Xin Ji Zhou Pin Whampoa

A food visit to the Balestier area isn’t complete without a stop to whampoa market . Sometimes known as Whampoa Drive Food Centre, the huge complex is split into two blocks and a wet market, where you’ll be spoiled for choice by the variety of stalls. The “Morning Market” at Blk 91 serves the early birds, while Blk 90 next door only gets busy later in the day. But no matter the time of day you drop by, there’ll always be something open, even if it’s at 2am on a Sunday night (except when it's closed for cleaning, of course).

This guide focuses more on the hidden gems of Blk 90, where most of the stalls are open from late afternoon onwards, thus its other nickname as the “Night Market”. 


When it comes to congee, Xing Ji Zhou Ping is one of the more popular stalls in Whampoa Makan Place. The variations on offer include cuttlefish peanut, abalone Porridge, and meatball with pork liver. They also have a small selection of claypot dishes like luo han zhai vegetables and frog porridge.

A bowl of mixed pork porridge is $4.50, and comes with both lean pork slices and liver. The pork was thickly-cut but tender, and the pig liver was cooked just nicely without the smelly, gamey taste. The thick congee was cooked for many hours, Cantonese style, and had a gooey, thick consistency. 
Although the bowl of porridge looks plain, having been seasoned with just ginger, soya sauce and pepper, the smooth consistency made it easy to slurp it all down.

The claypot chicken ($ is cooked to order, but I only had to wait for about 5 minutes for it to be ready. Bite-sized pieces of chicken and shiitake mushroom slices marinating in a thick gravy of oyster sauce, vinegar and rice wine was served in a sizzling claypot. The chicken was tender and mushrooms juicy, and would go well with a bowl of rice or porridge.
The porridge was already tasty as it is, but it turned into a whole other dish when I added a spoonful of the salty-sweet claypot chicken sauce. The robust flavours can only be described as happiness in a bowl.