Zi Char (also known as Zhi Char/Cze Char/Tze Char/Zhu Chao) is a term used to describe a wallet-friendly, home-style cuisine from a Chinese stall, which serves a variety of ala-carte dishes and leaves you spoiled for choice. Most zi char stalls are located in a non-restaurant setting like a coffee shop or a hawker centre. There are also some local seafood restaurants which have air-conditioned dining area.
Here are some of the best zi char restaurants located in the west of Singapore.
Big Eater
Much has been said about Big Eater’s KL-style hokkien mee and crabs. If you are looking for a place to eat in the Jurong West area, make a trip to Big Eater.
Blk 964 Jurong West St 91 #01-342
Tel: +65 6397 0480
Daily: 4pm – 2am
Chin Huat Live Seafood at Sunset Way serves competent food at reasonable prices. Besides the usual zi char offerings, they also have other unique dishes like Wagyu Beef on the menu.
For people who are staying in the west, Chin Huat is a great place to have live seafood. And you can enjoy your zi char meal in the comfort of an air-conditioned restaurant.
105 Clementi Street 12
#01-30 Sunset Way Singapore
Tel: +65 6775 7348
Daily: 11.30am–2.30pm, 5.30pm–11pm
Another Zhi Char restaurant that we frequent is Fortune Seafood Steamboat restaurant along Bukit Timah Road. The no-frills restaurant is air-conditioned but we usually prefer to dine outside.
887 Bukit Timah Road Singapore
Tel: +65 6469 5957
Opening hours: 11am – 2.30pm
Dinner: 5pm – 11.30pm Daily
Despite its inaccessible location, Ga Hock Seafood Restaurant has a huge following; regulars will go all the way there for a good and satisfying meal. The cze char eatery is tucked at the back of a run-down coffee shop.
794 Upper Bukit Timah Road
Hup Choon Eating House
Tel: +65 6314 5725
Daily: 4pm – 11pm
Holland Village XO Fish Head Bee Hoon
Holland Village XO Fish Head Bee Hoon is famous for its namesake dish, but not everyone knows that they do an excellent har cheong gai (prawn paste chicken). We are going out on a limb to say that this is one of the best har cheong gai in Singapore.
Jumbo Coffee Hub at Blk 19A
Dover Crescent
Tel: +65 6778 3691
Daily: 11.30am–2pm, 5pm–11pm
Keng Eng Kee Seafood Restaurant
Located in a coffee shop at Alexandra Village, Keng Eng Kee Seafood Restaurant is one of the most popular zi char restaurants in the neighbourhood. Prices have increased quite a bit over the years, but the food in general is still pretty good. Even though it is crowded during dinner every night, the kitchen is extremely efficient and you don’t have to wait long for the food.
Blk 124 Bukit Merah Lane 1
#01-136 Alexandra Village Singapore
Tel: +65 6272 1038
Daily: 11.30am –2pm, 5pm–11pm
Kimly Seafood
Kimly Seafood Restaurant is a tze char chain with many outlets around the island. It is one of the zi char places that we go to when we feel like having a simple and fuss-free meal.
Blk 346 Jurong East Street 31
Daily: 2pm – 1am
Master Crab Seafood Restaurant
Crab-lovers must go to Master Crab Seafood Restaurant which serves a fantastic salted egg yolk crab. Besides the branch at Ghim Moh Road, Master Crab also has several branches in Singapore.
Blk 19 Ghim Moh Road #01-229
Tel: +65 6314 1868
Daily: 5pm – 10.30pm
Two Chefs Eating House
Two Chefs Eating Place is a familiar name for most as it is well-publicised in the media. Most of the dishes are decent, but nothing to shout home about. However, we will return just for the awesome Butter Pork Ribs.
Blk 116 Commonwealth Cresent #01-129
Tel: 6472 5361
Mon: 5pm – 11.30pm
Tue to Sun: 11.45am–2.30pm, 5pm–11.30pm
the zhi char u recommemded mostly not nice 1
some too salty some looks nice only. i live in the west side i’ve tried mostly all…
YAYY GA HOCK!! NEED the black pepper crab and fish head curry NOW!!
West Coz Cafe at West coast plaza has very good zichar, famous for their curry fish head. affordable too! expect long queues on weekends after 6pm!
@Jiayi thanks for letting me know! Will try it soon.
for yr information,dinning at Big Eater ,you have to pay GST for your food ordered,as many zi char stalls operate at coffee shops islandwide do not levy GST.
yaye to this zichar list!
btw do you mean bk forture seafood by fortune seafood or is this a different one?
& have you tried the zichar at bukit batok east blk 279 (think it’s called Mei Chin Seafood)? would love to hear where you think it stands on your list!
You may want to try out Hua Zhu Restaurant which is near to Farrer road. It’s pretty good.
@LimBengChai Yeah I am aware of that, but thanks for leaving the comment to share the information.
