Ngo Hiang | Ziggy

Ngo hiang, which means "five spice" is is used to describe the food item that is a wrapped roll, with minced pork as main ingredients along with spices. It is not chilli spicy, but savoury. Besides minced pork, there are fish, prawns and pork liver ngo hiang's too.

A typical ngo hiang stall would offer a variety of other items. Items that are found typically ONLY in ngo hiang stalls would be the sausage, a sausage with red wrap. The other item would be the egg slice (some call it pumpkin slice, some may be water chestnut), the main ingredient would be, well, egg, and it can easily be identified as the egg slab on display. Another common item would be the prawn cracker, a crispy batter with shrimps on it.

Besides the above four, the other items like meat or fish balls, century egg, fish fillet, doufu, are usually available, these are often available in other types of stalls, not uniquely in a ngo hiang stall. Although the century egg is available elsewhere, especially in porridge, it is quite uniquely sold as an item for selection in ngo hiang stalls too.

Some serve ngo hiang with fried white noodles or bee hoon, there are some that do not offer any carbo. Ngo hiang is also always served with a small bowl of sweet sauce and chilli sauce.

Ngo Hiang

Sep 2020

One of, if not, the best in town!

There are 2 stalls with similar signboards at Maxwell selling Ngo Hiang, with fried bee hoon. Rumour has it that they were master and student (current owner's father was the other stall's shifu)… they also sell pretty similar stuffs. We used to frequent Hup Kee but stopped when the boss moved office from nearby Tanjong Pagar.

Hup Kee has a longstanding history of a hundred years (give or take a few years la…), dating back to the pre-war days. The current owner’s grandfather started it around the China Town area as a street hawker. They then had a stall in a coffee shop in China Street, where the current Far East Square is.

To the uninitiated, ngo hiang, or meat rolls, and others on offer, can look like an adventure. I stayed away from them as a youngster and would not have tried any item on offer, but was forced, by a bunch of girls no less, to first try the century egg. Plastic bag at the ready to spit it out, I was surprised how delicious it was. That gave me the courage to try the rest and I have been a fan since. Just to find out that it is quite important to identify a good ngo hiang stall to appreciate it! 😄😎

There is not a huge variety on offer at Hup Kee, just the 12-13. All are freshly prepared each day, each item delicious.

My personal favourites are:

1. the ngo hiang

2. the egg slice

3. the sausage

4. the prawn roll and

5. the fish fillet.

The ngo hiang or pork roll here is deliciously deep fried, the skin's roll fresh, as well the ingredients within. I had always imagined this to contain strange flavours but they don't taste much different from a sausage. The prawn rolls obviously contain prawns instead or meat, tastes slightly different in terms of flavour and nice in a different way. Liver rolls would suit those who like the taste of livers, slightly more intense, the fresh ingredients here makes this pretty good too.

The egg slice is a wonder. Not many can do this well, Hup Kee does it very well. Deep fried to have an outer crisp, the egg mixture body provides a delicious soft texture, it has a beautiful savoury sweet taste. The sausage, with an inedible red look, is another that tastes better than it looks. The ones here at Hup Kee has meat inside that looks more like real meat than the bratwurst. Well worth a try.

Fish fillet is a personal favourite. They are usually factory made. Hup Kee fries them fresh and the ones here has a fresh feel, crispy bread crumb like skin and a good nice fish flavour within.

clockwise from top right: Ngo Hiang, sausage and egg slice

Bean curd and century eggs here are good too, when freshly made, they are. Procured well, these 2 are items I'd order every now and then too.

The chilli here is mild, as well the sweet sauce. I’m a sucker for sauces, but those for ngo hiang I feel does not add much extra to it. So if none are offered, I will not be bothered to go back to the stall to ask for it. They do blend and add a little something to the food, but somehow, it’s not something I’ll miss.

When you’re next in Maxwell Food Centre, give this centurion stall a try! You won’t regret it! You may not get to taste it anymore should the owner retire!

Left : Prawn roll; Right : Fish Fillet

Hup Kee

1 Kadayanallur Street, #01-97 Maxwell Food Centre, s069184

1130am – 630pm, closed on Wed

https://www.facebook.com/HupKeeWuXiangGuanChang/

LZZ

Ngo hiang

Jan 2021

THE ngo hiang stall in Singapore. This place is the one that most people will mention when you ask them for the best ngo hiang stall.

I have heard of this famous five spice or ngo hiang place for the last 20 years but have yet to visit. Then I had a small gathering at my place, friend who brought that was the first to arrive and suggested I open up the packet to let it air, I knew this was something special the moment I saw the food.

Curiously, he asked me to try the bean curd. Ya, I thought he was just saving the best for himself and trying to prank me to eat the most unimaginative item; but I duly obliged, and he gave me the “good right?” smile, I just nodded in amazement. The bean curd had a special texture, fried just right so that the whole piece was not too soft, and there was a soy fragrance to it. The outer layer was not too hard or crispy, just enough texture to help enjoy the rest as it collapsed under my bite. Dip it in some of their chili sauce and it was perfect. I couldn’t wait to eat the rest, when were the rest coming??

I had to visit this place and see what it’s like, and try the food fresh, even though thetakeaway remained warm. This stall started previously in front of the Tong Chai Medical Hall and moved here. A few items here are quite exceptional, some may like certain items from another place but every item is of exceptional quality.

