Chef Kang's Noodle House

Michelin-level pork, canteen table, industrial view. Nobody comes for the décor.

Chef Kang's Noodle House is worth crossing the island for if you care about char siu, and worth arriving early for, because everyone else who cares about char siu has the same idea. Order the noodles with char siu and wanton, come on a weekday morning before the office crowd, and bring cash: credit cards aren't accepted. The compromise is the setting, an open-air canteen in an industrial compound, which is also the charm.

Why it is here

Jackson Square in Toa Payoh is a workaday industrial estate, the last place you would look for a Michelin-starred chef's cooking. Chef Ang Song Kang opened the stall in 2018 to make his char siu more affordable, and it holds a Bib Gourmand in the 2026 Michelin Guide. His one-star private kitchen closed in late 2024, so this canteen is now the easiest way to eat his food. Two of his protégés run it, using his charring technique.

That technique is the reason to come. The pork belly is marinated overnight and roasted in a charcoal oven until lightly charred, with layers of fat and lean, and it is the char siu people travel for.

The noodles pull their weight: jook sing noodles shipped from Hong Kong, bamboo-pressed, tossed in a sweet-savoury sauce with kai lan and crisp pork lard. The wantons are filled with shrimp, pork, chives and mushroom and come in soup. Shredded abalone is the add-on if you want one.

What to order

The menu is short, which saves arguments. One bowl of noodles with char siu and wanton each, plus the char siu plate for sharing if you are a group; that plate is the most direct route to what you came for. Add abalone if you are feeling flush. Don't skip the chilli: it is house-made, free at the self-service counter and built on shrimp paste, and it is better than the free chilli at most places that charge for it.

How to do it well

Go early, and on a weekday if you can. The stall keeps daytime hours, closing in the afternoon and earlier at weekends, so this is a breakfast or early-lunch plan rather than a late one. The canteen seats around 100 at tables of four to six, so a table usually follows once you have your tray; send one person to queue and another to hold seats. Braddell MRT is about an eight-minute walk, Toa Payoh about fifteen.

Then take a moment to enjoy the contrast: a fine-dining chef's pork, a canteen table and a view of loading bays.

Good to know Blk C, #01-34 Jackson Square, 11 Lorong 3 Toa Payoh; about eight minutes' walk from Braddell MRT. It is a daytime stall; check current hours before you go. Credit cards aren't accepted.

Chef Kang's Noodle House | Blk C, #01-34 Jackson Square, 11 Lorong 3 Toa Payoh, Singapore 319579