潮州发记 Teochew Restaurant Huat Kee

first course yusheng was already a disappointment. frozen salmon stuck together (round circular things in the photo). even a fork couldn't separate them cleanly. waitress said "it's like that". instead of getting more pekchek with the to-and-froing, our host decided to send the yusheng back without touching the salmon. no attempt at service recovery to comp or give a discount on the dish. the rest of the dishes were so-so. not particularly cheap either for the quality.

Advance booked 3 tables for a birthday dinner that turns out to be the worst restaurant taste. I wonder if the boss or the chef taste himself if he accepts this standard of food. Started with longevity bun that dough was still hard, obvious that these frozen stuffs were steam with a time too short. Next the cold platter that was served together with the braised duck dish at the same time. I think chef is rushing home! The ngo hiang on the platter is slice thin and fried till hard n dry, it is also extremely saltish that make me wonder if this is a teochew restaurant. Mini popiah, fied oyster taste worst than a hawker ngo hiang bee hoon stall though most of them came from factory. Another worth the mention is the prawn with white chives. Chives is obvious older than me that I had a hard time chewing. The oyster omelette (orh lua) is hard that is obviously fry with strong fire and lousy blend of tapioca starch. By then none of us are looking forward to the dishes served but to mingle around. Nevertheless, only the crab meat fish maw soup and steam fish is acceptable that accompanied by the waitress good service throughout the dinner. I think being a chef or a restaurant owner there has to be a certain level of pride and etiquette to serve tasty food to the table. If the chef eat such standard of food he shouldn’t be one and if he does, he should not operate f&b biz.

The servers serving us are very friendly. That is why I give 5 star for servicing. The food is way too low standard given the high price. The seating is like we are sitting in the corridor, it feels really bad. And on Sunday afternoon, I can hear clearly some church group singing in a rented room. This is exacerbated by the fact that we are seated along a corridor. I ordered the set menu that cost me 600 plus for 6 person, but the food quality is just bad, and I even suspect some of the things are not fresh. Eventually after adding all the tax, it cost around 900 SGD

Very bad food, we order Loh Hei, they gave us a plate of frozen salmon. When we inform them of it, the reply was oh it’s like that we take it out for u … I told them better u take it back. Waitress told the boss and came back with two forks trying to pry the salmon apart. Other food was mediocre, not worth a $600’lunch.

May 2025: We ordered several dishes, and the total bill came up to ~$980. The best dish that we had was the double boiled chicken soup with shark's fin. The soup has a rich texture with deep flavours because of the high-quality chicken stock. Shark's fin has a crunchy bite, but otherwise, it is bland in taste. We also like the candy heart abalone with sea cucumber (must have). The sauce has a delicate, caramelised flavour. Both abalone and the sea cucumber were tender in texture. The next highlight for me was the promfret fish (must have). It was fresh and full of flesh. The thinly sliced salted vegetables and tomatoes gave it a tangy taste. I highly recommend this dish. The fried oyster omelette was delicious, not oily compared to hawker centre version. The braised duck tasted ordinary, and I can find better versions from the hawker centres. The stewed Chinese mustard in claypot was delicious, too. The signature stir-fried kueh tiao was average in taste. We ordered 2 different kinds of dessert: ching ting and yam paste with pumpkin and gingko biloba. The yam taste is very delicious.

This Teochew restaurant is in an out-of-the-way location, making it a bit inconvenient to get to. Our dining experience began with an odd seating arrangement, as our table was positioned in what felt like a walkway, lacking any real sense of privacy or comfort. Throughout our entire meal, there was only one other table occupied, with all the other tables remaining conspicuously empty. As for the food, it was acceptable, but genuinely nothing to write home about – just standard fare without any 'wow' factor. Considering the somewhat expensive bill at the end, I felt the overall experience didn't quite justify the cost or the effort to get there.

Food quality was rather disappointed as we came with expectation of good dishes. Chicken was bland. Orh luak had some hard pcs. Fish soup was alright but fish had fishy taste. Orh nee was the best dish. On a whole, food was pricey. Staff tried their best to serve well. Hope u guys can perform well in the future. Chef needs to review the taste.

My friends and I had a sumptuous time at Huat Kee recently. I highly recommend the shark’s fins and sea cucumber set. The slightly caramelized skin of the sea cucumber is a stroke of genius. I believe the deep flavor of the sea cucumber comes from the extra long hours of simmering. The shark’s fins and the thick soup is also the best I’ve tasted. The set is not cheap but you get premium ingredients as there are two rings of shark’s fins and sizable tender sea cucumber. Huat Kee offers real value for money unlike other pretentious places. They offer mainly private rooms where minimum spending is not high, so do make reservations of room and food in advance. I’m going to bring my parents here and pamper them with the food from Huat Kee.