@karen: Yep I am referring to BK Forture Seafood along Bukit Timah Road. Nope, I haven’t tried Mei Chin Seafood, will check it out soon!
@cherrupopper Thanks for the recommendation! Will drop by when I am in the area.
Hey! I always makan at forture too when i was in Singapore… LOVE IT!
but gosh now the wait times if you go at peak hour must wait super long man! the owner gave me a pack of their homemade sambal which ive yet to use at my supperclub!
But i think its called Forture and not Fortune?
love this post. I love sweet sour pork too, your pic on this dish is from which stall? Can you also do up a list for East Singapore?
@Goz: Hello yes you are right, it’s called Forture and not Fortune. But I put it as Fortune as quite a lot of people know it as that name.
@Ongsl: The picture of the sweet and sour pork is from Ban Tong Seafood Restaurant. Yeah I will definitely do a round-up for East of Singapore too. Will blog about it once I have tried all the places on my list.
East side? Thanks!
A USEFUL ENTRY FOR WESTSIDERS LIKE MYSELF
Thanks for the recomendations! I love Zichar and crabs!!
Big Eater at Jurong West is a regular spot for me. Tasty food at affordable price. Beer glass is ice cold as well!
Master Crab at Ghim Moh is quite costly for crab as min. order is 2 crab. And the crabs are normally quite sizable. Good for big groups.
Try the one at Bukit Panjang Blk 163. They even give free dessert after dinner ((:
I was excited to see your twitter link on best Zichar in the west…. Since the west has always been known for not having much great food! At least there are a few u mentioned which I’d love to try.
Master crab & HV XO beehoon are in my neighborhood but they are now in my blacklist: one overpriced (master) the other terrible attitude fr curly haired grouch!
Alexandra is good n I’ve tried the two chefs as well… Agree that it’s not that great!
Can you do one on the best crab Zichar place?
Thanks!
Die Die must try the Zi Char Stall at Block 2 Bukit Merah beside ABC Food Centre. The stall name after their famous “White Beehoon” dishes. Fish Maw Soup and Long Bean with Brinjal is also a must try dishes. regards
strongly recommend Ah Pang seafood steamboat at 159 Mei Chin Road food center/Mei ling street. Authentic taste.
Tried Ah Pang Steamboat seafood. Soup is really great and the food is tasty. Can say really value for money. Spend about $48 for 4 person steam boat, one prawn paste chicken and pork rip king. 159 Mei ling Street. #02-21. 12 -9pm. Close on Tue & Wed. Strongly advice to call for reservation during weekend. Tel 64768158.
There is a zi char store at Fajar Shopping centre, A Star coffeeshop. Have been operating many years, a must try dish ??? (seafood pot) very yummy. Avoid weekend, very long wait. Over all the food is yummy too…
Went to try Ban Tong but it has since been replaced by another Tze Char stall. No idea if it has moved or closed down.
@Justina If I am not wrong, Ban Tong has closed down. Which is kind of sad because I have been going there for a few years.
You must be kidding me when you failed to include the Zi Char in the kopitiam opposite Chinese Garden MRT. They have one of the best Fish Steamboat. Wait till you tried it!
818 seafood fish head steamboat is good too!
Locate at 60 jurong road track 22. It’s a very remote place as many people staying in the west don’t even know there are a zi char stall there. It is inside a bukit batok heavy vehicle carpark. It’s has two outlet too… One more outlet located at bukit panjiang block 103. A newly opened outlet. Can try.
You can try out Muay Lee Hng Seafood at 95 Toa Payoh Lor 4. They serve very good crabs, especially their chili crabs and salted egg crabs (non-fried version).
@Jackson I have been to 818 seafood steamboat a few times, but forgot to include them in this list. They are pretty decent, will add it in later!
you can try out jia wang fish head steamboat locate at blk 221 jurong east st 21 it quite ulu as it in between hdb as u cant see it from the main road ,their salted egg crab is quite gd n at reasonal price , i hardly can find tat cheap for their food
Hey dear, you should try Zai Shun at Blk 253, Jurong East St 24, #01-205, S600253. It’s got great curry fish head, freshest steamed whole fish, amazing braised pig trotters, sinful fried prawn paste chicken. Yums! Give it a shot the next time you are here in the west! Lunch is better than dinner, in my opinion.
two chef is at commonwealth cresent not drive….
Big Eater is inconsistent with their standard. They have seen better days.
I am surprised why no mention of Zai Shun. I consider them the best of the West.
Go inside trading hub near jurong central. You will find a seafood zichar that all other zichar chefs patronize!! Its abit pricey thou but the food is awesome.
As a food enthuiastic, I’ved heard quite a lot of good review and recommending this popular hawker stall including my colleague. Finally, I took my family of five and visited Ah Pang Seafood Steamboat yesterday, myself n wife, parents and my 3 years old son. From what I know from the staff, the minimum set for 2 to 3 persons is $24, so I asked the waitress wats the standard set for 4, she said $30 and we told her it’s fine for a start. Though it was quite crowded at the time, I was surprised we have our steamboat set up and served approx. in about 10 mins.
