No. 18 Zion Road Char Kway Teow

I’ve travelled far and wide. The char kway teow is still the ultimate street food dish. The fragrance when the dish is being prepared, the explosion of flavor when the first bite hits your mouth. The smokiness from the hot fire in which its prepared, and the depth that the lard adds to it. There is nothing else in the world that comes close to this.
And if you need a char kway teow, there’s no where else except the one at Zion Road. This place has been written up a lot, but there’s a reason for it — it is simply the best. Mr Ho’s attention to detail is second to none. I had the privilege of being the first person in the queue, and I watched for 15 mins as he made final preparations before they opened. Adjusting where the eggs would be, where the noodles would be, the angle of his stock pot. And then the final moment, when he dons his cap (backwards) and then turns on the light to the stall. We’re open!
A little known fact that might miss a few. Being first in line has it privileges. One of them being, whilst the rest of the stall is being prepared, in the wok is actually a whole wok-​full of lard being fried. And so that first batch of kway teow, amazing!

Famous Char Kuay Tiao stall. Have to wait for 15 – 30 min. I tried other few famous ones. I liked this place most!

I have a confession to make — I’m scared of wooden spoons. How scared?
— Like being in a demonic nightmare you can’t awake from
— Like jumping out of a plane only to realise you forgot to take the parachute
— Like being chased by a hungry cheetah and you’re wearing thongs
(In Oz we call this being sh! t scared! OR wearing the brown underpants!)
Why am I scared? It all stems from my youth, when as a horrible child I got up to all sorts of mischief, which resulted in being disciplined (on the knuckles initially), by my mother — using a long wooden spoon. My naughty nature was such that she got so adept at using the thing she could hit me with it from another room, around walls, and over her shoulder without looking.
So why bring all this up? Well… back in the day my mother lived in Singapore, and one of the dishes she brought back to Australia was char kway teow. It remains one of her favourite dishes to this day. Now I have grown up on her version of this dish, and totally loved it for years myself, so upon coming to Singapore I was interested in seeing how authentic her version was and if I found one better would I once again incur the wrath of the wooden spoon?
Cue: No. 18 Zion Road Char Kway Teow
This was also my first hawker centre visit, so I was interested in the concept itself.
Upon arriving I walked past endless stalls which only had 1 or 2 customers lining up for their food until I arrived at stall 18. Kaboom, a good 15 – 20 people lining up. Had I timed my run too late? I knew that it was closing at 3pm, and I’d gotten here at 2:10pm thinking I’d have enough time… As the line slowly progressed that time was running out, but then as if like magic, a big pile of orders were delivered at once and I was served probably 20 – 30 minutes after getting into the line (maybe quicker).
The serving sizes are Small ($ 3.50 used to be $ 3), Medium ($ 4) and Large ($ 5).
The glutton in me will pick the largest size 9 times out of 10 but I decided to be pragmatic here and opted eventually for the medium size.
It was the right choice. The medium is a big enough serve for a hungry man, and given that char kway teow is quite heavy on the calories it’s probably the best one to go for in terms of bang-​for-​your-​buck-​and-​keeping-​healthy balance.
What I really loved seeing, when it was finally my time to order, was a photo of the cook/​owner stuck alongside his grill. It had to be from 25 – 30 years ago. And for him to still be doing this, and churning out the same dish endlessly shows a real passion for the product.
When I had the dish in my hands I made my way to a spare table in the centre and took a seat. Whilst I let the aroma of the dish invade my nostrils, the upbeat crappy but totally catchy Ronan Keating played over the speakers, followed by Owl City. I think it was important to mention this, because you feel good here. You feel somewhat light-​hearted, and I think that is a great feeling to have on a weekend after work, just a carefree sort of afternoon with a nice meal.
So what’s the verdict Dan? Was it better than your mums?
Here’s the stickler. I’m loathe to say it was, for fear of that wooden spoon (or even never having the dish again) — but it was somewhat different in both flavour and texture.
18 Zion introduce a generous amount of fresh cockles into the dish, and these juicy sweet bursts of flavour really cut through the richness of the dish, which I think is important as it can be quite rich. The pork lard crackling is an element I have never had before and it is exceptional, when you bite into one of those crunchy croutons of bacon-​ness you are transported to flavour town. They also use a much darker thicker sauce, and the lap cheong whilst prevalent is diced much smaller than I’m used to — in such a way that it incorporates into the dish and is not something you identify separately — which is a key difference because it really rounds out the flavours.
I loved this dish it was so flavourful and it is easy to see why it is considered one of Singapore’s best exponents of CKT. However, I am also mindful that a dish like this is calorific — CKT sits at #6 for most calories in Singapore’s Top 50 hawker foods with a whopping 745 calories based on a standard plating size — That’s close enough to 3 Big Macs (257 cals each) to put it in perspective.
If CKT wasn’t so heavy on the calories I’d probably eat here very often.

Excellent Char Kway Teow. The small bits of pork crackling alongside the cockles were extremely delicious. Fast service meant the long queue turned out to be a short wait.

