healthy vegetable dish. We originally ordered just plain Chinese broccoli (gai lan) but before the waitress walked off, I managed to add in a little beef for good measure. Looks like the Chinese broccoli did a cameo appearance in this dish haha. The beef was extremely tasty and tender and what Chinese broccoli which was present was crisp and fresh.

Look at that spread! And all for under 85SGD. I've not had a meal so satisfying in quite awhile. If this blog was a magazine, Fatty Weng would be the centrefold of this month's issue.

D