SOUP RESTAURANT

It has very much to do with its owner, Mr. Mok and his family history. His grandmother was a Samsui woman. These legendary womenfolk labourers in their red and blue hats helped build modern Singapore. Their frugality and dogged determination to work hard gave birth to a brand of food - the Samsui Ginger Chicken. Samsui women would largely exist daily on a high fibre vegetarian diet. Dried fish would be a bonus. They saved and ate thriftily in order to remit their monies back to their ancestral home in Samsui (the Three Gorges), Kwangtung in China. Come Chinese New Year, it would mean a feast for them, steaming a plump chicken, marinated in ginger. Shredded ginger would then be tossed in some stock and sesame oil and served as a dip. The cut up boneless pieces of chicken are dipped in the ginger sauce and (this is the best part), wrapped in lettuce and then chomped.

Today, this dish is served with some finesse. It comes fully de-boned, placed around a huge round platter with a bowl of the ginger dip in the middle. A stack of nicely trimmed lettuce leaves accompanies it. You simply pick, dip, wrap and eat!

Soup Restaurant Outlet in Singapore: Causeway Point; Jurong Point Shopping Centre; Suntec City Mall; Compass Point Shopping Centre; Paragon; United Square; DFS Scottswalk.

Also at: 25 Smith Street; 39 Seah Street.

Updated On: 05.01.14