A bit hard to imagine but I had this only very recently, literally, on the 1st day of February, only about three weeks ago.
Today was one of those weekend evenings where we wanted to take a bit of walk but didn't want to go anywhere else other than nearby, so, between the enclave of Joo Chiat, and the enclave of Tanjong Katong, we chose the latter.
There wasn't much in the Joo Chiat zone we wanted for dinner this evening anyway.
I can't say that I know offhand what it was we wanted to eat over there at Tanjong Katong, but to the very least there was a Punggol Nasi Lemak, a wanton noodle place, and this Heng Long Cooked Food that we had in years prior come many times before.
There're many dishes to be had when one comes here for Teochew porridge.
There're people who go straight for the steamed fish- various kinds of it, prepared different ways. They're the customers who choose either the sliced fish, or the whole fish steamed with ginger, light soy sauce and garlic (maybe).
Us however we like the variety, and so today, to go with the smooth sweet potato porridge, we got ourselves dishes up to five.
First up was a steamed egg- a dish familiar to me and my friend, a dish warm and mushy and soft and great to eat either on its own, or with the soft rice grains. Today's egg came with a single portion of otah.
What's interesting is that my friend didn't use to take the otah- he wasn't very keen with the spice- but this is one solid piece of (what I think is) Nyonya style otah, and he's since begun to appreciate this piece of mushed paste of a chili fish more.
After that came a plate of steamed pork patty. I'm not a very huge fan of the salted fish on top- tried it once and it didn't taste too good on its own- but I fancied it with the porridge when eaten together, or when dipped inside the water.
There was a plate of stewed, or braised chicken.
This is a familiar dish- I used to have it when my grandparents cooked it for our family dinner- and I continue to like the dish still, although, like always I'm nervous of the small bones that sometimes get chopped up in between.
And then finally there was the stewed brinjal.
Actually I've no idea whether this brinjal is shallow fried or stewed, but it comes nicely oiled with a sweet, savory kind of gravy that is thick and smooth both at the same time.
What I like best about this brinjal (or is it eggplant) is that it comes with a most lovely chew that doesn't collapse in your mouth, yet is not so hard that it makes eating the vegetable uncomfortable.
That's quality.
Some places I've been to either give me a brinjal that is so soft I'm literally eating only the skin, or not otherwise, so hard that I wonder if it has been cooked at all.
There're many more dishes here at Heng Long that one will find attractive, never mind whether you eat it with porridge or rice.
In a very odd way, it makes me think of other places too, like Thomson Road near Thomson Plaza, like Kovan near the Teochew enclave, and like North Bridge Road right at the junction of Jalan Sultan.
