Eating at Fat Aunty 肥姨

Deep in a nondescript lane in Buji, a sleepy neighbourhood in Shenzhen, is a Teochew porridge store that has become the favourite among the Netizens.

Buji Changlong Food Street 布吉长龙美食街 is a place that needs to arrive late; it is the first stop for nearby workers after work. If you come too early, it’s just an ordinary old street, but after 6 p.m., the empty street turned into a late-night food street full of fireworks. And in of the off-beat lane is 肥姨番薯粥, which literally mean “Fat Aunty Sweet Potato Porridge“. This is the go-to place for that late night Teochew porridge.

Teochew porridge 潮州糜, my comfort food, has been referred to as 打冷 “Da Lang” in Cantonese. It all originated from Shantou 汕头 where a lot of our forefathers came from. 打冷 “Da Lang” is not a Chaoshan concept or Teochew. In fact, it was believed to be “Made in Hong Kong. “Da Lang” sounded like “打 Round” which is Cantonese colloquial for asking around. The typical “da lang” restaurant would have a long table with all the cooked items laid out in their glories and you can choose whatever you want. You are spoiled for choices.

清蒸熟蟹 Cold Crabs

We started with cold crab, the quintessential Teochew porridge dish. The crab used were swimmer crabs which the Teochew called “Tsim” 蟳. The shell is softer than the mud crab, and meat is fluffier and no less sweet than the brown cousins. They all came with “Gor” 膏 which is the sexual organs of the crab.

那哥 Bombay Duck

Teochew children never lack fish to eat. Fish is a stable in our diet that we used to refer to this style of cooking fish as “fish rice” 魚飯. “Di Zai” 迪仔, “Balang” 巴郎 and “Na Ge” 那哥 are mediocre and common fish that are used to make fish rice, because we cannot filet them for meat (very boney and small). Usually bombay ducks 那哥魚 are used to make Teochew fish balls. To eat this fish, you will need their help to remove the scales and skin, and then you have to work through the bones. But the return would be the sweet flesh of the fish.

卤水双拼 (粉肠/五花肉) Teochew Braised Pork Small Intestine and Pork Belly

Every Teochew family has that pot of braising liquid that is used to continue the flavour in a new pot. The braise can be used for anything, and the results are usually quite spectacular. The pork belly melted in the mouth and the small intestine was quite good.

墨鱼丸拼果肉 Squid Ball and Teochew Meat Roll

Like the raw marinade, you can mix and match the different deep fried fish cakes. We ordered our favourites 墨魚丸 squid ball and 裹肉 rolled pork (the local version of ngoh hiang).

春菜 Stewed Chinese Mustard

春菜 Chinese mustard is a native vegetable of Chaoshan area and tasted like kale. It can be quite bitter and cooked the best as a stew. 春菜煲 Chinese mustard stew is one of the available cooked vegetables from the rows of cooked food, and a favourite among porridge lover.

白灼花螺 Boiled Sea Whelks

The next dish up is a supper favourite because it has no fats and almost no calories. You take a bamboo skewer and pick out the tiny morsels of flesh from the sea whelk 海螺. The mollusc had no taste but borrowed the taste from the fish sauce and fermented bean dip.

血蚶拼虾 Marinated Raw Cockles and Prawns

I liked the fact they allow you to mix and match the raw marinade 生醃 instead of having to order a whole portion of different types of seafood. Very fresh, but not marinated long enough. The flavours have not gone into the prawns.

Called the Teochew “poison”, the occurrence of food poisoning these days have greatly reduced with modern logistics and refrigeration. Still you get a 35% chance of a bad tummy. I was fine after tonight even though the hygiene of the store was questionable.

蚝烙 Oyster Pancake

Fresh fat briny oysters encased in an omelette that had the ultimate balance of soft gluey-ness and crisp (from the incorporated potato/tapioca starch), they were quite generous with the amount of oysters.

普寧豆腐 Puning Deep Fried Tofu

普寧豆腐 Puning Tofu is another classic tofu dish not available in Singapore. Served with a salt water with chives dip, the slightly smokey tofu is deep fried until the external skin is crispy and tasty. The texture is smooth and soft, with a slight alkaline taste.

番薯粥 Sweet Potato Porridge

And to wash down all those food, the humble bowl of sweet potato porridge.

Opened 28 years ago (1995) in the Teochew enclave of Buji during the beginning of Shenzhen miracle, she catered to hardworking fellow Teochew countrymen who came to Shenzhen to seek their fortune and yearning for a home-cooked meal. I did not see the fat aunty at the store that evening, but they have done very well over the years. It expanded from a few tables along the lane, to three air-conditioned shops along the lane.

The food is still prepared along the lane, so if you are skirmish about the hygiene, this is not the place. The price is working class, so you can enjoy a great meal without burning a hole in your wallet. And the choices available is the best in Shenzhen.

Feiyi Teochew Porridge 肥姨蕃薯粥
龙岗区布吉街道长龙社区河西四巷1号一号楼
Tel : +86 13265550079

Visited Aug 2023