Toh Kee Roast Duck

One of the weekends, I accompanied Mom, Sis and niece for a little shopping in Chinatown. It is not a place which I particularly like because firstly, it is perennially crowded, secondly, the place evokes personal bad memories for me, and lastly, I do not like seeing (dirty) old lonely men hanging around there being pestered by China girls. 

However, to me, perhaps the only one saving grace in Chinatown is a roast duck stall.

Toh Kee Roast Duck is located at People's Park Food Centre. It should be considered one of my personal favourite roast duck stall in Singapore. We ordered half a roast duck and some char siew.  Its roast duck was done till almost perfection. It was very fragrant and not too sweet. The roasted skin was darker than usual, which is much better and more crisp than those done to a reddish or orangy hue. The traditional way of roasting is using charcoal.

The Char Siew was lacklustre compared to the Roast Duck. Period. But I heard the Siew Yoke (Roasted Pork) was equally as good as the Roast Duck.

It is best to savour Roast Duck with a plate of steaming hot plain rice. Dribble some of the dark sauce onto the rice, and you have a very fulfilling meal. Otherwise you could have your roast duck with beer.

You can take away this delectable dish for CNY dinners or gatherings, which is very appropriate. The roast duck skin was so thin and crispy and without fats. The meat was very flavourful. My mom and sis liked it very much. So did my niece. We polished off the whole big plate in no time.

What was unique was, besides the duck, they served braised soya beans together with little cucumber slices. Most importantly, the dark sauce was not too sweet, compared to many other roast duck stalls elsewhere. The only main grouse was they do not provide soup together with the dish.

The people behind Toh Kee have been in business for decades and is a specialist in roasting duck. They sold out early for a Sunday. We were the last order at 5pm. There was no more duck. Quite a few customers who came later were disappointed they had closed shop for the day.  They are also the same people manning another stall next door, under the name  Chop Hean Kuan, which is famous for their steamed buns and dim sum items. Toh Kee is located at: #01-1016A, People's Park Food Centre, Singapore 63233368.  Opening hours: 10:30am to 7:00pm, closed on Mondays.

When they were packing up and cleaning the stall, I noticed them scrapping hard at the huge thick wooden chinese chopping board and just wiping away the debris and kept it away till the next day. They did not use water to wash or damn cloth to wipe or clean the chopping board. Can anyone tell me what is the reason behind this?