Menu
Daai Fo zi char
Family plates off a roaring wok, cooked by the son of a kopitiam zi char man.
Tyrwhitt Road, Jalan BesarDinner Tue–SunLunch Tue–Fri
This season
October to December, for as long as the market has them.
Shanghai hairy crab 大闸蟹
S$52 eachSteamed, with black vinegar, young ginger and a cup of hot ginger tea after. About 200 g a crab.
Claypot chestnut chicken 栗子鸡煲
S$22 / 32 / 42Kampung chicken, Hebei chestnuts, dried shiitake and oyster sauce, in small, medium or large.
Lotus root pork rib soup 莲藕排骨汤
S$9 a bowlSimmered six hours with peanuts and dried octopus. A pot for four is S$32.
Winter bamboo shoots 雪菜冬笋 素
S$18Stir-fried with preserved mustard greens, in a clean wok.
The menu
Most plates come in three sizes: small feeds 2 to 3, medium 4 to 5, large 6 to 8.
辣 spicy, can be cooked milder 素 vegetarian, clean wok
Prices in S$, before 10% service charge and 9% GST. This menu runs until 31 December 2026; seafood follows the market.
Small plates 小食
Prawn-paste chicken 虾酱鸡15
Six mid-joints in fermented prawn paste, fried twice.
Five-spice ngoh hiang 五香14
Rolled here each afternoon: pork, prawn, water chestnut, beancurd skin.
Cold tofu, century egg 皮蛋豆腐10
Silken tofu, century egg, pork floss, light soy.
Salted egg fish skin 辣 咸蛋鱼皮10
Crisp, with curry leaf and bird's-eye chilli.
From the wok 镬炒
Dry-fried beef hor fun 干炒牛河small 18medium 27large 36
Dad's recipe, unchanged: ribeye, bean sprouts, dark soy, full fire.
Coffee pork ribs 咖啡排骨small 18medium 27large 36
Glazed in kopi-o and dark palm sugar.
Black pepper beef 辣 黑椒牛肉粒small 24medium 36large 48
Cubed ribeye seared hard with crushed Sarawak pepper and onion.
Ginger-scallion frog legs 姜葱田鸡small 20medium 30large 40
Bullfrog from a Lim Chu Kang farm, old ginger, Shaoxing wine.
Sweet and sour pork 咕噜肉small 17medium 25large 33
Pineapple, lychee, and a sauce that never came out of a bottle.
Claypot & braise 煲
Salted fish tofu claypot 咸鱼豆腐煲small 16medium 24large 32
Egg tofu, minced pork, salted mackerel, garlic chives.
Pork belly, mui choy 梅菜扣肉small 20medium 30large 40
Braised four hours, with steamed mantou to mop it up.
Sesame-oil chicken 麻油鸡small 19medium 28large 37
Kampung chicken, old ginger, black sesame oil, a splash of rice wine.
Seafood 海鲜
Chilli crab 辣 辣椒蟹Market price
Sri Lankan mud crab, egg-ribboned chilli gravy, fried mantou. Ask us for today's weight and price.
Crab bee hoon claypot 螃蟹米粉Market price
Milky crab stock, thick bee hoon, a lot of white pepper.
Steamed soon hock 港蒸笋壳Market price
Marble goby, Hong Kong style: superior soy and smoking scallion oil.
Cereal prawns 辣 麦片虾small 22medium 33large 44
Butter, curry leaf, chilli padi, toasted oats.
Greens 青菜
Sambal kangkong 辣 马拉盏蕹菜small 12medium 18large 24
Water spinach in belacan sambal. Not vegetarian.
Hong Kong kai lan 素 蒜蓉芥兰small 13medium 19large 25
Garlic and ginger wine.
Sweet potato leaves 素 腐乳番薯叶small 12medium 18large 24
Fermented beancurd and garlic.
Spinach, three eggs 三蛋苋菜small 14medium 21large 28
Century egg, salted egg and hen's egg in a light pork stock.
Rice & noodles 饭面
Crab meat fried rice 蟹肉炒饭small 16medium 24large 32
Egg white, spring onion, and the wok at its hottest.
San lou bee hoon 生捞米粉small 15medium 22large 29
Pan-pressed till crisp, with prawn, egg and chye sim.
