The Expat Aussie Bogan: DanDan

Sin Hoi Sai Eating House on East Coast Road (not to be confused with it’s cousin Sin Hoi Sai Seafood Restaurant which is located in Tiong Bahru), is a typical Tze Char 煮炒 style restaurant and is not exactly a “hidden gem”.

However, one of their secret menu items absolutely is a hidden gem. The red wine pork ribs! These are so delectably tender you can cut them with a spoon! They also do not appear on the standard menu’s at Sin Hoi Sai – though they do appear on their banner hanging on the back wall.

These mouth-watering fall-off-the-bone ribs are easily the tastiest and most luxurious thing on the menu (and probably the most expensive) – and they come in 3 sizes – small, medium & large (the video and image both show the large portion of the ribs).

Being a Katong local, living in close proximity to Joo Chiat Road I tend to visit Sin Hoi Sai several times a year – usually when visitors are in town or as a treat because it can be spendy-per-pax when compared to other local fare in the area – especially if you choose the better dishes and larger portion sizes.

Aside from the above stunning ribs dish I’d recommend sticking to what Sin Hoi Sai is known for if you want some additional food to try. The Grilled Baby Kailan, Sambal Stingray & Marmite Chicken are all must tries – and are better washed down with an ice cold long neck of Heineken or Tiger.

You may be tempted to smash up the Guinness Pork Ribs but once you’ve had the red wine variety, these aren’t nearly as spectacular so I’d suggested skipping these.

WLE! Is damn good laksa lah!

Multiple local people have recommended this Nyonya Peranakan laksa to me, as the best in the East, and after visiting here I can see why. They’ve also told me that the other chain-variety in this area is “over-rated”, “not as good as it was” and the never good to have “oily” – despite the one-and-only Gordon Ramsay spruiking it!

This soup-spoon laksa is souper satisfying all the way to the final slurp! They kindly add the chili down the side, so you can control the spice to your hearts content (I pushed the whole lot in and mixed it up). The 2 times I’ve had this lately were both post training, so I was already dripping before I started eating, so you can imagine what I looked like with the sambal sweats!

There isn’t much else to say except it’s absolutely delicious with thick juicy prawns, slurpy noodles & that amazing creamy coconut broth that defeats chopsticks!

This is an easy 5-out-of-5 stars – 100% recommended, I now do training just so I can come here to eat guilt-free.

P.S. You can get cockles, but I believe you have to ask for them – I usually include them as they add a sweet burst of flavour to your broth, and cut through the richness.