Recently, I am very lucky to know a group of real foodies like Uncle Smart, Philip and Ian. They really know where to find good food. Just a few weekends back, they brought us to this quiet part of Tampines to eat … SIO BAK!

Frankly speaking, I have been living in Ang Mo Kio for close to 30 years (oh no, I am ageing) and travelling to the extreme East or West is the hardest thing for me. I procrastinated every time when I have to visit the boyfriend in Bedok and I skipped school a lot when I was studying in NTU. That is how reluctant I am. If not for the group foodie friends who travelled with me to this neighbourhood in Tampines, I would have probably give it a miss. Heng I never give it a miss, if not I won’t know how good Cross Way Bay Hong Kong Roasted Meat (尖沙嘴港式烧臘) sio bak is.

I am not a crazy sio bak fan to begin with and will only try it if there are good recommendations. You see, some of the stalls sell really bad sio bak which comes with dry and hard skin so I don’t really want to punish myself in the gym after eating them. The previous craze I had for sio bak is at Fu Shi Traditional Roasted at Shunfu market where the sio bak is really good.

There after, I wanted to try making my own sio bak at home. I have researched for many recipes that are now lying cob webs in my bookmark. It didn’t happen because there are simply too many different recipes with different methods. Some suggest roasting for 2 hours, some say roast for 25 mins. Some poached the pork first before grilling. Some say must marinate the meat overnight, others don’t. Aiyo, very confusing lah! So I concluded that the best thing is to just find a nice store and eat sio bak. HAHA!

The only challenge with sio bak is getting the skin crispy enough. You really want it to be really brittle. And Cross Way Bay’s version got it right. My first expression after taking a bite was,”WA!” (with my eyes wide open).

It is super crispy, dry and tastes like biscuit. You can call me a sua-gu but I haven’t eaten sio bak of such texture before. The good ones you can hear the crackling sound when you bite the skin. But this one is like a biscuit, with the first bite producing a noisy crunch from the skin before it gives way to the juicy layers of well-seasoned tender and moist meat under it. The owner said that he actually blanched the meat before roasting it. From the side view, you can clearly see the 7 different layers of meat. All these elements explode together in each mouthful. Oh mine… the fats… so sinful!

His char siew that day was nicely roasted and it came well caramelised. It was also fragrant enough for me to have more servings. Roast chicken was equally shiok too with very tender and plump meat, and the skin was well roasted.

Hidden gem discovered! Woohoo! The stall cannot be seen from the main road and you need to do some walking. I hope the owners keep up the standard. And I will be back for more of their sio bak! Thank you Uncle Smart for bringing us here!

Cross Way Bay Hong Kong Roasted Meat 尖沙嘴港式烧臘

Address: 476 Food Loft Coffeeshop, Blk 476 Tampiness Street 44, #01-205,
Opening hours: 11am-8pm, closed on Mondays or Tuesdays