Fried bean curd

The ngo hiang (brown) and prawn rolls (orange) had quite a bit of water chestnut in it, the ngo hiang had a fair amount of yam in it too. The water chestnut gave these a nice crunchy texture. Taste wise the prawn roll lacked the more umami or meaty feel but it had a different nice. If I had to choose between them to order, I’d go for the prawn which has a more vibrant taste.

Ngo hiang roll

Prawn roll

What everyone clamoured for that evening was the egg slice. This item is ever present in all good ngo hiang stalls, it is like a test to see who does it better. I have seen different names for it, one place calls it the pumpkin roll; here, it’s water chestnut egg; another place, the owner just shrugged and said “egg slice”. Deep fried to give it some charcoal crisp, the ones here were brilliant. Mildly sweet, crispy on the outside and soft inside with a delicious bite.

The prawn crackers were also nicely fried and very crispy, with a nice good thickness. It was thick enough that it didn’t crumble as you try to break it into smaller pieces, so you might want to consider using your hands and eat it like a burger! There were another 2 fried prawn item, prawn fried with egg or bean curd (bottom left in the left photo below is the prawn fried with egg). Both had a light batter and were decent but if there were too many items to order, I’d skip these…

I’m a big fan of the octopus fillet and the ones here were well done. The century egg was ok, not the best I’ve tasted but some of my friends claimed otherwise. The yolk was a bit too creamy and powdery for me. Look at the octopuses being readied, they were very well prepared. Soft and tasty, you might not be able to stop eating this once you start.

I'd like to be

Under the sea

In an octopus's garden

Finally, the sausage. I learnt to eat this item at another place, it was so good there that I would order this whenever I eat ngo hiang, only to realise not everyone does it well. The friend who brought me to the other place said she would not eat the sausage and the century egg anywhere else, so I learnt to be discreet when ordering these.

The sausage here, however, is one I’d say tops the original. It was filled with tasty meat, usually we get more of the red gelatin than meat, and when it’s not well produced, it can taste quite horrible. The ones here were well prepared and meaty, it was absolutely brilliant. I have yet to see a ngo hiang sausage with this thickness of meat, meat usually fills only 60-70% of the sausage roll, the ones here went into the high 80%. Bestest.

Almost forgot the chilli sauce. Most ngo hiang places gives you chilli and sweet sauce, with the sweet sauce being reddish in colour, and mostly tasteless to me as they’re not really sweet, and the chilli more bland than tasty. LZZ only provides chilli sauce and it packed a punch. It was quite spicy, let you know it was there but not over bearing, complimented the food very well.

Lao Zhong Zhong Five Spice @ Lao Zhong Zhong Eating House

29 Thai Thong Crescent, s347858

10am – 11pm, closed on Mon

East Coast

Ngo Hiang

July2021/2023 Apr update below

Ngo hiang stall that was independent from the prawn noodle, looks like it has been taken over by Beach Road Prawn Noodle. Tastes remain excellent!

At first, people would order some ngo hiang here to kill time while waiting for the prawn noodles as the work flow then was slow; this improved and it became the ngo hiang arrived after you finish your noodles. Its popularity was such that people were willing to wait for it, and for me, it was the highlight instead of the prawn noodles! It was operated separately then by a couple, now, looks like it has been bought over by Beach Road Prawn Noodles, efficiency improved and we are back to ngo hiang arriving first….

*Apr 2023 update: after a recent visit, I find that the ngo hiang here was very different from before, it was very disappointing and I'm afraid I don't share the views anymore

(Prawn Mee) Beach Road Prawn Noodle - Ngo Hiang3.jpg

Quality remains exactly the same, the century egg remains one of the better ones in town, its ngo hiang (both pork and prawn) are also marvellous; their prawn crackers as well. Their pumpkin slice (or egg slice), another item I learned to like from here, remains exceptional and one of the better ones in town with a crisply fried surface and tender delicious cake within, the fish fillet deserves a mention too.

Ngo hiang and prawn roll

The excellent century egg

There is another item that I learned to eat here, the wuxiang sausage, this led me to try, and since love, the Chinese sausage. The sausage is clean and fresh, meat within tender yet dry and not mushy. It’s not easy to make, they don’t just make this, they excelled at this.

For years this has been my favourite, so much so that I come here for the ngo hiang instead of the prawn noodles. If you’re here, give all my first loves a try!

(Prawn Mee) Beach Road Prawn Noodle - Ngo Hiang9.jpg

(Prawn Mee) Beach Road Prawn Noodle - Ngo Hiang5.jpg

Pumpkin Egg Slice

(Prawn Mee) Beach Road Prawn Noodle - Ngo Hiang7.jpg

Sausage roll

(Prawn Mee) Beach Road Prawn Noodle - Ngo Hiang10.jpg

Pumpkin Egg Slice now, see the difference in colour and texture?

*Apr 2023 update: after a recent visit, I find that the ngo hiang here was very different from before, it was very disappointing and I'm afraid I don't share the views anymore

Beach Road Prawn Noodle House

370/372 East Coast Road. S428981

7am – 4pm, closed on Tues

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Beach%20Road%20Prawn%20Mee/163265687039119/