As I have seen a critics in regards to their service I was wandering will I be treated the same way cause I am not the kind of (guai guai Singaporean), if so I will definitely not give them face, but instead I was quite surprise by their friendly and prompt service. Nevertheless, it is the food I am more interested in so let me share about it. Firstly the steamboat set for $30 we’re were given 5 set of dishes and a plate of vegetables. The five sets were. Fish slices set, one set of pork slices, Fish Maw set, one set of prawns, scallop set. The veggie set is chinese cabbage mixed with Tang oh veg And 2 eggs. if I want to order extra set, I was told that it will be $6 each. As we are not the fish maw lovers( actually fish maw is quite value for money though), I asked if I can change to others and the reply was I can change it to anything that we want From chicken,fish ball, beef, clams, sea cucumber and many others I couldnt remember. So finally I choosed to change to a set of fish ball for my kid.
To be frank, all the ingredients looks fresh. I tasted the soup before the ingredients were put in and the taste is rich in flavor and yet not salty. It was hard to describe but I also taste sweetness in it but it blends very well altogether. After we put 50% of the ingredients in it and Bravo! The soup suddenly becomes incredibly tasty, like magic. One thing to mentioned about is the steamboat chille sause, definitely best choice for chiliie enthusiastic, cause it is really spicy, just that I personally felt that it is a bit more sour but my mum loves it.
We spend about 1 and a half hour there enjoying the food and conversation, in between the stove runs out of portable gas and it was noticed by the staff and they got it changed quite fast. The replenishing of soup is quite prompt too.
End of the day, I want to say, I have tried many steamboat in Singapore and Ah Pang steamboat is recently just added to one of the top of my list. Recommended!
I have a wonderful dinning experience at Ah Pang Steam boat Seafood last weekend. The soup is really fantastic! Overall my verdict is great food and great value for money. Was treated like VIP when I called to reserve seats. Our food was serve within mins much earlier than walk-ins. 159, Mei Ling Street Food center. 64768158. Closed on Tuesday.
People keep saying to me go try Ah Pang steamboat and Zhi char at Mei Ling Street and I did. The steamboat is great and the Zhi Char is equally good! Must order deep fried fish and red wine paste chicken. Really high standard of cooking and great taste. Value for money!
You should try the zi char at jurong west street 42,it’s air conditioned and cheap and doesn’t have gst. it was previously from cck 216.
I would recommend the zi char at Choa Chu Kang block 787B, the waiting time is about 30~40mins the last time i went there. It was really worth the wait. Reasonable pricing as well. I think its called 81 seafood.
Enterprise road. Efood seafood stall. Used to be at taman jurong beer garden. Food very nice and reasonable price
Do try the zi char in Kim San leng, at pioneer. Near dormitory. Not the standard zi char u can find.
There’s a really affordable and old school tze char at BUukit Batok East Ave 4 Blk 265 too! They have a good marmite pork ribs and i personally enjoyed their salted egg squid too! Do give it a try!
You should try Kai Xiang Food Centre which is located at (349 Jurong East Avenue 1 Singapore 600349?) been there quite a couple of times during weekends and they are pretty busy as usual. Food are pretty awesome, you can try their Oyster Omelette, “Hae Chor” (Prawn Rolls) and Marmite Chicken (Which usual are pork ribs). Overall spent $30-40 for 3 Pax. Can give it a try! (:
I would suggest 81 seafood, at jurong west st 42,blk 406. Theychili crab is greatand most dishes are above average. I followed them from cck to jurong west!
You should try the zi char at 818 kopitiam !!! Here’s the address: 21 bukit batok crescent, wcega tower, #02-85, S(658065) . Super nice !!! Previously from bukit batok the big heavy lorry car park there . MUST TRY the deep fried tofu & their fresh seafood . Oh my * heart eyes * ps you should do an update on best zi char agn !!
bukit batok have nice one also!!
used to locate at the “big carpark near to corporation rd turn in) now has shifted to 21, bukit batok crescent, #02-85, WECGA TOWER. S(658065). I think the number from FB is 6563 6862
The 818 seafood paradise. Famous for the fishhead steamboat and their small dishes. I think the taste all quite good, except for fried rice.
Have you heard of 99 South Buona Vista Kitchen? It’s at the Pasir Panjang side of South Buona Vista Road! 11/10 Highly recommend!
Hong keat seafood restaurant. Choa chu Kang avenue 1 opposite old keat hong camp !
Hey… I think u left out 2 chief at commonwealth…
@Lady Iron Chef -Ban Tong Seafood is back at the same location Clementi Ave 5 Blk 378..
Please go back and give us some comments on how is their food now