Joo Hing Restaurant

Pictures Here

 The six chopsticks awarded by Makansutra is probably why the restaurant is so popular as all tables were taken even at 9pm on a Saturday night.

Lotus Root Soup ($12)

The soup tasted exactly like my grandmothers recipe, where the chunks of pork in the soup were very tender.

Steamed Fish Head ($18)

A signature dish of the restaurant, the fish head came in an extremely generous portion. The fish meat which was very fresh was flaky and succulent, complemented by the savory gravy of soy bean paste and deep fried cubes of pork lard that were sinfully delicious gave the dish some added flavor and crunch. The only problem was that the fish had quite a few small bones!

Stir Fried Sweet Potato Leaves with Sambal ($10)

The sweet potato leaves were actually slightly sweet, but the chef got it spot on with the use of sambal in terms of the balance between sweet and savory. Definitely a great alternative to the usual sambal kangkong you get anywhere else!

Prawn Paste Chicken ($10)Fried to a perfect golden brown, the drumlets and winglets were tender, possessing a delightfully rich crustacean flavor from the batter that was just right.

Tofu Prawns ($22)

If there was one dish that didn’t quite make expectations, it had to be the Tofu Prawns. The tofu had a tantalizing fragrance, along with the luscious thick gravy that went perfectly with a bowl of white rice. The six larges prawns were fresh and succulent, but at an extra $14, i felt that ordering that plain fried tofu would be better value.

Steamed Baby Squid w Plum Sauce ($12)

Hands down the best dish of the meal, the steamed baby squid was tender and succulent, where the sweet plum sauce overpowered the natural ” fishiness” of squid in a good way. Definitely a winning combination for a simple but decadent dish.

Service here was decent, with the typical service standards you get in Chinese restaurants. Overall, I felt Joo Hing excels in bringing out simple, no frills teochew cooked food that is extremely comforting for the soul and satisfying at the same time. Prices are also very reasonable. Makansutra proclaimed Joo Hing as a ” die die must try restaurant” where I certainly can’t help but agree =).

Ambience: Below average. The restaurant has two separate sections joined by a common wall with a passageway in-between. One of the sections is a Coffeeshop set-up while the other section is along the lines of a traditional Chinese restaurant. Both sections are air-conditioned. There is a single cramped unisex toilet stall. The location is a bit out of the way. They have a digital bell that rings whenever people enter the place. Very annoying.

 

Food: Average.

 

Prawn Paste Chicken ($8 for 8 winglets): Average. Taste pretty much like it should taste. Somewhat alike to friend chicken with a slight hint of prawn. Done with so-so skill only though. I think the chicken wings sold at Old Chang Kee at $1.50 may be a better deal since taste roughly the same. $12 and $15 for 12 and 15 winglets respectively.

 

Sweet and Sour Pork ($10 for roughly 2 servings, basically about $2 worth from a Coffeeshop mixed vegetables stall): Average. Tastes like the standard you can get from Coffeeshop. The only prices displayed were for $12 and $15, presumably for medium and large. I am not sure why I got charged $10 instead. The receipt does not indicate portion size so perhaps it is for small, which is simply not reflected in the menu.

 

Steamed Grouper: Previous reviewers mentioned this dish. However, I was unable to find this on the menu. Perhaps it is by another name instead.

 

Value: Below average. So so only. $1 for tea charge, inclusive of iced water and wet tissue. 20 cents for wet tissue alone and 50 cents per glass of iced water alone. All charges waiverable. Cash payment only, no credit cards. GST is added, but no service charge.

 

Service: Below average. Standard Zhi Char type of service. Waiters keep on pushing soft drinks on me, three times altogether.

 

Overall: Below average. Quite frankly, I am not sure what the fuss is about. The prior reviews make this establishment out to be some kind of amazing unbelievable food heaven. They got post up a newspaper article about them some more on the counter wall. It is basically Zhi Char done to a so so standard within a pretty poor environment. Very hard to find in Singapore meh? I really don’t understand. Not being sarcastic here.

Joo Hing Restaurant 裕興 is a popular Chinese restaurant along Joo Chiat Road that serve chi char style food in a simple restaurant setting. The menu shows all dishes that would be commonly available in chi char places. However, what made Joo Hing popular is that they cook these common dishes much better than the rest. Ever since HY and I had a simple hor fun and stir fried venison with ginger, we've been dying to go back to Joo Hing for another session. This time round we gathered mum and dad to have 'Chi Char' dinner. 

