The Dead Cockroach: New Rong Liang Ge Cantonese Roast Duck Double Boiled Soup @ Blk 269 Queen Street

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I first learned about this roast stall called New Rong Liang Ge Cantonese Roast Duck Double Boiled Soup from the TV program "Where The Queue Starts" (排排站查查看) several years ago.

I have bookmarked the stall since then but have never gotten round to trying it. When I visited the newly reopened Old Bukit Purmei Lor Mee recently, I realized this roast stall is located right at the next coffee shop along the same row under Blk 269B Queen Street.

Fast forward one week later, I am back to check them out.

After studying the menu, I decided to go for the da san yuan (大三元) which consisted of char siew, roasted pork and roasted duck meat along with a plate of white rice all blanketed under a liberal amount of thick sauce.

Normally, I would have preferred just a drizzle of dark soy sauce and cooked oil (豉油熟油). However, I remember the customers interviewed on the TV program were complementing how good the thick sauce is therefore, I decided to just go with the flow and give it a try.

The roasted pork is adorably tiny and a delight to chomp into with its crackling skin that is adequately salted. The alternating layer of meat and fat makes it a very tasty morsel. Among the three types of meats, this is my favorite.

The char siew spots a beautiful caramelized exterior but unfortunately was a very lean cut of meat that leaves stringy fiber stuck in my teeth. I could not taste much of the flavor either as they were mostly drowned out by the thick sauce.

After trying the thick sauce, I think I still prefer my usual dark soy sauce and cooked oil combo.

Just think about it. After going great lengths to marinate and roasting the meat, why ruin all that effort at the end by pouring thick sauce over them? I am fine with it over the rice or as a dipping sauce by the side but if it is all over the meat, I will be unable to appreciate the meats marinated in your special blend of secret recipe anymore.

The roasted duck meat was deboned for easier eating. While the meat was on the leaner side, it is not dry at all due to the thin layer of fat under the skin which acts as a lubricant.

What I loved most in this meal is actually that very umami chili sauce! It goes great with both the meat and rice so take more of it!

The stall does not offer complimentary soup but a variety of soups such as old cucumber soup, sze chuan vegetable soup, salted vegetable duck soup and ginseng chicken soup among others are available here. Ranging from $2.50 to $5, the soups are pretty good value.

The Cantonese in me could not resist having a good lao huo tang (soup that has been simmering for several hours) so I picked the lotus root with spare ribs soup ($2.50).

Unfortunately, my enthusiasms were met with disappointment as the soup was rather lacking in flavors for it is as bland as plain water could be. I am most willing to pay more if they included other crucial ingredients like red dates, honey dates, peanuts and dried octopus/cuttlefish.

Perhaps, my arrival at 9 in the morning has got something to do with it as well. Clearly, a good soup needs time to simmer for the flavors to seep in. You could hardly call it lao huo tang if it had only been steaming in the steamer for a relatively short while? That is, assuming they only start steaming their soup at 7am - their opening hour for the day.

I guess it is safer to order the soup in the later part of the day when it has all the time it needs to release its flavors.

I find the food here decent at best. Although it did not impressed me in the taste department, what is worth mentioning is how the stall managed to keep prices affordable for the elderlies in the neighborhood all these years.

A plate of char siew rice costs $2.50 while a plate of roasted chicken drumstick rice is $3. The portion of rice is generous and is guaranteed to keep you full.