Hong Kee Porridge @ Commonwealth Crescent Market & Food Centre

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In my previous post, I was at Commonwealth Crescent Food Centre for the fried chicken burger from Hammee's. Because there are other orders before mine, I was told to pick up my burger in ten minutes time.

Instead of whiling away that ten minutes, I decided to order a bowl of pork porridge from Hong Kee Porridge as there is no queue.

The plan was to leisurely sip on, and savor my porridge while waiting for my burger. However, plans often do not work out the way you intended. The lack of a physical queue does not mean there is no queue at all. You place your order, let the uncle know where you are sitting and the auntie will bring the porridge to your table.

So now you know, the queue here is actually invisible. It took quite a while but when my pork porridge finally reached me, there is just mere minutes left to collect my burger. I gulped through my bowl of hot porridge with no leisure to speak of and needless to say, I did not get to enjoy or savor its flavor.

By the time I am done with the porridge, I am still late for my burger by five minutes. As such, I decided to make a return trip for the pork porridge again, to give it a fair review.

So, I am back at the food centre with a new bowl of pork porridge ($3). According to their menu, they also serve fish porridge ($3) and fish head porridge ($3).

There are chunks of minced pork, pig's liver and pork slices in my pork porridge. The liver is still bloodied so I gave the porridge a thorough stir with my spoon, pushing them to the bottom of the bowl to be cooked further by the residual heat.

As dramatic as it sounds, my first spoonful of the porridge put me on the verge of tears. I withdraw the spoon from my mouth, astonished that the porridge tastes so strikingly similar to my late Grandma's.

She would cook a huge pot over a charcoal stove every weekend to feed all her visiting grandchildren. Scenes of her watching over the fire and stirring the porridge laboriously to prevent it from burning is still fresh on my mind.

To me, Grandma's porridge is the best because it is cooked with love and dedication. For years after her passing, I have yet to find any porridge that tastes as remotely close as hers - till now.

The ingredients are fresh and plentiful especially the liver. I do not like to eat liver due to its soft, powdery texture but at the same time, I like the flavor it imparts to the porridge.

Due to a prolonged boiling period as required of Cantonese porridge, the rice have split and broken down but the grains are still visible. This is how I like my porridge although it would be better if the consistency can be thicker. This bowl is a tad too watery.

Porridge that have fully emulsified to a starchy paste-liked texture resembling glue is a turn-off for me. I know there are places where hand blenders are used to puree the porridge to achieve that smooth and creamy consistency.

It has been a while since I last had such a comforting bowl of porridge. The next time when I miss Grandma, I know who to look for but I will bring my own you tiao.