If I didn't order this steamed grouper 红班, the cost of our dinner would be just slightly more than any other chi char place, but I think I've ordered the more expensive fish they have on the menu. We ask to have the grouper steamed Hong Kong style. As we dig our chopsticks into the fish, the meat slide off the bones easily. It was fresh and sweet. 

Tapioca Leaves stir fried with sambal is a must-try. The tapioca leaves were actually slightly sweet and apart from the sambal chilli some preserved beans seemed to be added to give a differentiated taste than what you normally get elsewhere. 

Another of Joo Hing's signature is the Tofu Prawns. The prawns curled up into a ball of succulence while the tofu was pre fried till it had a fragrance before mixing up in the appetizing egg white sauce.

When you visit a chi char place, you wouldn't be bothered with service standards. I think you can expect the same here in Joo Hing. They don't allow booking for dinner during the weekends so there may be a good wait for tables.

For more details and photos check out - http://4-the-love-of-food.blogspot.com/2011/10/joo-hing-restaurant-simple-chi-char.html

Before sis and BIL returns to their overseas work, we wanted to use that as a good reason to pig out again!! Chose Joo Hing as HGW recommends it and BIL agrees that they serve good makan. :) 

We had a big table of 14 pax and kinda ordered one dish per pax lor!! Hee... 

1) Steamed Pork with Salted Fish - this is a simple dish but made really just so right!! The salted fish really brought out the flavour of the minced. Couldn't stop eating! 

2) Fried Rice - it's ok...nice enough but dun need to order it again. 

3) Ha Jiong Chicken - Nice but also no need order again. :P 

4) Steamed Sotong in Special Sauce - I wanted to try this as it so gigot recommended on HGW but I didn't know they serve the mini squid - with head, eyes and tentacles and all!! I'm such a wuss and couldn't bring myself to eat that... Hee... Hubby liked it enough. :) 

5) Claypot Tofu - I liked this one. Tofu and Vege very well put together. Nice! 

6) Hei Zhou - typical teochew dish, must order. And it didn't disappoint too. :) 

7) Ginger Sliced Fish - sis liked it. And the rest of family too I guess as it was GONE by the time I wanted a piece!! *faint* 

8) Garlic Kailan - well executed, nice. 

9) Salted & Century Egg Vege - this dish is cooked with superior broth so the result is Vege swimming in sauce/broth that you just have to eat/drink by the spoonful! Yumz! 

10) Steamed Fish Head - the most expensive dish of the night ($18) but it was served with much of the body too so enough sweet meat to go around. Slightly spicy bean sauce that complimented the sweetness of the flesh well. :) 

11) Sambal Kang Kong - nice enough but not memorable when put up against so many other high performers. Poor Kang Kong!! 

12) Sweet & Sour Pork - this one was well deep-fried and laced with tomato sauce that's not too tangy. Good stuff! 

13) Fried Omelette - this dish was added on last as some HGW reviewers said their omelette was nice. We got a silver fish one and almost everyone was super full by the time the egg arrived. I tasted it and it was so yumz I single-handedly finished half of it myself. It's not funny because it was NOT a small serving. 

I always love it people make simple food taste out-of-this-world! My grandma is great at many dishes but for the rest, I just have to seek out awesome makan places like Joo Hing to satisfy myself. :) 

Another point to note was that I didn't feel so thirsty after dinner, maybe they are not overly crazy with the MSG. Plus POINT there!! :)

For photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow.

Makansutra gives this restaurant 6 chopsticks which means "die die must eat."

Wah, damn difficult to find lor. So ulu. There is a carpark very near the restaurant, opposite it - so don't be kiasu idiots like the Ex and I who parked 10 streets away and walked 20 minutes to reach it.

There are two sections of the restaurant, one with dimmed lights, very high crass, the other side is like an air con kopi tiam - and I ah Beng, of course more comfortable at kopitiam.

We ordered what the makansultra recommended: steamed baby sotong with plum sauce ($10); prawn paste chicken ($8); steamed fish head with lard and bean sauce ($18). 

The chicken was ordinary. We liked the baby sotong, very appetizing, with the sweet plum sauce; the "fishiness" of the sotong was also eliminated. The fish was indeed fresh but the bean paste made it too salty.

Overall, we like it but didn't think it deserves 6 stars, and won't go all the way out to eat it. Quite worth the money though. The restaurant gets very crowded, even on a week day, so go early. Prompt service by family or foreign workers.

