One of them is Oasis Taiwan Porridge House which is an institution, and the other is a Joo Chiat Teochew zhi-cha house. I forgot the name. We always remember it by its location – at the junction of Joo Chiat Place & Tembling Road. The place is run-down, with greasy tables, slippery floors and wet chopsticks. The servers are all old Teochew loud talkers, and one of them didn’t even wear shoes as he hurried around to serve food. But the food is so good – home made otah, tofu-pork in deliciously light broth, fluffy omelets with anchovies…that when it all arrives, I forget to feel squeamish about the general hygiene level and dig in with gazillions of zest.
When we get to the coffee shop, we will split into two teams – one will quickly secure a table, and the other (consisting of only dad) will line up to order food. One of their specialties is some kind of fish steamed with scales on, and the fish will be split into half and eaten cold. Sweet and juicy, and we will also never ever fail to order kangkong belachan.
The place will be closed by December 16. One of the servers grumbled that everyone’s getting old… one guy’s complaining of arm aches, and another, leg pain… so they decided not to renew the rental lease and retire instead. Now every Sunday we will makan there, and desperately try to store up as many lovely memories as we can of the place.
Family members in happier times at zhi-char place at previous Joo Chiat location:
JF, the next picture is dedicated to you:
3 comments:
Ahhhhhh I loooove the place!! That was the last meal I had there - soup with tofu, kangkong, scrambled egg with silver fish ... so yummy!!!
Aww man, I just looked at the picture and salivated like crazy again. The cabbage!! How I wish I could get the recipes to all these dishes exactly the way they cook it.
Also, I will miss very much the kong ba and the taiwan fried noodles at hai jing lou.
I went back on Dec 15, Sat, on its very last day of operation, to have a last, sad meal. Atmosphere was subdued, no yelling by waiters. Maybe they're feeling sad too. I left my tel no. with them, if they reopen the zhi-char, they better call me!
Post a Comment