Reliable zi char cooking at the newly revamped Kok Sen

RESTAURANT REVAMP

Kok Sen Restaurant 4 Keong Saik Road Singapore 089110 Tel: 6223-2005 Open for lunch and dinner Tues to Sun: 12pm to 2:15pm; 5pm to 9:15pm. Closed on Mon.

IF you’re looking for an analogy about ageing and being relevant in a fast-changing world, look no further than Kok Sen. It’s so old, if it were a person it would have outlived its CPF retirement account and be arguing with the Grim Reaper: “I don’t even know who I am anymore, so technically I’m not the person you’re looking for.”

But even after three generations – spent mainly in a rundown coffee shop in Keong Saik Road dishing out gutsy, old-school zi char fare - Kok Sen is reinventing itself with new, spruced-up surroundings further down the road. It’s bigger, cleaner and so bright you can check your own x-rays by holding them up to the fluorescent light.

It’s pretty snazzy by kopitiam standards – bright green plastic chairs, light wood laminate screens and cabinetry, slate tiles, soft grey walls with pictures on them. Yes, it looks like Interior Decor 101 - the budget version – but it’s still a far sight more comfortable than the old place. Also, with a QR code menu option and dedicated food delivery counter, Kok Sen is good to go for the next generation or so.

Purists may lament the lack of heritage charm, but for people who just want to eat – and there are still plenty of them filling up the place fast – the real question is whether the food is still worth its hype.

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Conclusions will vary, but Kok Sen’s main appeal is its reminder of how we used to eat out. Kitchens that cook everything under the sun. Family-sized portions. None of that dainty starters, composed plating, progressive Asian schtick. Nothing by way of service, either. Which explains why our order-taker (we’re hard put to call him a server) recoils like we demanded his bank account number when we ask for recommendations. 

He reels them off like we should already know: big prawn hor fun, prawn paste chicken, yong tau foo, pork ribs and bitter gourd - everything that a big fire, oil, sauce and wok hei can make taste good.

Big prawn hor fun (from S$19) is a fire engine red bowl of nostalgia. A whiff of wok hei reveals a cluster of smoky, lightly-charred kway teow submerged in a brothy, gravy rich with orangey tomalley and the fleshy prawns it came from. The first few mouthfuls are the best as slurpable noodles hug the intense, velvety sauce that gets even more heft from barely cooked eggs stirred in at the last moment.

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It starts to get cloying halfway through, so intersperse it with bites of very good prawn paste chicken (from S$15). We get juicy mid-wings that have been fully indoctrinated into the way of fermented shrimp paste, releasing savoury, delicate funkiness with every crisp-skinned bite. A vinegary chilli and garlic dip gives it extra kick.

Claypot yong tau foo (from S$15) is of Hakka persuasion – pieces of tofu, eggplant and chillies stuffed with a homemade fish and prawn paste, deep-fried and served still sizzling in gravy. There’s no oil shortage where the cook is concerned, from the layer of oil on top of the gravy, and the amount used to deep fry the yong tau foo. If you ever run out of petrol while carrying a takeaway portion of this home, at least you have a contingency plan. Otherwise, the yong tau foo pieces are tasty enough, packed with plump bouncy filling.

Bitter gourd pork ribs (from S$15) are homey, a rustic braise of bite-sized ribs and bitter vegetables in a black bean sauce. It’s nothing to shout about but if you bring home any leftovers, they do develop more depth the next day.

Even if the flavours aren’t refined, the kitchen is clearly led by experience, and any lapses are likely to be from sloppiness or cutting corners rather than poor cooking skill. You see that in the beautifully deep-fried pomfret (S$72) – with the requisite crisp-crackling edges and meaty flesh, slathered in a sweet, salty and tangy sambal of dried shrimp, tomato, onions and chilli. It tastes almost like seafood mee goreng without the noodles – but even better with the fish.

Whichever way the food scene goes, Kok Sen is one of those places that keeps your palate grounded whatever trends come your way. With its new digs and modern approach, it does seem to be moving forward but at heart, its food will never get old.

Rating: 6.5