Wat dan hor 滑蛋河small 15medium 22large 29
Smoky hor fun under silky egg gravy, with sliced fish.
Steamed rice 白饭1.50 a bowl
Thai fragrant rice, refilled until you say stop.
Sweet & to drink 甜品
Orh nee 素 芋泥8
Yam paste, pumpkin, gingko. Made with shallot oil, not lard.
Mango sago pomelo 素 杨枝甘露8
Chilled, with coconut milk.
Barley, lime or chrysanthemum4
Brewed here; less sweet if you ask.
Tsingtao or Tiger12
Big bottle. A short wine list too, and corkage below.
The second fire
My father, Leong Chee Wah, cooked zi char at a coffee shop in Kallang Bahru from 1983 to 2017. I washed his woks after school, and at fifteen I started cooking beside him.
He had one rule: the fire is never too big. When I opened Daai Fo in this Jalan Besar shophouse in 2022, I put in two burners louder than his, and kept his beef hor fun exactly as he made it.
Everything else follows the market. In October it is hairy crab and chestnuts; by Chinese New Year it will be something else. Every plate still comes in three sizes, because zi char is cooked for a table, not for one person.
Bring the family, order too much, and tell me if the hor fun is not as good as his.
Kit LeongChef, and his son
Write to Kit at hello@daaifo.example
The room
Downstairs, by the wok
Forty-six seats on the ground floor of a 1930s shophouse. Round tables for two to ten turn on lazy Susans, and the kitchen door stays open, so you hear the burner roar before the plate lands.
Upstairs, a table for 12
One round table for up to 12, with its own aircon, speaker and door. Order from the menu, or let Kit cook a set from S$88 a guest. Minimum spend S$1,200 at dinner and S$500 at lunch, before service and GST.
We took the upstairs room for my mother's seventieth. Twelve of us, one table, and nobody had to shout. Jasmine T.
Weekday lunch sets
Tuesday to Friday, 11.45am to 2.30pm. One plate from the wok with rice, soup and barley, S$16. Lunch for two, S$46: two plates, greens, soup and rice. The plates change every Tuesday.
Book a table
Tables for 1 to 8, Tuesday to Sunday dinner and weekday lunch. We hold a booking for 15 minutes. For 9 or more, or the upstairs room, write to us.
Before you book
Can I bring my own wine?
Yes. Corkage is S$25 per 750 ml bottle of wine or champagne and S$40 per bottle of spirits. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays the first bottle for every four guests is free. We have proper glasses, ice buckets and a decanter, so bring the good one.
Is Daai Fo halal?
No. Daai Fo is not halal-certified. Our kitchen cooks pork, uses lard in some dishes and serves beer and wine, so we cannot serve guests who need halal food. Many dishes can be cooked without pork on request, but they come out of the same woks.
Can we bring children?
Yes, and please do. We keep four high chairs, plain egg fried rice and soup for small eaters, and the kitchen can cook any spicy dish mild. Prams fit at the ground-floor tables; the private room is up a flight of stairs, so the pram stays downstairs.
How do large groups work?
Up to 10 sit at one round table downstairs and 12 in the private room upstairs. For 13 to 30 we join tables, or close the ground floor on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Write to us a week ahead and we will suggest a menu that fits your budget.
Do you take a deposit?
Only for groups of 9 or more and for the private room: S$20 a guest, or S$200 for the room, paid by PayNow and taken off the bill. Cancel at least 48 hours ahead for a full refund; after that, we keep the deposit.
Can you cook milder, or vegetarian?
Most dishes marked 辣 can be cooked milder; ask when you order. Dishes marked 素 are vegetarian and are cooked in a clean wok without lard, fish sauce or prawn paste. We cannot promise an allergen-free kitchen, so tell us about allergies when you book.
Find us on Tyrwhitt Road
- Dinner
- Tuesday to Sunday, 5.30pm to 10.30pm. Last orders 9.45pm.
- Lunch
- Tuesday to Friday, 11.45am to 2.30pm, sets only.
- Closed
- Mondays, and the first two days of Chinese New Year.
Six minutes' walk from Lavender MRT, eight from Jalan Besar MRT. Buses along Jalan Besar stop two minutes away. Street parking on Tyrwhitt Road fills fast after 6pm on Fridays.