Update: This cafe has ceased operations w.e.f. October 2016.
I must admit, I’m now an addict. Hopelessly addicted to anything salted egg, lol. What used to be something that my ah gong or ah ma would pair with plain rice congee is now a nationwide sensation. How incredible.
I used to patronise Irvin’s Live Seafood House that was just next door to LeBan HK Cafe but since it had ceased operation in 2014, I hadn’t come back to this area for a long time. Their salted egg crabs, salted egg salmon skin and salted egg potato chips were da bomb! Good news is, we can still buy their salted egg fish skins and salted egg potato chips from LeBan HK Cafe or their pop up stores in town (Raffles Xchange) and/or around Singapore. Shall touch more on this in a separate post shortly.
LeBan HK Cafe is like the typical Hong Kong char chan teng (茶餐厅) that serves up crispy butter bun with condensed milk, prawn wanton noodle soup, fried rice and also Asian-influenced dishes like ayam penyet and spicy Korean noodles.
We ordered the Salted Egg Fries (S$6.80) to share. While the french fries were the usual ones out of a frozen pack, the salted egg sauce was the true hero of the dish. Rich, creamy, fragrant and absolutely delicious. With a tasty sauce like this, I didn’t even mind the soggy fries. I just wished they would add more curry leaves to give it a more aromatic punch.
This was the Ayam Bakar (S$8.00) – Indonesian-style grilled chicken with rice. Portion was huge…
…as a whole big chicken leg was given. The chicken might be a bit tough (probably pre-cooked that’s why) to cut into but the meat inside was still quite moist and the marinating sauce was tasty too. The curry gravy that was doused over the rice was flavoursome as well. I enjoyed the combination of the flavours and for the price, I thought this was quite value-for-money.
The Pork Chop Baked Rice with Creamy Sauce (S$9.20) took quite a long time to be served up. At first glance, I felt it really needed an extra minute under the broiler because the cheese crust was just too pale.
The pork chop (with bone-in) was quite thick but tender. Overall, this was just a regular creamy and cheesy baked rice, nothing spectacular. I would suggest sharing this even though the portion wasn’t huge as it could get quite sickly after a few mouthfuls. This baked rice is also available in tomato sauce if cream sauce is not your cup of tea.
For drinks, I would recommend the Ice Yuen Yeung (S$3) which was a blend of coffee, tea & milk and the Ice Hong Kong Milk Tea (S$2.80), both of which were smooth, rich and not overly sweet.
Overall, the food here was decent and prices were reasonable too as there were no GST and service charge. I wouldn’t mind coming back for their salted egg chicken wings and salted egg baked rice with chicken chop next time.
LeBan HK Cafe
2 Jalan Leban
Singapore 577547
Tel: +65 6257 8801
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LeBan-HK-Cafe-220045641447372
Opening hours: 5.00pm to 2.00am (Tue-Sun)