I’ve
eaten Cantonese food for much of my life. So, when I was writing this
particular post, it suddenly dawned on me how much my judgments and opinions regarding
Cantonese cuisine have been influenced by the so-named ‘Four Heavenly Kings of
Singapore Cuisine’ – namely Masterchefs Sin Leong, Hooi Kok Wai, Tham Yui Kai,
and Lau Yoke Pui.
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| Masterchefs Hooi Kok Wai (left) and Sin Leong |
Throughout
the 60s and 70s, when I was only eight or nine, I was already eating at least
once or twice a week at their restaurants. I would visit each restaurant in
turn with one or two specific dishes already in mind: these would be the Cold
Dish and the Shark’s Fin Soup at the Lai Wah Restaurant run by Tham Yui Kai and
Lau Yoke Pui. At the Dragon Phoenix
Restaurant of Hooi Kok Wai, it would usually be the Yam Cake and the Steamed
Seafood, and the once-a-year Tossed Yue Sheng.
For the
Sin Leong Restaurant at Serangoon Road, my favorites would be the USA Duck, and
the Glass Prawns. On top of these meals would be the many wedding dinners,
birthday parties, and other celebrations that I also attended down the years;
these were usually held at Red Rudy and Red Star -- the two later restaurants
co-owned by the four masterchefs.
Hence,
I could justifiably, and proudly, proclaim that I literally ‘grew up eating
heavenly food!’
Even as
a boy, I would sit by the Rediffusion, and occasionally the TV, to learn new
dishes from Tham Yui Kai, who frequently appeared hosting cooking shows. Tham
Yui Kai was the most publicly ‘visible’ of the four – he was a household name
through his media spots and his many cookbooks. I had also attended the cooking
classes at the community centres conducted by Tham occasionally. In no small
measure, these four men were my inspiration and ‘mentors’; they helped educate
and shape my palate when it came to high Cantonese cuisine.
Sadly,
many of the dishes I am familiar with are no longer considered ‘in’; they’ve
disappeared from menus, and, it seems, from the average culinary consciousness
altogether. It’s therefore been a dream of mine to savour once again the ‘good
old taste’, and have the chance to reminisce with like-minded friends about the
golden era of Chinese cuisine in Singapore.
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The menu, hand-written,
by Masterchef Sin Leong. |
The
opportunity came my way last week when I met Masterchef Sin Leong. I asked him
to cook the ‘classic dishes’ of his kitchen. He gamely obliged and immediately
wrote up a menu drawn from his famous repertoire. But I wanted to take it a
step further, and asked Sin Leong to cook his master’s recipes instead. The four heavenly kings began their careers at
the Cathay Restaurant in the 1950s, studying under the China-born, Hong
Kong-trained Grand Masterchef Luo Chen. The Cathay Restaurant, which belonged
to Mr. Loke Wan Tho, a HK-based businessman who also owned the Cathay Film Organization,
was one of the most popular and prestigious fine dining restaurants of that
era.
Masterchef
Sin Leong, today in his 80s, paused for a moment, pondering my request, then
said yes. He told me that he would need to
cook the dishes himself, with the help of Masterchef Hooi, as his chefs were
not familiar with the recipes.
It
would be a very rare, hands-on performance from the two great chefs themselves!
And so
the date was set, and I looked forward to the meal on 10 January 2013 with the
excitement of a little schoolboy…
APPETISERS
The
first four appetisers were classics from the pre-70s era, normally served at
wedding banquets and formal functions.
The FRIED SHARK’S FIN OMELETTE (桂花翅) served that night was the Singapore version, which was markedly
different from the original version from Guangzhou. In China, eggs would make
up only 15% of the omelette, the rest being shark’s fin, bean sprout, and
Chinese ham. When fried, the Guangzhou-style omelette would look like osmanthus
flowers clinging to the shark’s fin, hence its name, 桂花翅 , meaning Osmanthus Shark’s Fin. In
Singapore, eggs made up of 75% to 80% of the dish, resulting in the richness of
the egg permeating the dish. With each bite, the diner would feel the crunch of
the shark’s fin – as I did with this wonderful dish.
COLD SALAD PRAWN (沙律明虾) is a fusion dish much influenced by the British colonial
period, where salad cream was widely used in colonial kitchens. The bottled
salad cream is usually rewhipped with sugar and a dash of citrus juice. The
huge tiger prawns are par-boiled, then soaked in icy water to stop the cooking
process, as well as to make the meat crunchy.
I loved this simple dish with its oh-so-nostalgic tastes. But sadly, it
is so hard to find a good version of it these days.
Those
who have dined at the Spring Court restaurant would find FRIED CHICKEN’S LIVER (蚧炒凤肝) familiar. Sin Leong revealed to me that the four of
them started as junior chefs at Spring Court during the 50s, before moving on
to the Cathay Restaurant. Hence, Sin Leong’s version of this dish is greatly
influenced by his apprenticeship at Spring Court – where the minced chicken
liver, chicken meat, and pork were marinated, then packed into a ball with a
salted egg yolk at its center. The ball was then deep-fried and sliced into 10
portions.
