Anything But Hogwash
by Jonathan Toyad (guest writer)
Kim Heng HK Roasted Meat
Address: Block 214 Serangoon Ave. 4, 01-88, Singapore
Price: SGD $3 - 5
Opening Hours: 8.30am to 7pm daily
From few bus stops away from the Lorong Chuan or Serangoon MRT lies this tucked-away temple of brunch and lunch treasure: the Kim Heng HK Roasted Meat hawker stall. As you wait patiently in line at the enclosure just opposite the Serangoon Stadium, you start to gaze predominantly at the slabs and lines of tender juicy pork chunks. These chunks of divine taste, when stared upon, can make you reminisce of an innocent time when your parents used to buy pieces of giant Hong Kong-styled roast meat from lord-knows-what hawker god bestowed onto them.
Upon ordering the usual char siew rice platter -or with additional siobak if you're saying "to hell with carbs today"- a union of ginger, sweet sauce, succulent fat and crisp texture hit your taste buds as hard as one of Muhammad Ali's greatest hits. Yes, there is fowl play involved in the form of the hanging roast ducks you can order, but the real star is the lord roast pig offered to the patient bystanders with their eyes gleaming as the stare through the glass window.
Just think of all the times you wished that the fake pieces of char siew from mediocre wanton stalls were fattened up and glistened like a prayer answered. Kim Heng HK is that divine wish realized in hawker gourmet form that is also easy on a foodie’s wallet too; your single serving of rice and meat comes at S$3 and not beyond S$5 if you want the extra goody goods. A word of caution: when you order extra rice to go with your meats, make sure you order more for the latter. The lovely people making the magic happen at Kim Heng aren't versed in the art of perfecting rice portions to coincide with the savories, talented as they are.
There's a kind of reward you get if you can muster waking up early and getting in line before or during the lunch crowd sets in. Sure, the stall is open until 7pm, but the good fresh roasted bits of slain livestock aren't so juicy by then. And really, filling yourself up with scrumptious combinations of char siew and siobak has its own reward. The kind you want to keep receiving for eternity if it weren't for the limitations of our mortal coils.
About the Writer
Jonathan Toyad, Freelance Writer
