Malaysia
Singapore
Thailand
Fatt Kee in Albert Centre Market & Food Centre is a no-frills hawker stall peddling light breakfast food such as chee cheong fun and carrot cake.
When I first stumbled upon the stall, I was quite intrigued by the steady queue forming in front of the stall. My Singaporean sensibilities kicked in and I thought, “If there is a queue, it must be good, right?”
When it was time to place my order, I was delighted to find out that Fatt Kee was still charmingly old school. The uncle at the stall uses a pair of shiny metal scissors to cut up the silky sheets of chee cheong fun and in the corner was a giant pot of congee sitting above a charcoal fire.
There are two main types of chee cheong fun you can order, depending on your preference.
The Hong Kong-style chee cheong fun is usually filled with char siew or prawns then doused with a thin soy sauce. For the Singapore-style chee cheong fun, the layers are usually a little thicker and it’s served with a dark sweet sauce and/or chilli.
Either way, chee cheong fun makes for a light and tasty breakfast.
Given Fatt Kee’s lean menu, I think I ordered practically everything. We’ll start with their Chee Cheong Fun which came up to a very affordable S$1 for a plate.
Fatt Kee is quite flexible with their Chee Cheong Fun; customers before me opted for theirs drizzled with soy sauce and oil. Their usual came with a spoonful of sweet red sauce and a sprinkling of sesame seeds.
While the Chee Cheong Fun was rather brusquely cut, each fold was well-seasoned and delicious. The sweet sauce balanced the savoury flavours. Not the silkiest I’ve had, but somehow that worked to its advantage and I quite enjoyed it.
Another breakfast item you can’t miss has to be Yam Cake (S$1). Again, Fatt Kee was all about efficiency and this cake was also cut up with those shiny scissors and drizzled with the same sweet sauce.
Yam cake is a personal favourite of mine that’s usually found on a dim sum menu, and they make an excellent addition to any meal. There are a number of variations of yam cake; some places make it with lap cheong (Chinese sausage) or mushrooms.
Similar to their Chee Cheong Fun, Fatt Kee’s yam cake was as simple and rustic as you can get. While its presentation was certainly not Fatt Kee’s forte, they definitely did not compromise on taste. The Yam Cake was soft and smooth and the portion was good for one person.
When it comes to breakfast, there is nothing more comforting or quintessential than congee. Breakfast just isn’t the same without it. Remembering that giant bowl of congee boiling away at the corner, I simply had to give their Peanut Porridge (S$1) a try.
The congee was not as smooth as I would have liked, but it reminded me of the congee my grandmother used to make. While I enjoyed it, overall it was nothing to shout about.
To round out my entire meal, I ordered a plate of Fried Noodles (S$1). It’s probably the most disappointing item out of all the dishes at Fatt Kee. The noodles were a tad dry and tasted bland, so I suggest you skip this one.
Suffice to say, Singaporeans are usually never wrong when there is a queue. I relished the homely and simple meal that I had at Fatt Kee. All their dishes are inexpensive and some of them certainly hit the spot on hungry mornings.
Fatt Kee gave me a glimpse into what our hawker culture looked like in the ’90s. It was heartwarming and nostalgic, to say the least. If you would like to experience a little old-school magic, Fatt Kee is the place to be.
Expected Damage: S$1 – S$4 per pax
