Comforting Putien Restaurant-Style Heng Hwa Lor Mee For $5.80 At Hawker Stall In Old Airport Rd Food Centre
Less than a year after opening his hawker stall Li Dou Shi (which means “eat here” in Cantonese) at Old Airport Road Food Centre, Gan Kian Tat, 45, had to take an unexpected break. “My mother, who was in remission from breast cancer, had a relapse. When her health suddenly deteriorated last year, I had to go back to Johor to take care of her,” he tells us in mandarin.
The stall, run by Kian Tat and his fellow Malaysian-born Singaporean PR wife Catherine Loh, 45, reopened this May after a four-month hiatus. It offers seafood-focused noodle dishes like Heng Hwa lor mee (one popular example is Heng Hwa restaurant chain Putien’s version) and white bee hoon as well as pao fan, with toppings like prawn, sliced fish and clam.No part of this story or photos can be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg.
Ex-head chef at Putien’s VivoCity outlet
Kian Tat worked at Putien for four years before leaving the restaurant chain in 2013. His highest accolade was serving as branch head chef at the VivoCity outlet, though the affable hawker asserts that he has no regrets trading in his chef’s whites for a humbler setting.
“I wouldn’t call it a shame. Of course I’m very grateful for my experience [at Putien], but I wanted to create something of my own and challenge myself in new ways,” he says. “The working environment in a restaurant is definitely more comfortable than a hawker stall. You’ve got to be mentally prepared [to adapt to a hawker setting]. I’ve been in this line since I was 17 – I started out washing dishes, so I’m used to hardship.”
“My ultimate goal has always been to open a food stall with my wife. I don’t mind starting from scratch again. I’m very happy to be able to work with her and I’m touched that she’s willing to support me."
Doting husband
Prior to setting up Li Dou Shi last April, Kian Tat was cooking his specialities – braised noodles, white bee hoon and pao fan – at a zi char hawker stall in Redhill that he opened with a business partner in 2018.
When he found out a stall unit at Old Airport Food Centre was available for lease last year, Kian Tat decided to give up his stake at the zi char stall to pursue his goal of setting up a food biz with his wife. He declined to elaborate on his profits from the biz, only revealing that the zi char stall was doing “pretty good” and his salary was “higher than what [he] used to get [at Putien restaurant]”.
On setting up Li Dou Shi, he adds: “It felt like the right timing. Our son is 17 years old now so we can focus more on the business.” The former chef, who is Hokkien, named the stall in his wife’s dialect (she is Cantonese). Catherine works full-time at the stall daily, taking customer orders and dealing with the financial aspect of the biz. Before opening the stall, she was a beverage service staff at Marina Bay Sands Casino. “Actually, she can cook too. I’ve trained her to make everything on the menu. A few customers have even said that her food is better than mine,” he adds proudly.
Worried about biz after hiatus
Kian Tat was unable to inform customers about the stall’s temporary closure as he wasn’t sure when he would return to Singapore. The biz also had no online presence at the time (they’ve since set up a Facebook page). “I was very anxious and worried about my mum’s health as it had worsened suddenly. I just wanted to visit her as soon as possible,” he says. Her condition has since stabilised.
The situation was compounded when Catherine’s father suffered a stroke a few months ago. In April, she returned to her hometown in Perak to take care of him for about a month. The couple dipped into their savings during the hiatus. “We were starting to get some regular customers [before the temporary closure] so we were definitely worried about business. They probably thought we were closed for good,” he says.
Since their reopening in May, the hawkers tell us business has been “slow at times”. They get about 100 orders daily and are available on delivery platforms like GrabFood and WhyQ. “I plan to add new items to the menu to try to win more customers,” says Kian Tat. “I hope that in time, more people will give us a chance and try our food.”
Prawn Lala White Lor Mee, $5.80 (8 DAYS Pick!)
Not to be confused with local lor mee, which consists of flat yellow noodles in a brown, starchy gravy with herbal notes and humbler toppings. This Heng Hwa variant – popularised by Putien restaurant – features pale wheat noodles in a fairly clear gravy with more seafood ingredients and cleaner flavours. Heng Hwa refers to the people of Putian in China's Fujian province, and their comforting cuisine uses plenty of seafood.
Li Dou Shi’s signature braised noodles are served in pork and chicken broth, slightly thickened with cornstarch, and lifted by generous, aromatic notes of fried scallion. While the soup is not as heady and umami as Putien’s version (which is loaded with premium ingredients like dried scallop), we find this homespun hawker version to be more than satisfactory – especially for a fraction of the price of the restaurant dish (which starts from $16.80 for a larger portion).
Toppings are simpler than Putien’s as well, which features shiitake, pork belly and tau pok on top of a variety of seafood. Instead, Kian Tat focuses on seafood ingredients like large sea prawns – which boasts sweet, plump meat – and clams to lend depth to the dish. The noodles are firm and springy, and the savoury, medium-bodied gravy clings to them with ease. Pair with old-school black vinegar, or the house-made Putien-style chilli dip, a tangy concoction starring fresh chilli, garlic and vinegar.
White Bee Hoon with sliced fish & lala, $5.80 (8 DAYS Pick!)
Not to be confused with Putien restaurant’s famous Heng Hwa-style bee hoon — this is local zi char-style bee hoon. But a good rendition, nonetheless. Give the vermicelli some time to soak up the broth (deployed from the same base stock used to cook the braised noodles) and you’ll be rewarded with an incredibly slurp-worthy meal. Decked out with springy slices of batang, sweet clams, crunchy Chinese cabbage and fried egg, this unfussy dish hits all the right spots.
Seafood Pao Fan, $8
The slightly cloudy broth, rendered from pork bones, chicken carcass and feet, with a tinge of sweetness from pumpkin, is not as flavourful as some of the crustacean-based pao fan soups we’ve had. Seafood toppings include succulent prawns, sliced batang and clams, and the puffed rice and fried egg floss – prepared in-house – add crunchy contrast to the soft and plump Vietnamese pearl rice. The house-made chilli sauce worked well to provide a feisty kick to the hearty dish.
Fried Noodle with Pork, $5
A new item that’s introduced after the stall’s reopening. Kian Tat cleverly fries the same chewy noodles (featured in his signature lor mee) with dark soy sauce, scallion oil and pared-back fixings of shredded pork and Chinese cabbage. The tinge of wok hei delivers added depth to an otherwise basic noodle dish.
Bottom line
We prefer the seafood noodle dishes here, especially the satisfying take on Putien restaurant-style Heng Hwa lor mee and the tasty zi char staple of white bee hoon. Both feature fresh ingredients and well-executed flavours at decent prices. Definitely worth a try.
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