SHAO 烧 is a casual Teochew restaurant at Frankel Avenue. Located in the hip suburban enclave where there are a number of popular cafes and restaurants, SHAO 烧 serves contemporary Chinese dishes centered on roast and barbeque.
According to the website of the restaurant, the name SHAO comes from the Chinese character 烧, which is formed from the characters and 尧. 火 represents fire which is used in cooking while 尧 represents a meeting place. Hence SHAO is a meeting place where people can share and enjoy good food.
SHAO 烧 occupies the ground floor of a corner shop house. The outdoor sitting area is enhanced with enough leafy plants to make it look like a porch of an avid gardener. There are more plants indoor where the decor is fairly simple, The whitewashed walls are decorated with paintings, books and accent pieces. There is a homely atmosphere and it is easy to feel comfortable and relaxed there.
The menu of SHAO 烧 is fairly straightforward. There is a fair selection of soup, vegetables, meat and seafood as well as one dish meals of noodles and rice. In addition, depending on what is available in the market, the chef may have special dishes that are not in the menu.
Below are pictures of sections of the menu of SHAO 烧.
We visited Shao Restaurant at Frankel Avenue recently for lunch and ordered the Fried Seafood Horfun ($12) and Chef’s Special Spring Roll ($4.80 per roll). Service charge would be added to the bill but there was no GST.
While we waited for the food, Buckwheat Tea ($4 per person) was recommended to us. The tea was supposed to have all sorts of health benefits. It had a very nice aroma and we liked the taste – roasted nutty flavour.
The food was simply presented with no fancy plating. The 2 rolls of Chef’s special spring roll were cut into bite size pieces. The rolls were a fusion of Teochew spring rolls and Vietnamese rice paper rolls. The ingredients included bamboo shoots, sliced leeks, minced meat, shredded carrots and glass noodles. The wraps were two pieces of rice papers per roll, deep-fried such that there was a thin crispy outer layer and a slightly chewy layer inside. The end result was delicious and satisfying.
The seafood hor fun was quite substantial – enough to be shared by 2 persons – and came with lots of the usual ingredients. The flat noodles were smooth and soft and had wok hei. The savoury gravy thickened with egg was slurp-worthy good.
We had Yam Paste ($5 per bowl) for dessert. It was good quality orh nee that was very smooth and not too sweet – just the way we liked it.
We enjoyed our simple lunch at SHAO 烧. The place was cosy and pleasant. The service was friendly and attentive. SHAO 烧 has other interesting dishes – including Crispy Roast Suckling Pig, Pan-Fried Baby Lamb Chop, Signature BBQ Crab, BBQ Oyster, Marinated Chilled Roe Crab and White Bee Hoon Crab. We would certainly like to return to try their other dishes.
Ratings:
Food: 4
Service: 4
Value: 4
Atmosphere: 3
Overall Rating: 4 TOPs 
SHAO 烧
117 Frankel Avenue
Singapore 458232
Opening Hours: Mon-Sun: 11am-3pm, 5-11pm
The Ordinary Patrons | Real Dining Experience of Ordinary People
an independent Singapore food blog
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What so Teochew about the food, I don’t see any.
Thanks for reading our post and for your comment.
To us ordinary patrons, orh nee is as Teochew as it gets and “Popiah” is Teochew for “thin pancake” after all 🙂 Anyway, the menu of the restaurant has a modern spin but Teochew cuisine is represented by items such as Teochew style seafood and porridge.