Old Shifu Charcoal Porridge – Ah Chiang’s Former Chef Opens a New Eatery in Tiong Bahru!

Fans of Ah Chiang’s Porridge, rejoice! There’s a new porridge eatery in town — Tiong Bahru, to be exact — by the name of Old Shifu Charcoal Porridge and it serves the same nostalgic Cantonese zhou that we all know and love. 

Helmed by previous second-generation owner of Ah Chiang’s Porridge, Cher Kee Chiang, this is his first independent venture after selling Ah Chiang’s some years ago. In fact, it’s just a short walk away from Ah Chiang’s but there’s no drama or rivalry between the two. 

The newly-opened eatery is located right across the Tiong Bahru Market & Food Centre in a cosy, air-conditioned space. Apart from the cute caricatures of the shifu himself, there are plans in the making of filling up the walls of the interior with a mural of photographs of past customers (feel free to drop them a message if you’d like to make a contribution!). 

Porridge might be one of the simplest dishes you can think of (with not many varieties), but not at Old Shifu Charcoal Porridge. Their menu features quite the variety to choose from — Minced Pork ($5), Sliced Fish ($6), Century Egg Chicken ($5), Shrimp Ball Porridge ($8) and Frog Porridge ($7). 

Of course, these types of zhou are best eaten with egg(requires an extra $0.60). There are also side dishes to go with your porridge like Ginger Chicken ($6), Stir-fried Vegetables of the Day ($6/8/10) and Salted Fish with Beansprouts ($7/10/12), as well as a series of beverages if you’re feeling thirsty. 

One of their more popular choices is the Mixed Pork ($5) with minced pork, intestines, liver and sliced pork. At first, I thought the dark sauce drizzled atop was soy sauce but after looking closer, I realised it was blood from the liver, which was just a tad undercooked and strong in taste. Made me wish I was right about the soy sauce. 

Despite that, the porridge itself was not as gao (thick) as it looked but rather, had a pleasantly smooth texture and was not overly watery. It was also imbued with the slight fragrance of smokiness from the charcoal it was cooked over and was the most flavourful out of the three bowls I had. It reminded me a lot of my grandma’s bak moi (pork porridge) and was the epitome of comfort food for me. 

The Century Egg Minced Meat ($5) came highly recommended by the staff as I was pondering over what else I should pick. While it was not as flavourful as the Mixed Pork porridge, that’s not to say that it was bland in any way. 

The taste of the century egg didn’t fully permeate into the porridge itself but did provide a nice contrast in terms of texture and taste. The minced pork bits were also marinated well so this was definitely not a boring meal to have. 

Another favourite among customers is the Fish Belly ($6). It was a lot milder compared to the previous two but coupled with the sliced ginger, this was one soothing bowl that’s perfect for rainy days. The sliced fish was also delicately tender and tasted even better once dipped in chilli sauce. 

Porridge might be the main attraction here, but I have to give a special shout out to their you tiao ($2). These fried dough fritters were perfectly crisp on the outside without being too oily, and nice and doughy on the inside. Every batch is freshly fried so you don’t have to worry about that ‘old oil’ taste. When I tried asking what they did differently, all I got was a smile along with “that’s a secret”. 

Old Shifu Charcoal Porridge is definitely on my list of best nostalgic comfort food. The prices might be a tad heftier than Ah Chiang’s, but as someone who can’t stand the heat, this air-conditioned eatery makes it all worth it. I might even head down solely for the you tiao!

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

Let’s build a food community that helps to update the food news in Singapore! Simply comment below if there’s any changes or additional info to Old Shifu Charcoal Porridge. We will verify and update from our side. Thanks in advance!