Lee Tong Kee – Famous For Ipoh Hor Fun, But Come For The Chicken

Lee Tong Kee is famous for being one of the first places to bring Ipoh hor fun to Singapore from Malaysia (it moved to Singapore in 1948).

Ipoh is a predominately Chinese city in Malaysia that is known for its Chinese food.  I remember when I lived in Singapore people used to always tell me that I needed to go to Penang and Ipoh for great food.  Unfortunately (and stupidly) I never went as I always got sidetracked going to other cities in Asia, so I’ve still never been although I’ll make it one of these days.

Anyhow, Ipoh hor fun is flat white rice noodles (he fen 河粉) that can be served in soup or a brown gravy and can have different toppings such as seafood, beef and wontons.

Lee Tong Kee is located in Chinatown and is very close to Maxwell Road Food Centre.  We actually came here after eating at Old Airport Road Food Centre and Hong Lim Food Centre (if you’ve been following my recent posts you’ll realize how gross it is that two people ate all this food in one sitting…I literally didn’t eat dinner that night and still wasn’t hungry the next morning).  Anyhow, I haven’t been here before, but I’m sure they must’ve renovated recently as the restaurant looks brand new and the décor is supposed to be old school Chinese décor, which I liked and thought was a nice touch especially in Chinatown where most places are pretty sparse in decor.  The service was fine and our server was nice (believe she was from mainland China).

Wanton Hor Fun:

The wontons were excellent, nice skins and good fresh shrimp filling.  The vegetables on top were cooked perfectly and the noodles were also cooked nicely.  The light brown sauce was light and clean tasting although it was a bit on the bland side although I always find the gravy in Ipoh hor fun to be a bit bland.  Overall, I liked it, but didn’t love it as I find Ipoh hor fun as a dish is a bit bland for me.  8/10

Lee Tong Kee Tender Chicken:

This was boiled chicken, prepared very similar to how the chicken in chicken rice is prepared with oyster sauce on top.  This was a total surprise, it was really good.  The chicken was very tender and the skin was perfect and separately nicely from the meat.  It was very flavorful and I really liked it with the oyster sauce, which gave it some extra flavor.  Surprisingly, this was as good as the chicken at Tian Tian Hainan Chicken Rice, which I had eaten the day before (I love Tian Tian).  If this was a free range chicken with a bit more chicken-y flavor this would be a 9.25 or 9.5 for me.  I would come back just for this chicken. 9/10

Overall, I enjoyed the food and would like to come back to try more when I haven’t eaten at like 7 places beforehand!

Address:
278 South Bridge Road
Singapore 058827
Phone: 6226 0417
http://www.ipohhorfun.com/