Kok Sen Restaurant Revisited @ Keong Siak Road

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Keong Siak Road is every foodie and photographer's dream, after sun down the street comes alive, literally. It always bewilders me how the present and past can coexist in a single street and still have mass appeal.

By day Kok Sen is the budget lunch corner for office workers who'd brave the merciless heat for a pocket friendly yet filling lunch. By night, this morphs into a completely different animal - louder, brasher and characteristic of a chinatown hawker. I mean I cannot imagine in my wildest dreams having a flawless service encounter in an old restaurant, it's almost...unbelievable.

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We get allocated a table all the way next to the kitchen, even with the dust cluttered fan blades whirling, the heat still got to us. This is a result of advance bookings and on a popular celebratory date known as Mother's Day.

I love how there is no fuss at these eating houses - none of the appetizer nonsense that gets ignored anyway. It's just plastic chopsticks and a stack of wet tissues.

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Poached Chinese Spinach with Assorted Eggs ($14)

A watery poached version that was missing out on some wok hei yet still a table favourite. It could just be the broth that makes eating with rice very wholesome.

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Moonlight Hor Fun

Off the menu, this version is available if you ask nicely.

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Stir fried rice noodles with pork, prawns, generous dashes of dark sauce and a single raw egg cracked on top for tossing. Nothing fancy or gimmicky but the tossing in of raw egg does make this a slurp-pery treat. Chilli padi is the key then for a fiery oral experience.

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Stir Fried Beef and Bitter Gourd 

Heavy handed with oil, bitter bitter gourd slices meet sinewy beef slices. Not my favouritest zichar dish to order somehow.

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HK Style Steam Fish Tail ($45)


Steamed fish with greens, a dish that adorns most dinner tables and mine too. The fish lovers relished every drop of this HK Style steamed fish, I just felt I have had better elsewhere.

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Prawn Paste Chicken ($12)

Seen at every table, this fried chicken dish is one hot favourite. Coated with a prawn paste batter, chicken pieces are deep fried and served piping hot. Reckon this is a hit and miss, the last visit saw this reeking of stale chicken.

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Pork and Crab Meat Rolls ($8)

Last dish to order yet it was the first to arrive. How strange their ordering system is.

More like bouncy squid balls than pork and crabmeat rolls.

Another meh-diocre visit in my opinion. Expect lots of crowds and a heat to beat in our weather these days.


Kok Sen Restaurant
30 Keong Siak Road

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