Ten Tenths – Crispy Pork Belly, Char Siu & Har Cheong Gai Rice Bowls Tucked Away in Havelock 2

Havelock 2 might not be the most accessible place, unless you happen to be working within the area, but there are quite a few hidden foodie gems waiting to be discovered. One of them is Ten Tenths, a quiet little eatery that quickly starts filling up with crowds of office workers come lunchtime. Make your way down to the basement and find them to get your fill of Cantonese-style fusion rice bowls and dishes! 

Having first started as a home-based business, the kitchen is run by a former chef from Wan Hao Chinese Restaurant who manned the barbecue station there for a solid two years and then TungLok Signatures for another two. 

You can find a number of roast dishes that are served rice-bowl style for a convenient meal or a la carte dishes such as Roast Spicy Pork Ribs ($42.90), Cantonese Roast Pork Belly ($15/30) and Signature Spicy Char Siu ($12/24). They also have Herbal Chicken with Fragrance Rice ($9.90), Peking Grilled Chicken with Fragrance Rice ($9.90) and Fried Mee Siam ($5.90) on the menu, along with a series of beverages. 

My top pick among the bowls I tried was definitely the Cantonese Crispy Roast Pork Belly with Fragrance Rice ($9.90). The sio bak had a distinctly crispy crackling atop a balanced proportion of meat and fat. Each piece was pleasantly salted and best eaten with the aromatic rice that was reminiscent of chicken rice. The grains weren’t too oily and certainly lived up to its name. 

I also loved the punchy chilli which had a sour tang – perfect for dipping the roast pork in! 

The bowl also came with a hanjuku egg that was cooked to perfection, yielding a beautiful, half-runny yolk in the centre. One bite into it and you can instantly tell it had been marinated for a substantial amount of time. There was also a side of homemade achar, which wasn’t as pickled as I would have liked but it made the meal more balanced. 

The Signature Spicy Char Siu with Fragrance Rice ($9.90) comprised char siew that’s unlike the usual char siew you’d find in most hawker centres and coffee shops. The thinly-sliced pieces of pork belly were neither sweet nor savoury and felt like a mesh between the two, with the taste of black pepper coming out on top amongst the other spices it was seasoned with. It’s definitely something different that you can try if you’re on the lookout for something new! 

Recommended to me by the owner of the eatery, the Deep Fried Har Cheung Chicken with Fragrance Rice ($9.90) features super-duper tender chicken crusted in a delicate prawn paste batter. While I would have preferred a much more prominent oomph from the prawn paste as someone who favours strong flavours, I have to give praise to the juicy chook itself. This one came with a side of sweet chilli but I felt that the chicken fared well on its own (and of course, with the rice). 

Each bowl came with a small bowl of soup that was rather refreshing with slightly sweet undertones and helped with cleansing your palate between each mouthful.

Amongst the cold beverages on their menu, the Honey Lemon ($2.50) was dyed with a vibrant purple  (tasted no different from a regular honey lemon drink, though). The Frothy Coffee ($3.50) was a more interesting choice, with a slightly sweet liquid base topped off with bitter coffee foam. 

The price tags are a bit on the heftier side at Ten Tenths, but it’s quite a good find in Havelock 2 for sure. 

MissTamChiak.com made an anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.

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