Ben Yeo’s latest F&B venture, Singapore Chee Cheong Fun (SGCCF) created waves when it first launched. They were sold out within minutes!
Singapore Chee Cheong Fun is a collaboration with local heritage brand, Kwong Woh Hing. The site only offers one main product: a handmade chee cheong fun kit with artisanal sauces. During festive occasions such as Christmas and Chinese New Year, the brand also releases specials.
This CNY, we got to try Singapore Chee Cheong Fun’s Original Chee Cheong Fun, and their CNY special, SG XO Chee Cheong Fun. Here’s what we think!
Original SG Chee Cheong Fun
The Original SG Chee Cheong Fun kit cost $28 and it sure looks appealing with its packaging! Inside, you’ll find 10 rolls of handmade chee cheong fun, sesame seeds and five artisanal sauces – soya sauce, sweet sauce, peanut sauce, fragrant oil mix, and sambal chilli.
We couldn’t find any directions together with the kit, but there is an online tutorial on their website. The preparation process was very straightforward – simply put the chee cheong fun into your microwave or steamer for one minute.
We cut it into bite sized pieces once it was done in the steamer.
All ready to be dressed with sauces!
The instructions say to add the soy sauce first. It asks for two teaspoons, but it also says that we could add more, so we went rather heavy-handed with it (and all our other sauces really).
Next, the sweet sauce.
Combine the peanut sauce with a good stir before adding it.
Next is the fragrant oil mix that comes with crispy fried shallots, garlic and ikan bilis.
By now our plate was almost overflowing! A scoop of sambal chilli completes the sauces dressing.
Lastly, we finished it off with some sesame seeds.
Ready to be devoured!
Our eyes widened in surprised and there were approving nods all around. This is definitely not your run-of-the-mill chee cheong fun from the hawker centre, nor is it like what you find at dimsum restaurants. It’s really in its own league entirely.
The chee cheong fun is incredibly smooth and silky. Thinner than than what you get at hawker centres, but thicker than the Cantonese variety. The fragrant oil with fried shallots, garlic and ikan bilis also adds a nice texture to every bite. All the sauces combine to give a sweet, savoury, umami and slightly spicy mix.
We were very impressed with the dish. Apparently, the sauces are made with “secret ingredients”. The peanut sauce comes from Li Kwong (who’ve been making the sauce since 1974), fragrant oil mix by Artisan Kitchen Foods and premium soy sauce by Kwong Woh Hing.
We ought to also mention that our chee cheong fun cooled while we snapped photos and videos for our ‘grams. But unlike our Swee Choon frozen dimsum adventure, the SG Chee Cheong Fun held up. We didn’t think that its taste was affected any way.
Verdict: Would order again. You should too!
SG XO Chee Cheong Fun
For CNY, SGCFF partnered up with acclaimed chef Cao Yong (some of you may have seen him in several Mediacorp programmes!) to curate a XO flavour that honours our parents. Apparently, the XO sauce is made with premium Hokkaido scallops and Jinhua ham, and a bottle would retail at $18 if sold separately!
It packaging is also super attractive, and it would’ve made a great CNY gift to family and friends!
Let’s move on and see how it tastes… Wait, where are the directions?
We couldn’t find any online, unlike the Original Chee Cheong Fun. Well, that’s fine. We’ll just wing it. What could go wrong… Right?
First up, the steam fish soy sauce.
Next, we added the XO sauce. We were overwhelmed with a seafood-y, fishy scent right after opening the jar. Wow, this must be a pretty intense XO sauce.
Next, the fragrant oil mix, which seems to be the same one as the Original Chee Cheong Fun.
Then we finished off with brown rice puffs and sesame seeds.
Here it is all done! The kit also included fortune cookies, but because there weren’t any directions, we had no idea if it’s meant to be part of the chee cheong fun. We went ahead and used it as a cute topping anyway.
How does it taste? Erm… It was much too fishy for our liking. But we think that seafood fans and fans of XO sauce would like it. Maybe we added too much XO sauce since it’s so potent. It really would’ve been nice to have some directions so we have a gauge of how much to add!
Unlike the Original Chee Cheong Fun, the XO Chee Cheong Fun doesn’t have a sweet sauce to balance out the savouriness. It also leaned towards the oily side. The next time we’ll be much more light-handed with the sauces, especially the XO sauce. But overall, this didn’t appeal to our senses as much as the original version.
Verdict: Probably wouldn’t buy again.
If you’re keen to try it for yourself, you can get it at $38 on SGCCF’s website here. Since it’s a festive special, there are only 1000 sets available. They’ve already restocked their store once, so fastest fingers first!
Each of the Original SG Chee Cheong Fun and XO Chee Cheong Fun kit serve up to five. You can keep them in the fridge for up to a week, but they are best consumed within two days! Delivery is free for orders above $83.
Have you tried Singapore Chee Cheong Fun? Let us know what you think. We’re eager to see what they come up with next!