There are 2 parts to this restaurant, a renovated unit and another adjoining unit that is waiting to be renovated though it probably will not bring much extra value cos business is already thriving. The food tastes homely and great. The fresh baby squid is sweet and steamed to perfection. The crispy prawn paste chicken is simply delicious. My usual order is the bittergourd pork ribs. There is no hint of bitterness at all. Didn't like the fishy aroma from the table. The wet towels came in really handy.

Have been patronizing this eatery with my family for around 10 years.

Back then it was not air conditioned, with just a single unit. Now everything has changed including the seats (no more kopitiam seats), and it has even took over the unit beside it.

Standard has dropped a little compared to last time.BUT it is still a favourite haunt for my family meals. Below are the dishes i highly recommend.

1)Prawn paste chicken (superb)

2)Claypot tofu

-Sadly the standard of this claypot tofu has dropped, although still taste good. It was really fantastic many years ago. But nevertheless give it a go.

3)Sambal Kangkong

As a regular, I still have to say that service is bad. The cleaners double up as waiters, and it can get pretty noisy with them. Although the old boss is a very friendly guy and we often feedback to him.But go there expecting good o' home cooked food without any frills.

 

Good comfort food.  Try the "hae zho", any of the omelettes, "ma yau gai" - sesame oil chicken, and claypot tofu.  Service can take a while, so feel free to "self-help".

<Link to review on my blog>

A group of us - 6 adults & a kids - came here after Good Friday's service. Here'w what we ordered (5 dishes & white rice):

1. Steamed Sotong with Special Sauce (S$12) - Steamed to perfection!

2. Steamed minced pork with salted fish (S$10) - Tasty but too salty!

3. Fried Sambal Kang Kong (S$12) - a little soggy.

4. Steamed Grouper with Pork Lard (S$34) - Yummy...if u love fresh fish and crunchy park lard!

5. Braised Tofu with prawns (S$26)- Silkiest tofu ever.

6. White Rice (S$4.00)

7. Tea (S$7.00)

GST - $7.35

The entire meal cost S$112.35. It is very yummy, very hearty and very reasonable! Dishes are a tad salty, so eat it with lots of rice. The fried egg with shark's fin is overrated, and the lotus root soup is quite bland. So stick to their yummy dishes.

Eversince Joo Heng's airconditioned, eating here is very platable!!

I actually like Joo Heng more than Canton Wok !! Visit Joo Heng with your family & your heartland friends.

Even the best gourmand in all of us likes to return to comfort food every now and then... in my definition, food that featured largely in our formative years. Especially in a place like Singapore, when a meal out used to mean "cze char" (Fujianese for 煮炒) in the good ole days.

The art of cze char is definitely dying, at least if you equate it with good quality home-style cooking. The ability to keep consistent quality in a cze char kitchen is no mean feat, especially in a high heat industrial kitchen in hot and humid Singapore (most of the good cze char places have no airconditioning in the kitchen!) and should almost be an Olympic sport.

In this arena, my gold medal in Singapore goes to Joo Heng. After patronising it regularly for 10 years, the quality is no different from when I first tried it. And after last year's renovations and expansion, Joo Heng now boasts an air-conditioned section as well!

I always start with the soup of the day, which more often than not, is the ever popular lotus root with pork ribs soup. Coming from a Cantonese background, this is not soup at its best, but Joo Heng manages a commercially viable version which has enough taste even if lacking in what Grandma terms as "火炉" (or Chinese for furnace - charcoal was used in the old days and lent itself to the rich and almost but not quite smoky taste of a soup which has been simmering for about 4 hours).

If you are a first-timer or creature of habit, the must-orders are:

Sharks' fin and Crab meat scramble. Perfect combination of textures to deliver a unique taste, especially when eaten in the accompanying letture leaves, laced with the in-house belacan chilli paste, with a tang from fresh lime. Perfect appetiser (unless you don't eat sharksfin)!

Smooth home-made tofu wtih medium sized shrimps．　The rich gravy is so good that I would not even attempt to try and describe it but suffice to say that the prawn stock is definitely evident. If you are a rice fiend, you may go into carbo overload.

　　

The steamed fish head with yellow bean paste is the piece de resistance. Steamed with a fragrant yellow bean paste, and garnished generously with spring onions and deep-fried pork lard cubes, it makes for a complex but outrageously tasty dish. Only caution: the fish head they use has loads of bones, especially hidden ones so try not to multi-task when you eat this!

Other dishes that are worth trying include:

Steamed minced pork patties, stir-fried potato leaves, and most everybody's favourite prawn paste chicken.

Good ole fashioned goodness!!

For photos, go to

http://www.edeats.blogspot.com/