Lai Wah Restaurant
Blk 44 Bendemeer Road #01-1436, (S) 330044
Tel : 6294 9922
Yu Sheng (鱼生） is a Chinese-style raw fish salad, commonly eaten during the Chinese New Year period. "Lo Hei", as it is known in Cantonese, or tossing the yusheng, is a CNY custom practice where family and friends will toss the shredded ingredients that made up the yu sheng into the air with the chopstick while making auspicious wishes out loud to mark the start of a prosperous new year.
Yu Sheng is a popular, must-eat dish every Chinese New Year. However, not many of us actually know that the current-day Yu Sheng is a dish invented in 1964 by a Singaporean chef.
Yusheng was invented 1,500 years ago during the Song Dynasty to celebrate the "Birthday of Man" on the seventh day of the New Year. However, the kind of Yu Sheng that we feast on during the Lunar New Year now (as seen in the photos above), is only invented in 1964 by Mr. Tham Yew Kai, the head chef then at Lai Wah Restaurant. Together with Lau Yoke Pui, Hooi Kok Wai and Sin Leong, Mr. Tham Yew Kai was named as one of the Four Heavenly Culinary Kings of Singapore some 40 years ago for their Cantonese culinary prowess and ingenuity.
Instead of using just raw slices of fish to create Yu Sheng, Mr. Tham combined the raw slices of the fish with a mélange of ingredients, including shredded carrots, turnips, ginger and jellyfish. He also created the Yu Sheng sauce through mixing plum sauce, salt and pepper. Due to the auspicious symbol associated with tossing the Yu Sheng (if you toss the Yu Sheng high enough, you’ll be able to have better luck in the New Year), Yu Sheng slowly gained popularity and other restaurants and eateries in Singapore and Hong Kong began to serve this dish.
For $20, the Yu Sheng serving was huge! The raw fish slices were sufficiently marinated to cover any fishy taste and ingredients served were fresh. The entire dish was very crunchy and delicious. It’s definitely one of the better Yu Sheng that I had tasted (though I have tasted better ones before) and definitely worth the $20 price tag!
Many times, some of the greatest restaurants/places to eat are not located in towns but in the old HDB estates. Lai Wah Restaurant is a clear example. They’ve no young pretty waitresses, but experience waitresses who can explain to you the history of the restaurant and know the dishes like the back of their hand.
