Established in 1974, Westlake Restaurant 西湖小吃 is a popular zhi char restaurant in the Farrer Road / Bukit Timah area that has withstood the test of time. We had not dined in the restaurant in quite a while. So it felt like yesterday once more when we went there recently.
西湖小吃 Tze Char Restaurant at Farrer Road
While the neighbourhood around Westlake restaurant has changed a lot over the past 50 years, Westlake has remained largely the same. Our last post on this restaurant was in 2020 during the COVID period. The convenient phone in and collect method of arranging for takeaway food was most convenient for us during that difficult period of social distancing.
It is still a low frills restaurant with a simple decor. Plastic chairs and big round tables with lazy susans are a familiar sight. The only luxury is the air-conditioning.
Westlake Restaurant Menu
There are many food choices available from the extensive Westlake Restaurant menu. Familiar zhi char favourites like ngo hiang, sweet and sour pork, pork ribs and many kinds of noodles and vegetables. Those with larger budgets can enjoy crab and other seafood items.
Their signature dish is the braised fatty pork with man tou (kong bak pao). I noticed that they now have a more ‘atas’ version made with Spanish Iberico pork that costs almost double. Here are pictures of some pages from the Westlake restaurant online menu (link provided below). Where there are two or three prices, these are for S,M,L portion sizes.
What We Ate at Westlake
Of course we had to eat the braised pork bun. We ordered the regular one ($19 for 5 pieces). This is a picture of the buns. In our excitement, the picture did not properly include the pork slices which diners have to insert into the buns. The pork slices were drenched in a thick dark sauce which was most flavourful. The pork itself was very soft and fatty. Very delicious but possibly high on calories.
Also on our table were pork and prawn rolls (ngo hiang $13 for small portion). This was as good as that from any zhi char restaurant.
The roast chicken ($24 for half chicken) doesn’t look like much in this picture, but it was well received at our lunch. The reason – crisp skin and very moist meat.
Venison with spring onion and ginger ($25 for small portion) was our other protein dish. Not bad but some thought that the meat felt like it was over-tenderised.
Finally, to ensure that no one went home hungry we had claypot Hokkien noodles. This was a wonderful choice for a final dish. We ordered a small portion but it was large enough for four pax. Meat and seafood ingredients were generous. Priced at $9, this dish was the value for money dish of the day.
CDC Voucher Can Be Used at Westlake Restaurant
One final thing to note – Westlake restaurant is situated in a HDB estate which is very convenient as there are adequate car park lots at the location. Another benefit is that CDC vouchers can used at this restaurant.
Ratings:
Food: 4
Service: 3
Value: 4
Atmosphere: 3
Overall Rating: 4 TOPs 
西湖小吃 Westlake Restaurant
Blk 4 #02-139 Queen’s Road
Singapore 260004
Open Daily
Lunch: 11.00 AM – 2.00 PM
Dinner: 5.00 PM – 9.00 PM
Tel: +65 64747283
Nearest MRT: Station: Farrer Road (CC20) Exit B
The Ordinary Patrons | Real Dining Experience of Ordinary People
an independent Singapore food blog