Beng Thin Hoon Kee Hokkien Restaurant at OCBC Centre – still great after all these years

Beng Thin Hoon Kee Restaurant 茗珍奋记菜馆 at OCBC Centre (Chulia Street) is a famous Hokkien restaurant in Singapore that has been around since the ’70s. We had lunch there recently after a long break.

The History of Beng Thin Hoon Kee

No, “Hoon Kee” in the name has nothing to do with cigarettes. The history of this Hokkien restaurant at OCBC is narrated in detail in Hungry Onion, a website we came across when searching for information on the restaurant. According to this source, the founder, Lim Yew Hoon emigrated to Singapore from Fujian, China in 1940. He settled on Hokkien Street in Chinatown, where he took on odd jobs. Together with friends, he started a small eating house which they called Beng Thin, serving Hokkien cuisine. Subsequently, he added his own last name to it, calling it Beng Thin Hoon Kee (“kee” meant brand) when he became the sole proprietor. One of his regular customers was the chairman of OCBC Bank. After the OCBC Centre was completed in 1976, the Chairman convinced Lim to move his restaurant into the building.

The restaurant is located on level 5, the top floor of the carpark podium block at OCBC centre. Use the carpark lifts (do not use the lifts that go to the bank offices) to get to the restaurant. The restaurant has been there since 1979. It has been a long time since we last visited them. The premises look even better than we remember it to be. I believe they renovated it some years ago.

Beng Thin Hoon Kee Menu 2024

Here are some pictures from the Beng Thin menu. It is good to see that the classics are still there. In fact they have compiled some of these into one of their set menus. We did not try that menu on this visit. We had only three things on our minds on this occasion – the three dishes that we still had fond memories of – the duck salad, oyster omelette and Hokkien mee.

The Famous Duck Salad

The Beng Thin duck salad ($20 for a small plate) was first nicely presented with the ingredients spread out like a sunflower (picture above). The server then tossed up the shreds of vegetables and fruit (I believe cucumber and melon) and duck and mixed them all up with the a sweetish sauce. The combination tasted as good as we remembered it to be. The small portion is enough for two or three diners.

Oyster Omelette – Sweet and Crispy

Next on our table was the oyster omelette ($18 for small plate). Some types of Singapore oyster omelettes are oysters fried in eggs or in a flour mix. The Beng Thin omelette does not fall squarely into either category. The small but fat oysters were fried with a thin film of flour which were airy thin. The sweetness of the oyster and crisp flakes made this a very rewarding snack. The small portion is best shared by no more than two diners.

Rich, Dark and Tasty Hokkien Mee

Another top hit of this restaurant is the Beng Thin Hokkien mee ($18). This one is large enough to be shared by three or four hungry folks without the danger of an altercation. The thick gravy, lots of prawns and lard combine with the noodles to make this a dish to be remembered for a long time.

Ratings:
Food: 5
Service: 3
Value: 4
Atmosphere: 5
Overall Rating: TOPs 

Beng Thin Hoon Kee Restaurant
65 Chulia St, #05-02, OCBC Centre
Singapore 049513

Tel: +65 65337708/ +65 65332818

Opening hours: 11 am – 2.30 pm, 6 pm – 9.30 pm

Nearby MRT Stations: Raffles Place (EW14 NS26), Telok Ayer (DT18), Clarke Quay (NE5)

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