To make the perfect Cantonese-style porridge, all you need are three simple ingredients: rice, water (or broth), and time.
The secret to silky-smooth, creamy porridge is to gently simmer it for at least three hours till the rice grains are almost completely dissolved. The porridge has to be constantly stirred so that it won’t burn. There’s absolutely no shortcut!
In Singapore, the best Canto-style porridge can be found in and around the Chinatown area, which is a traditional Cantonese enclave. Which ones should you head to for your fix of comforting congee?
Stall 54 Maxwell Food Centre
Opening hours: 5.30am-2.30pm, closed on Tue
Price: from $2.50 for chicken or fish porridge
Rating: 5/5
This legendary stall has a never-ending queue once its shutters are up. If you don’t see one, don’t rejoice, for it simply means they have sold out!
Neither too thick nor too watery, Zhen Zhen’s beautifully creamy porridge had the perfect consistency. Each bowl was liberally topped with crispy fried shallot, salty preserved cabbage, fresh spring onion and fragrant sesame oil. These toppings added a kaleidoscope of flavours and textures to the already flavoursome porridge.
They were also very generous with the main ingredients. We sampled both fish and chicken porridge. Both boasted fresh, chunky pieces of meat. If we had to nitpick, it’d be that the porridge was a bit too oily. But if rich is how you like it, then Zhen Zhen’s porridge really hits the spot!
Blk 335 Smith Street
#02-184 Chinatown Complex
Opening hours: Sat-Sun: 9am-4pm
Price: from $3.50 for pork / fish porridge
Rating: 4.5/5
We don’t know how much longer this stall will be around for. As it is, the owner is already in semi-retirement mode, opening his stall for just two days a week.
His style is quintessentially classic Cantonese. The grains were nearly dissolved, resulting in a snowy-white, velvety-smooth porridge. On its own, some folks might find it too bland, but we relished the pure sweetness of the rice starch.
Tasty pork slices and minced meat balls contrasted nicely against the plain porridge, while the fish porridge had sufficiently fresh fish slices. The flavours of the porridge base and the ingredients were distinct, but they all came together splendidly.
Blk 335 Smith Street
#02-81/82 Chinatown Complex
Opening hours: Daily: 7am-2pm
Price: from $2.50 for pork porridge
Rating: 4/5
If you like your congee thick and tasty, then you’ll probably like Joe’s.
The porridge here isn’t pure Canto-style. Even though the rice grains aren’t as broken, the porridge was soft and smooth. We suspect the porridge was simmered in rich broth, which explains its wonderfully robust flavours.
There’s a wide variety of ingredients available to mix and match. We tried the classic pairing of century egg and pork. Taste was fine, but the ingredients could have been chunkier. We preferred the fish options as they were superbly fresh and sweet.
65 Tiong Poh Road, #01-38
Opening hours: Daily: 7am-12am
Price: from $3.50 for pork / fish porridge
Rating: 3.5/5
Another Cantonese porridge stall with a long history, Ah Chiang’s main draw is its traditional charcoal flame-cooked porridge. The décor is now more upmarket, and the menu greatly expanded, but the porridge is still old-school.
The porridge here was smooth and tasty enough without having to add soy sauce. Slightly runnier than Zhen Zhen’s or Jiu Ji’s, it was still satisfying, albeit in a lighter way.
We tried two kinds of porridge – sliced fish and pork (sliced and minced pork). Though generous in amount, the fish slices had lots of fine bones. While it didn’t pose any danger, it was quite annoying. The minced pork was nicely bouncy, but the sliced pork was tough and stringy.
Blk 335 Smith Street #02-185 Chinatown Complex
Opening hours: 6am-2pm, closed Mon except on PH
Price: from $2.50 for pork / fish porridge
Rating: 2.5/5
They used to be very good, but lately, standards have slipped. Their porridge was smooth and relatively tasty. But it lacked depth and was disappointingly watery.
The ingredients were also rather measly in amount. In short, it was just average. Definitely not our top choice for Cantonese congee, especially with such outstanding peers in the vicinity.
