Tasty Thai Kway Chap By Restaurant Manager Turned Hawker In Bukit Batok

Think of Thai kway chap and the popular Singapore-based restaurant Yaowarat comes to mind, with its light, super peppery broth and kway ‘rolls’. But two-week-old Tasty Thai, housed in a nondescript Bukit Batok kopitiam, offers a different version of Thai kway chap. It’s Hat Yai-style, which the hawkers behind the stall say comes with a richer, soy sauce-based soup and a herbaceous hint. It also serves Thai-style pig’s trotter rice.

The stall is helmed by Kuala Lumpur-born Phang Chun Fatt, 50, and two partners (who requested not to be photographed for this story). The now-Singaporean hawker has close to three decades of F&B experience – though never in the kitchen – most recently as a restaurant manager at a Thai restaurant chain which he declines to name.

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The affable hawker first came to Singapore aged 22, where he worked in an Indonesian restaurant as a waiter for 18 years. He then spent the next seven years as a restaurant manager at the Thai restaurant before the pandemic unfolded. He was hit with a sizable pay cut during the circuit breaker period – “aiyoh, more than 30 percent,” he shares candidly.

So at the start of this year, he quit his job and opened a hawker stall in Taman Jurong Market and Food Centre selling kopi. However, he closed shop after just seven months – like many other drinks stall hawkers, the repeated bouts of dine-in restrictions this year made it “very difficult to survive”.

In the meantime, he’d been searching for a suitable venture with his current partners, whom he met at his previous job. The trio decided to open a stall selling Thai food, using recipes they got from a Thai chef pal. “Our idea was a stall selling Thai pork trotter rice as it is quite popular. But we thought it’s too common to have that dish alone,” he adds. “I thought we could improve the concept and introduce [this type of] Thai kway chap.”

As mentioned, Tasty Thai’s riff of Thai kway chap doesn’t come with the super peppery broth made popular by numerous famous stalls in Yaowarat, Bangkok’s Chinatown district – the kind that comes with rolled-up rice sheets, blanched pig’s innards and deep-fried pork belly.

Instead, this version sports a darker broth. Toppings include braised pork belly, pork skin, meatballs, deep-fried fish sausage and half a braised egg along with Thai-style rolled-up kway. It’s finished with a drizzle of lard oil and crispy fried lard bits. According to Chun Fatt’s Thai chef friend, this is a style of kway chap that’s more common in Southern Thailand, where Hat Yai sits.

The partners invested some $30K into Tasty Thai, which occupies a roomy corner in the kopitiam. Chun Fat, the only one among the trio who lacked long-term kitchen experience, jokes, “I needed to learn everything. How to cook rice, wash veggies. But it’s okay lah.” He also says that his work hours are now longer that he’s a hawker, with a minimum of 12-hour days.

“My wife is always supportive of me. Only my son says, ‘Why do you want to be a hawker? So tiring’ But I told him I’ve worked [too long] for other people. Working for yourself is better,” he reasons.

Despite having opened a few days after non-vaccinated diners were no longer allowed to dine-in at kopitiams, business has been picking up steadily. Chun Fatt attributes this to the stall’s location in the heartlands, with a lot of residents visiting often to dabao food. “HDB stable, but CBD (central business district) unstable,” he quips with a laugh.

Chun Fatt and his two partners share cooking duties at the stall. Apart from their signature Thai kway chap and braised pig’s trotter on rice, they also sell sides including braised pig’s intestines, deep-fried chicken wings and fish sausage. You can also get the pig’s trotters (from $20) or knuckles (from $10) a la carte.

The pork is simmered for at least “two hours” in a mix of light soya sauce, fish sauce and a secret mix of herbs and spices.

The result is a savoury braise that isn’t as salty or gamey as you’d usually get from eateries in Bangkok’s Chinatown. Possibly due to the relatively short braising time, it’s fairly firm (though not chewy) – not as fork-tender as we’d like. It comes with pickled mustard greens on the side specked with chunks of deep-fried lard and half a braised egg. There’s also a house-made chilli-lime dip for some kick. Not bad, but not show-stopping.

We enjoy the Thai kway chap more. Unlike Singapore-style kway chap, where offal and such are served separately, this bowl is adorned with toppings on the kway and soup. The broth comprises lor from the pig’s trotters, added to a light base of boiled pork bone stock. It’s refreshingly different from most local versions, as Tasty Thai’s broth is deliciously pork-and-herb forward and very slurpable (especially thanks to a wicked hit of lard oil).

The rolled-up kway is also suitably springy compared to the usual flat rice noodles, though some pieces unravelled even before we could eat them. Toppings include crispy fried lard bits, which add some texture against the soft braised pig’s skin, decent pork belly and forgettable factory-made meatballs. There’s also half a braised egg and slivers of fish sausage. The latter punctuates the mellow bowl with occasional bursts of funky flavour. You can sprinkle some Thai pepper flakes for a dash of heat. Pretty delish.

Think of these as slightly briny, pongier lap cheong. These preserved fish sausages are deep-fried then sliced, resulting in an elastic bite with some crunch around the edges. Compared to what we’ve had at other joints, these are a tad too rich and greasy.

A competently done bowl of clean-tasting da chang tou (pig’s rectum), prized for its substantial bouncy bite compared to, er, offal further up the digestive system. It’s cooked in the same braise as the trotters and sliced into thick, yummy rings. Our favourite side dish here.

These mid joint wings are marinated overnight and deep-fried. It’s nicely crispy on the outside and juicy enough within, with whiffs of lemongrass underscoring the marinade.

Tasty Thai’s kway chap boasts a more robust, sweeter and herb-forward soup than usual, plus sinful fixings like lard. It’s worth a try. Get a plate of those tasty chicken wings and braised pig intestines on the side, too.

Tasty Thai is at #01-246, Blk 150 Bukit Batok St 11, S650150. Open daily, 8am – 8pm. More info via Facebook.

Photos: Kelvin Chia

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