Wong Chiew @ Sembawang

I was craving for roast duck for lunch during lockdown and my favourite in the North does not open before noon. Unfortunately we have an appointment downtown so we have to settle with another.

Wong Chiew Restaurant serves both localised Chinese and Singaporean cuisines. Located at the corner coffeeshop just off Seletar Air Base, it is 24-hours coffeeshop that serves a variety of tzechar, Hong Kong style noodles and roasts, Cantonese dim sum and other local favourites like wanton noodles, and a supper favourite for many of us.

Bucket chicken (one whole chicken) came with a really nice ginger sauce, but didn’t quite like the way they cut the chicken that made it hard to eat with the bones and all. And the chicken was overcooked. Nevertheless the ginger sauce saved the day.

The char siew and roasted pork was kinda disappointing. I had their char siew noodles before, it came with charred fatty char siew that was so sinfully good. But this time, it was dry. Maybe I have not specifically asked for the fatty char siew. But the roasted pork belly was a total fail.

For the dish I came specifically for, the roasted duck was succulent and nice. I wished the skin was more crispy, but it was a very good attempt. What really was the highlight was the sticky, savoury, sweet sauce that came with the roast duck, went very well with plain steamed rice.  Also it was not expensive.

They are also a tzechar store so you can get the favourite sambal kangkong along the way too.

And they have many choices of rice – plain, yam and the Hainanese chicken rice.

For supper, I used to come here for their wanton noodles. The prawn dumpling soup was also very good.

And for each of the dish, there’s a corresponding condiment – chicken rice chilli was tangy and not too spicy, the roast duck chilli has a good kick to it.

OK, this is not exactly some place that you would make a detour to specially go and have a meal. The price is reasonable, the food is just passable. The service is haphazard and often lean towards horrible, especially if you go at busy time. But the place has been around for a very long time. Since I was an army boy, this place has been around. And then, this is one of the few places in Singapore where you can get food 24-hours a day and there’s plenty of parking (used to). Now, the stalls in the coffeeshop have all been merged into a single operation. The charm of the old place was gone, but you get a good supper place in the North.

Wong Chiew Restaurant
19 Sembawang Rd, Singapore 779075
Tel : 6456 6838

Date of Visit : May 2020