I give this place a 3.5 stars, the noodles were ok but the owner was super nice and helpful to someone not from Singapore. The line is always long here and people get mutiple orders so be prepared to wait a little bit. If you want solid noodles, you can go here and it is tasty and not as oily as others I’ve tried. This is not something that will blow your mind though.

This cook is my hero! Respect. Every bite is appropriately seasoned for me and every bite you taste delicious fresh! cockle meat and fried pork lard piece. I wish I can live right next to this food centre so that I can have at least one serving everyday. Thank you!

Hawker centers are such a pervasive part of Singapore culture and with stalls found almost at any corner of the city state, one has to stand out. This stall is one of those that prides itself with its many cut-​out positive newspaper reviews pasted at the stall front. Perhaps the one thing that amuses me most is the signboard above the stall that reads «Hallelujah! Charismatic cooking.»
The char kway teow here is famous and popular, as evidenced by the line during peak hours. The small bites of crispy pork lard are a nice sinful treat. The fish cakes are lovely. There is also a generous amount of cockles– almost every spoonful of noodle into my mouth has a piece of cockle in it, which is my fav. The fried noodles is moist and flavorful with a good depth.

One of the best char kway teo in Singapore for me! Came here during off peak hours and still a few folks waiting…
I like this one betrer than Outram prob for the stronger, wetter taste.
Worth the little walk!

If you like your noodles with a ton of lap cheong, this is the place for you. The Zion Road Hawker centre has changed over the years, but this delicious Char Kway Teow stays the same.
One thing to note, this CKT is pretty wet and there is a ton of black sauce. If thats what you’re looking to avoid.

When in Singapore there are 10 things you need to try and char kway teow is one of them. We found this place from food blogs and Unilocal so we decided to take the bus to this food court and check it out. The food court is not as big and crowded as the other ones we’ve been too. This place must be good if they specialize in one thing. I didn’t get to see how the chef prepared it because I was getting us something to drink. OMG when the noodles arrived I dugged right in. The flavor of all the ingredients were sooooooooooo good. My husband enjoyed the little pieces of crispy pork in the noodles. The cockles were super fresh. We ordered the medium size plate and it was plenty for us since we just ate an hour ago. I would definitely come back here the next time I’m in town.

IMHO, this ranks second to Outram Park Fried Kway Teow, which is located at Hong Lim hawker centre. It’s wetter and more garlicky compared to Outram Park.
In addition, the cook is less energetic in his cooking vs the cook at Outram Park and it shows in the finished product.
Nevertheless, it is still one of the better ones in Singapore. Helps that it opens on Sundays whilst Outram Park does not.

My favorite char kway teow in all of singapore, fantastic greasy noodles with super fresh cockles. Best in SG. nuff said

Best ckt in town!

I decided to pop over to No. 18 Zion Rd Kway Teow after reading about it in Dr. Leslie Tay’s book on hawker food. The stall was very easy to spot as it is right near the entrance to the hawker center and the only eatery with a queue at 8p on a Monday night. I lined up behind 12 eager patrons and fired up my kindle. I found myself constantly distracted from my reading by the impressive wok action by the chef. He was a machine! In my misspent youth, I had a few years of experience working the woks in a Chinese take-​out, and I cannot imagine the fortitude it takes to turn out one perfect char kway teow after another in the heat with no breaks for hour after hour!
Despite my best intentions, I was unable to resist ordering an extra egg (+$ 0.50) with my small char kway teow ($ 3). The dish comes in 3 sizes, priced at $ 3, $ 4 and $ 5. Unless you are especially hungry, the $ 3 portion is enough for a meal and comes studded with cockles, sweet Chinese sausages, seafood and bean sprouts. There was plenty of bliss-​inducing wok flavor.
I’d recommend getting your order to eat there as the take-​away container is simply a cleverly folder piece of waxed paper. Does the job, but not quite as nice to eat out of as a plate.
PARTING THOUGHT: Over the course of my meal, I noticed that the line never got shorter than 10 people and never longer than 15. The wait was quite short and completely worthwhile!

Firstly, do not use Google Maps to find this place, you will get lost. It is across the road from Great World City. It came to my attention in the April 2010 issue of TimeOut, and delivered on its promise.
The options are for small $ 3, medium $ 4 and large $ 5 so I ordered the medium kway teow for $ 4. They cook it fresh, and the meal is unbelievably good. You have to try this. There are so many ingredients for such a small price.

Char Kway Teow worth the extra exercise
Char Kway Teow is unhealthy, it’s sinful food… but like most things that are bad for you, they taste good.
My practice is that if you’re gonna eat something that’s bad for you. Make it worth your while and make sure it’s of quality.
This stall though the signboard name said «Number 18. Char Kway Teow», made me laugh because it’s actual address is stall number 17. I like jokes like that.
This stall is super famous in the area for it’s powerful tasty Char Kway Teow. Get ready to queue to enjoy this friendly uncle’s signature dish.
Take it dark, with lotsa chilli and cockles. Enjoyed it? Now you’d better walk it off by covering the whole distance of the walkway next to the canal that’s next to the food centre. Or you’ll never survive the zombie apocalypse.