PAN-FRIED CHICKEN ROLL (煎鸡卷) was a ‘new creation’ developed by the four chefs under
the guidance of their master. The chicken meat was flattened and rolled, then
braised in a special sauce after being pan-fried to 70% doneness.
SOUP
DOUBLE-BOILED CHICKEN STUFFED
WITH BIRD’S NEST (凤吞燕)
In
classic Cantonese cooking, double-boiled soups are reserved for fine dining.
The double-boil method works well when delicate Chinese herbs and delicacies
are used. The hours of double-boiling would yield soup that is light and pure,
and that allows the original and unaltered flavours of the meat and herbs or
delicacies to come through perfectly. Tonight, Sin Leong had stuffed bird’s
nest into a deboned and gutted, but otherwise intact, chicken, that was then
double-boiled in a superior broth. It was light and packed with the essence of
chicken.
MAIN COURSES
BRAISED PORK TROTTER WITH BUNS (红烧元蹄配荷叶包)
This
deceptively simple dish takes at least one full day to prepare. The trotter
will be tied, and caramelized before braising in a special sauce for hours. Towards
the end, the sauce would have been reduced to thick gravy. The test lies in the
first bite; wherein the slight hint of sweetness titillates the taste buds,
followed by the richness of the meat and sauce. The hours of braising would also
have softened the meat fibres, resulting in pork that literally melts in the
mouth.
BRAISED DUCK STUFFED WITH LOTUS
SEEDS (八宝鸭)
This is
another classic dish of the Cantonese menu. As he cooked, Masterchef Hooi
lamented the fact that once, it was standard kitchen procedure to debone a duck
and yet retain the shape of the bird. These days, few chefs are left who are able
to perform this task well; so most restaurants now offer this dish with the
bones intact.
After
the bird is stuffed with lotus seeds, diced liver, ham and mushrooms, it will
be fried and braised for hours. There is a slight difference from the China
version as far as the timing of the braise is concerned. In China, the duck
will braise for at least eight hours, while the local version braises for around three hours. Part of the reason is that Mainland Chinese prefer their duck soft as
tofu, while we, Singaporeans, prefer a meaty bite. Nevertheless, I love both
versions as each offers a different sensation to the taste bud.
STEAMED SOON HOCK ALA TRADITIONAL
CANTONESE STYLE (古式蒸顺壳)
To
steam a fish to perfection requires skill, as fish tends to overcook in a
matter of seconds. The golden rule to gauge this perfection is to examine the
inside of the fish when it is served: there should a slight pinkish tone where
the meat lies closest to the bone.
Tonight,
the fish was done perfectly. A special sauce of superior light soy sauce, pork,
and preserved cabbage was poured on the fish once it was cooked. Before the
fish was served, it was then further baptized with a scoop of boiling lard.
BRAISED WHOLE ABALONE WITH
BROCCOLI (红烧原粒鲍鱼配西兰花)
Masterchef
Sin Leong braised the 18-head canned abalones in superior broth for hours
before thickening it with starch. Maybe I’ve been spoilt by the high standards set
by the Hong Kong chefs, but I was a bit blasé eating this version. My dining
companions, however, loved it.
CLAYPOT RICE WITH PRESERVED
SAUSAGES AND CHICKEN (腊味砂煲饭)
I
enjoyed this version very much. The rice was well cooked, with each grain coated
with the preserved sausage “oil”, without tasting like it was an overdose. The
taste of each and every ingredient came through with every bite, as Sin Leong
had replaced the heavy dark soy sauce with a light superior sauce.
DESSERT
I
typically don’t harbour high hopes for Chinese desserts in restaurants here, so
I simply opted for the herbal jelly to end my dinner, and it was decent.
This
dinner was one of the highlights of my eating life, as both Masterchefs Sin
Leong and Hooi Kok Wai successfully recreated the outstanding standards of
Chinese cooking that I remembered from the golden 60s. I was also touched to
see Masterchef Sin Leong filled with such high spirits and enthusiasm. He wore
a perpetual child-like grin the entire night, and was clearly thrilled when we
all queued up for his autograph! He was wistful when he said that the dishes he
cooked for us that night were no longer appreciated by the young, and
therefore, he hardly cooks for the public anymore.
Sin
Leong’s words left me with the fervent hope that our younger generation should pay
some heed to the classic dishes of the past, for these dishes are the
foundation that has shaped and informed the cuisines of today. In our rush to
embrace the new, we should not forget the culinary masters who came before us.
As the
saying goes: we see farther, because we stand on the shoulders of giants.
Red
Star Restaurant
54 Chin
Swee Road
#07-23
Singapore
Photography
by: Mark Ong
