PORK CHOP NIRVANA

I love pork, especially pork chops. I love my meats in general, but there is something about the taste of pork that calls out to me.

Surprisingly enough, it is difficult to find Western restaurants in Singapore serving pork dishes, especially those restaurants in the low and medium budget range. Not to mention one that does them well. While I also love pork in Asian cuisine, these are mostly stir fry variations with flour based gravy or soup based dishes. Sometimes, I just want a plain grilled Western style pork chop.

I found this gem of a place near my Muay Thai school by accident. I needed to get some protein into me quickly after one Muay Thai lesson, and was walking down the street looking for food when I passed by this unassuming looking cafe/restaurant. The place was completely empty, which I thought was suspect. But I was hungry and there were no other better places nearby, so I decided to give it a try.

Upon my inspection of the menu, I was gratified to find not one but three pork chop dishes. I later found out that the founder of the restaurant is a Hainanese chef, which explains why. Hainanese (in Singapore) are famous for their pork chops. My parents explained that in the early colonial days, many of the local Hainanese worked as housekeepers cum cooks for the British, and picked up the dish from their employers.

Anyway, I tried their signature Hainanese pork chops and the rest is history. I have been back every week after my Muay Thai lesson, and to date, I have yet to explore the rest of the menu. Everytime I thought to try the other items on the menu, I get inevitably drawn back to the pork chops, blame my pork loving soul.

Their signature Hainanese pork chop is done in a similar manner to those pork chops that is found at those Hainanese curry rice stalls. The pork chop is basically breaded and deep fried and then drenched in sweet and sour sauce. The pork chops are a little thin and there is not a lot of it, but it IS good.

The other pork chop variation is the Pork Chop Cordon Bleu - a layer of ham and melted cheese between two pork chop layers, the entire thing breaded and deep fried, and served with a mushroom sauce. The best part comes when the pork chop is cut open in the middle and the cheese just oozes out. Ooooohhhh......

My favourite and probably the healthiest variation (or as healthy as you can get) among the three is the Pork Chop a la Ramsay - a Gordon Ramsay inspired pork chop (description on the menu, but I don't know what that means). The pork chop is grilled, and then covered with a layer of melted cheese and served with a mushroom sauce. Simple but effective.

The portions are reasonable (well it feeds me well enough after a Muay Thai lesson) and not too pricey. The Hainanese pork chops are probably on the small side, but at ten bucks only, I think it is value for money. I normally order a soup to fill me up with the Hainanese pork chops. The other two variations are pricier but portions are bigger too, so it all balances out.

One other reason why I keep going back for more, is that......they LISTEN and HEAR you. I had griped about restaurants who ignore my orders to change my side orders despite repeated requests (read here if interested). So far, I never had a failed order at this place. Maybe it is because I always go when they just opened for the day and the place is empty, but I have had impeccable service so far.

And the side salads! Many of the places I go to respond to requests for vegetable sides with a few leaves of lettuce. Sometimes I get 2 pieces of broccoli and some carrots. I thought we have some ongoing health campaign promoting healthy eating and eating more vegetables? I thought restaurants should be happy to respond to healthy eating habits by giving more vegetables. But it never happens.

Here, I get a big heap of side salad with my pork chops, as I opt to skip the buttered rice (sigh!!!) and the fries or mash potato. And they don't give you a few lettuce leaves and call that a salad. My salad had shredded lettuce and carrots, sweet corn, some crunchy purple vege, some sprout like vege, some cucumber, some cherry tomatos. I like it also that they don't drench the whole thing in dressing. It normally comes with just enough thousand island dressing to give some flavour. For the Hainanese pork chops, instead of the usual salad, it comes with boiled bak choy, tomatos and green peas already, so I normally just ask for more of these.

I can't really say more about the rest of the menu, other than the fact that it looks interesting and some of the description had me dripping saliva. But like I said, I haven't been able to pull myself away from the pork chops yet. Oh, I hear from other people that the burgers are quite to die for as well.

I wouldn't say this is an extremely cheap place, but it is definitely not expensive either. I definitely get good enough value for my money. A three course meal (no alcohol) would probably be around 30 bucks or less depending on the choice of the main courses. The set lunches are also quite worth it, in my opinion.

So yeah, I manage to satisfy my pork chops craving once a week and man, I'm a happy happy girl.

I didn't intend to share the restaurant location with anyone, so that I could continue to gloat about being able to enjoy my pork chop fetishes while others continue to look for pork chop nirvana. Haha. But I guess anyone who reads the post all the way up to this point deserves some reward.

Foo House Cafe. All details can be found here.

NB: I always go to the branch at Tanjong Katong Rd. Have never been to the Simpang Bedok one, so I don't know if there are any differences in the menu or the service. But it seems that reviews of both locations have been positive.

Anyway, if anyone drops by the Tanjong Katong branch on a Saturday, around noontime, and sees a girl hungrily devouring her pork chops like it's the last one she is ever going to have, do say hi.