Pu Tien

This part of Kitchener Road, a block from Jalan Besar Plaza, is endlessly fascinating for its Babel of locals: mainland Chinese and Nigerian communities crowd the restaurants restaurants and alleyways of the crumbling colonial shophouses. In the midst of all this, Pu Tien’s menu is based on the diet of the trishaw riders of yore. On it, you’ll find crunchy pancakes fried with shards of bitter gourd; sweet and sour pork and longan; fried buns stuffed with strips of soy-stained beef; and soup streaked with black seaweed. A must-have is the lightas- air bee hoon fried with seaweed, mushroom, peanuts and tiny cockles.