Heng Kee Kway Chap – Tastiest Braised Pig Trotters I Ever Had!

A Teochew dish, Kway Chap is a popular meal amongst the Chinese. This dish comes in two parts; A bowl of thick sheets of rice noodles (Kway) and a plate of offal braised in dark gravy (Chap).

Greeting me with a big wide smile on their faces were Mr and Mrs Heng, owners of Heng Kee Kway Chap. They have been running the stall since 1992! Initially located in a coffeeshop across their current stall, Heng Kee Kway Chap moved to their new premises about 5 years back due to a rent hike.

Kway Chap fans will know that it is not easy to prepare the pork offal. This is especially so due to the sheer amount of cleaning that needs to be done prior to cooking. The last thing you would want to have is an awful tasting plate of pork offal that were not cleaned properly. Mrs Heng prides herself on this. She proudly shared that she starts work at 3am daily — taking hours to wash and clean these pork offal almost all day long! She was so confident that she even joked that she will follow through with a full refund if the offal wasn’t clean, and that we could turn it inside out to check.

What is interesting about Heng Kee Kway Chap is that they don’t offer a fixed set of ingredients. Instead, they take your order on a small little sheet of paper indicating which innards you want on your plate. I opted for the usual suspects: Pig Large Intestines, Pig Small Intestines, Pig Skin, Braised Pork Belly, and Fish Cake ($11.80 for 2pax).

Mr Heng uses a variety of herbs and spices to make the braising sauce. The ingredients include Dang Gui, Red Dates, Yok Chok and more! He explained that that a lot of these herbs have great healing properties which help your digestive system and lungs. The pork offal will be left to braise overnight in this sauce before it is ready to be served the next morning. The sauce was very tasty and had just the right amount of saltiness that you could eat the ingredients on its own.

The Kway was very soft and the soup was light. It was a nice accompanying dish to the thick braised gravy that came with the pork offal. The generous portion of garlic and Chinese parsley added a nice flavour to the soup too.

Now, to the plate of pork offal which I couldn’t wait to try! I must say the intestines were indeed really well prepared! The large Intestines were soft and chewy while the small Intestines were slightly harder in texture and more springy. The braised pork belly was tender and flavourful. The tau pok had a very slight crisp to it, and soaked up all the delicious gravy. Every bite of the tau pok promised a burst of flavour! The fish cake is not handmade, but they tasted rather good too! It had a very traditional taste and nice fragrance to it. The pig skin was my favourite! It was really chewy and soft. They painstakingly removed the layer of fats from the skin so I felt less guilty eating it.

The last item I felt I had to try was their Braised Pig Trotters ($8). Albeit a little salty, it had to be the tastiest Braised Pig Trotters I ever had! The braising sauce was more strong tasting than that used for the pork offal. The meat peeled off the bone easily, and was really soft! It would have been perfect if it was just a little more tender, but I’m not complaining because it was good enough. Braised for hours, the layer of fats lost its oil to the braising sauce and it literally melted in my mouth! Paired with their sour and spicy chilli sauce, it was just perfect!

Overall, I had a really great meal at Heng Kee Kway Chap! I really admire the passion and hardwork put in by Mr and Mrs Heng. Head there now for a comforting bowl of Kway Chap!

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.