Brian Kennett
Amateur Chef and Boozy Traveling Foodie Extraordinaire
Sin Hoi Eating House Review: On The East Coast Road, a family favourite
Sin Hoi Eating House is simply known as Joe’s to us.. but sadly with Joe leaving, it has now gone back to its original name – Sin Hoi Eating House @ East Coast Road. Located at 187 East Coast Road. It is a cracker. One of our all-time favourites and most visited Zhi Char restaurant. We have been here with countless family and friends, it’s seriously so good and amazing value.
Plain and simple, but with such incredible food choices. There is no doubt of how good this restaurant is, just look at the fact that every table is taken and people are spilling out onto the street. Literally. They have inside and outside seating, but the outside is a must as you get this vibrant experience, of the hustle of the street as well as access to some of the very best food in Singapore in my reckoning.
Sin Hoi Eating House @ East Coast Road is ranked in TripAdvisor is No266 out of 6,944 restaurants. Not bad at all for a quasi-hawker AKA Zhi Char.
It’s one of those restaurants that is about 70/30 in terms of locals to Angmo – another great sign to me of food quality. It’s also family, family, family. We ate there recently – 5 adults and 2 kids. The table was filled with the food below.
Sin Hoi Eating House Rating
Islifearecipe is giving Sin Hoi Eating House a 5/5, it’s our Michelin Star restaurant in Singapore. Hey if you’ve been coming to the same restaurant for some eighteen years what do you think? How could it not be? These guys are family and we love their food, sometimes it feels like you are eating dinner at their family table: we LOVE that!!! Thank you Sin Hoi Eating House.
Sin Hoi Eating House Menu
We drank copious amounts of icy cold Tigers, and the bill reached a staggering $150. Nice job Sin Hoi Eating House @ East Coast Road. Works for me in a big way. So what did we eat on this occasion.
Baby Kai Lang stir fried with garlic. Gently done so just cooked, slightly wilted but still crunchy. Nicely garlic, and again because stir-fried you get an amazing smokiness to the dish.
The smoky stir-fried rice. Little shrimp and cubes of char shiew pork finish this off. Job well done to the guys in the kitchen.
Kang Kong in a spicy sambal sauce. You can taste the freshness of the vegetables and then get the kick of the spice. Nice!
Baby octopus deep-fried. Now I can not tell what this tasted like as I did not eat any of it (bad experiences of baby squids when in Japan). But the plate was cleared completely. No doubts there then from the table.
Butter prawns with the uniform off. Took a while for me to grasp this one when Joe stated it. Yep simply means de-shelled so no messy fingers. These were wonderful, buttery but deep-fried so with a crispness but sweet and soft in the middle. Delicious.
My personal favourite is at Joe’s. Simply stated as BBQ‘s pork. What an understatement. Again so smoky. A little salt and pepper perhaps. A squeeze of Calamansi lime. I deliver a challenge to someone who can serve me better. Man oh man this one is good.
And finally… You have to try these too. Deep fried prawn rolls, actually pork mince and prawn. Deep-fried until crispy, and moist inside and served with a sweet dipping sauce. Woo Hoo folks, yet again another winner at Joe’s.
So my friends if I were you I would make a bee-line to this place, it truly is worth it. Sin Hoi Eating House @ East Coast Road. Say hi to Joe’s family from Islifearecipe when you do go to eat. This is a die-die must-try joint. It’s a must. Likely we’ll see you there, and if you do go you are 100% certain to – ENJOY!!!
Sin Hoi Eating House Review: Final Thoughts
After nearly two decades of turning up at Sin Hoi Sai like a family of wok-hardened regulars, I can confidently say this place has seen us at our best, worst, and hungriest. They’ve watched the kids go from bibs to beers, and still welcome us with the same cheeky banter and plates piled high with wok-kissed brilliance. Honestly, if the wok smoke could talk, it’d probably ask us to finally go home and cook for ourselves once in a while: or maybe not…
The zhi char dishes here don’t whisper; they shout—usually over the hum of hawker fans and groups clinking Tiger bottles while debating which sambal is best. The hor fun is a slippery masterpiece, the cereal prawns should come with a warning for addiction, and that salted egg anything? Let’s just say cardiologists everywhere probably use it as a case study. Every visit feels like a neighbourhood party where you’re expected to eat until your waistband regrets life.
So if you’re in Katong and fancy dinner with character, chaos, and a side of family-style gossip, Sin Hoi Sai Eating House is where it’s at. You’ll get food that makes you happy, staff that treat you like one of their own, and maybe—just maybe—a plate of coffee pork ribs that’ll make you question your life decisions up till now. Five stars, zero regrets, and all the calories absolutely worth it.
Sin Hoi Eating House Menu
Sin Hoi Eating House Address
Sin Hoi Eating House Contact Details
Sin Hoi Eating House Opening Hours
| Sunday | 4 pm–3 am |
| Monday | 4 pm–3 am |
| Tuesday | 4 pm–3 am |
| Wednesday | 4 pm–3 am |
| Thursday | 4 pm–3 am |
| Friday | 4 pm–3 am |
| Saturday | 4 pm–3 am |
What is Zhi Char Food?
Zi char, also spelled tze char, is a style of Chinese cuisine found in Singapore. It involves affordable, home-style dishes that are commonly served at local coffee shops and hawkers. Zi Char restaurants offer a diverse menu with dishes like seafood, stir-fries, noodles, and more. Popular zi char places in Singapore include Keng Eng Kee Seafood, Kok Sen Restaurant, and J.B. Ah Meng Restaurant. But, our all-time favourite is Sin Hoi Eating House.
Zi Char holds cultural significance in the local food scene, reflecting a mix of flavours and influences in a casual dining setting: just with maybe a fan, aircon, and uyou won’t get wet if raining…