Address: 65 Chulia Street #05-02 OCBC Centre, Singapore 049513
Tel: 6533 7708 / 6533 2818

My grandmother had been on a spending spree lately and giving treats to her family. Her favourite activity would be to gather her brood and go for a dining session.

And our family being Hokkiens, naturally decided on a Hokkien restaurant. My auntie had named Been Thin Hoon Kee Resturant as a suitable place. She had recalled that the place served truly authentic Hokkien food. I didn’t know if that was a good thing. When I was young, I remember Hokkien food that was served up to me as being salty, fatty or fried. It might have appealed to me then because of the savoury nature of the food. But now, with my even expanding waistline and a slight concern of my well-being (damn…i sound like a fruit), I did not feel as enthusiastic as I should have.

Beg Thin Hoon Kee Restaurant is located at the top floor of the OCBC Centre carpark. The facade looked like a temple. It was quite an impressive sight.

We started with the Fish Maw Soup. I had wanted to compliment my family on the choice of this item over the more indefensible choice of Shark Fin’s Soup. But I stopped because I did not want to appear like a pussy espousing the virtues of caring for the earth and the importance of being conscious of the environment - topics that would be totally alien to my parent’s generation. And seriously, the Fish Maw Soup did not taste all that different from Shark Fin’s Soup.

Any self-respecting Hokkien would also know that a signature dish of the dialect group would be its Gor Hiong (or 5 Spices Meat & Shrimp Roll). The dish we ordered was supposed to be that but it did not look like it. That set off a huge amount of chatter between my grandma, mother and auntie (ok…more like shouting…Hokkien people have a tendency to fill up any pockets of peace and quiet with their voice). Comments on the fact things are changing and that even old restaurants have to adapt, and progressing to the actual ingredients of the Gor Hiong. It was exciting stuff if you were a Hokkien female in your 50s - 80s. (later a waiter would inform us that we had not actually ordered Gor Hiong but had ordered some new-faggled new creation of shrimp roll…this created a whole new wave of conversation).

Next up was the Oyster Omelette. When young, I loved Oyster Omelette. But what really frustrated my parents then was that I would only eat the Omelette and pointedly avoid the oyster. You would be able to sense their bewilderment at the waste of the precious oysters. At that time, my dad may have had suspicions that I may not be his first-born. No first born of his could have refused oysters (plus I had displayed my unwillingness to try Durian at that time too…). The Oyster Omelette here was mostly fried egg that was drenched with plenty of oil. That suited me just fine. = )

Braised Chicken was then served. Mushy stuff favoured by the older generations. The flesh was soft and melted in your mouth. I was not a fan of it. The taste sensations I like can be described by the terms “fried”, “crunchy”, “salty”, “not sweet”.

Vegetable. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Mee Swa (thin, clear noodles) came next. This dish did not gather kind remarks from the older folks at the table. “bland”, “quality not as good”, “the cook must have retired” were thrown about.

These unkind remarks extended to the Oh You Bao (Fatty Pork Buns) that was supposed to the highlight of our meal. I felt the fatty pork was too sweet and not fatty enough. I said as much and informed the table that my mum’s and grandma’s own Oh You Bao were much superior to that served by the restaurant. I knew that that I had scored major brownie points . = )

My mum and grandma were now into excited talking mode. They threw up various theories of why their creations were much better. “we only used local pork!” “the pork here is from an ang mo (caucasian) country!” “you can only use asian pork for hokkien dishes!”

Or day concluded with the dessert of Orh Nee. Tapioca, yam and plenty of oil.

All in, it was a typical Hokkien meal (bill came up to around S$200++). Ingredients being: fats, fried stuff & noise. I enjoyed it. Now really for the food but more for the family togetherness thingie (damn…i am getting soft and sentimental).