a family teochew porridge place
serving simple and comforting food
cooked from the heart.

Like most kopitiam or hawker stall owners, White House Teochew Porridge was started by my father for simple reasons: to support the family and provide jobs for his siblings. As a bona-fide kampong man of earlier generations, he had modest ambition growing up. The most natural thing for him to do was to carry out his responsibilities as eldest son of the family through his lifelong passion— food. In the nineties, he dabbled in chinese seafood, fish soup and fried beehoon with probably as much business sense or knowledge of running a stall as a baby would know how to walk. He fell many times and chalked up debts, but they never deterred him from pursuing the only thing he knew how to do to the best of his abilities, “to cook, as to live is to eat well and full,” he always says.

Thankfully, things took a turn for the better. Perhaps his failed businesses were simply invaluable lessons paid to the school of life. Settling down with Teochew Muay(Teochew Porridge) in 1996, he finally chose the food he grew up eating to be the story of the rest of his life. For an uneducated man like himself, it was never about cookbooks but trial-and-error from memory of old recipes or endless conversations with suppliers and relatives. He picked out personal insights from everywhere and taught himself how to cook through taste.

We vaguely remember delivering food to relatives and friends as a family, seeking their opinions on his version of the pek dou her(steamed fish), bak chor(minced pork), kiam cai(salted vegetable), homemade fish cake and braised duck, all were classic Teochew Muay dishes. He was particular about getting his flavours right and did not let a feedback slide. I have learnt that Teochew Muay has to be of a certain level of doneness, and served just slightly below boiling temperature. Scooping porridge free hand is an art itself, as it is important to proportion the soup and rice to the right ratio. The zap(soup) from the porridge in turn creates a comfortable blandness (said to be nutritious and good for health), topped with dishes of maximised flavours. This combination has never failed to warm my heart.

Not forgetting the braised duck, a family favourite, the gravy is boiled overnight through long hours to ensure maximum taste. There are people who can simply have the porridge with the gravy on its own, myself included. Slowly, new improvisations such as pork chop, la la(oyster), curry chicken, ginger chicken, heng cai(chinese spinach) were added to the mix but he remained true to dishes that would complement the porridge. Today, with the help of a close friend, he cooks up to thirty dishes twice a day. When served, the customer is free to complement the taste with homemade peanut and chilli sauces, which he is particular about getting the balance of sourness and spiciness right.

The business started as a small kopitiam stall at the bustling Serangoon Central to Simon Road to presently Serangoon Road, my father sets off for work at 5am daily to do preparations, visit the markets to ensure he purchases the freshest lot of dishes. The key to good Teochew Muay is simple—freshness. That is also why he never reuses the cooking oil.

Once in awhile if we are lucky, and he gets a rare free moment for a family dinner, he would always chose to eat in places owned by his supplies or regular customers, just to show them his support in return, as he is grateful to theirs. He values close relationships with his suppliers, who have mostly become his friends, and in turn my non-blood related uncles, Ah Di and Ah Zui. Through him I learnt the importance of valuing relationships.

a family teochew porridge place
serving simple and comforting food
cooked from the heart.

Visit White House Teochew Porridge at 1096 Serangoon Road, Singapore