Cheng Ji Fish Intestine Kway Teow (城基老牌鱼肠粿条) is a small eatery that specialises in Teochew delights with over 30 years of experience. It serves fish intestine kway teow / rice noodle (鱼肠粿条) as its signature dish on top of many traditional Teochew specialty dishes. The eatery is located at the edge of Chaozhou Ancient City (潮州古城) and a stone’s throw from Paifang Street (牌坊街).
Cheng Ji’s list of Teochew delights include Teochew chang fen / cheung fun (潮州肠粉) with different ingredients, fried / soup-based Teochew-style kway teow with beef or pork, fried rice vermicelli, seafood porridge, oyster omelette, etc.
The Mixed Fish Porridge (鱼杂粥) is served with fish meat, fish intestine, fish skin, preserved mustard, greens, tofu skin, etc, in savoury soup with fully cooked-through, soft porridge. The dish is accompanied by salty fermented soy bean sauce for additional flavours — Teochew-style. The savoury porridge is nicely-flavoured and the fish are fresh.
Similar to the fish porridge, the Prawn Porridge (虾粥) has big fresh prawns, in place of fish meat, with common ingredients. This is delicious too with prawn flavours.
The Seafood Cheung Fun (海鲜肠粉) uses thin sheet of cheung fun, make using rice flour, to wrap with eggs and bean sprouts. The cheung fun is then added with prawns and big oysters, drenched with Teochew-style satay sauce and added with crispy fried onions. The sweet-savoury satay sauce provides the primary flavours for the cheung fun and fresh seafood.
The Beef Cheung Fun (牛肉肠粉) has cheung fun to wrap around fresh beef slices with egg, bean sprouts and drenched with satay sauce. This is similarly delicious with tender and juicy beef.
Like many eateries in Chaozhou, Cheng Ji also serves the Teochew-popular Oyster Omelette (蚝仔烙). The battered egg, added with sweet potato flour / tapioca starch, is wok-fried with large oysters and spring onions in one whole piece till crispy. In Chaozhou, oyster omelette is normally fried with lard oil, which gives the dish a nicer crispy texture and flavour without charring it. Despite being fried, the oysters stay fresh and big without shrinking. This is must-try too.
The Beef Fried Kway Teow (炒牛肉粿条) used thick, slim kway teow that is stir-fried with beef slices, kailan and a light savoury-spicy sauce. It is so well-cooked and the beef slices stay tender and juicy with tender, crisp kailan. Although a familiar dish, the Teochew’s way of preparing the dish creates an entirely different taste experience.
Cheng Ji is one great place to try a number of Teochew delights in Chaozhou. We had a taste of the local porridge, cheung fun, oyster omelette and fried kway teow with beef — nearly one-third of my list of food to try in Chaozhou.
Address:
8-27, Huancheng South Road, Xiangqiao District, Chaozhou City, Guangdong, China
中国广东省潮州市湘桥区环城南路8号之27 — Baidu Map
Opening Hours:
6:30am to 3am | Daily
Nearby:
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