City Rio Cafe - simple duck egg char koay teow

My search for a simple plate of char koay teow , led us here .

Didn't want anything fancy ( except for duck eggs ) , wasn't looking for big prawns ( yet they had to be fresh or else ) , and I absolutely do not tolerate gutter oil ( this one passes the test )

Anyway , lemme fill you in a little bit of history on this place .

From what I heard , there used to be one very famous ckt stall right opposite the Esplanade padang , somewhere at the end of King's Street , where Great Eastern is today .

This stall wasn't up yet then . But when that famous place eventually closed somewhere in the late 60s , this newcomer won a lot of loyal fans .

While this man today has taken over his father's place , he is said to have been by the old man's side for a long time already , helping out at the stall .

Which shows you that he is not one of those shotgun takeovers by right of lineage , but he has earned his stripes like every good protege cook , learning the hard , old fashioned way . No , this man is not here by means of a shortcut . 

Yet , when my plate arrived , I could not help but draw comparisons to KL ckt . You know , the version of char koay teow from the Klang Valley .

Which means that once upon a time , Penang ckt did taste like this , not sweetened with sugar and caramalised over the fire , but fluffy , slightly oily , slightly salty and a little bit less pompous .

This version was a stark departure from the norm .

I did not detect any lard .

Yet , there were indeed more beansprouts compared to other stalls , with a maddening creamy flavour lent by the inclusion of duck eggs , only a Penang kia can coax out of a black wok .

The prawns were divine and tasty . Nothing like those rubbish dimsum parlour , jelly like undercooked specimens , favoured by many operators on the island today ( some people say those prawns are fakes , I really have no idea if that is true or not ) .

Should you feel tickled to try this out , my advise is to exclude the blood cockles as I found fault with the freshness ( no thanks to Kuala Sepetang ).

Overall pleasant and still cheap , do try to make it before 2pm or he would have packed up and gone home by then .

You might notice more people ordering the fried rice , but it did not sit well with me . You can always try though , it is a nice kopitiam to sit in after all , for a spot of people or car watching , with none of the crazy crowds .....just like back in the good old days .

Location : corner of King Street and Bishop Street