Pao fan (‘submerged rice’ in Mandarin) is a menu staple for several higher-end Chinese and seafood restaurants in Singapore, often served with decadent ingredients like lobster and crab.

Lately, however, the comforting dish seems to be making its way into the heartlands (we recently reviewed two other pao fan stalls). Chan How Mun, 51, is one of the latest hawkers to embrace the trend when he opened Mun’s Seafood Pao Fan in a bright and clean Ghim Moh kopitiam two months ago.

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The Malaysian-born chef, who spent three decades at top Chinese restaurants such as Wah Lok Cantonese Restaurant at Carlton Hotel (where he worked for 17 years), Feng Shui Inn and Prosperity Court at Resorts World Sentosa and the now-defunct My Humble House by TungLok, picked pao fan to be the signature dish of his first independent venture to showcase his mastery in broth preparation.

The ex-sous chef says the pandemic presented an opportunity to branch out on his own. “When the pandemic started affecting the hospitality industry, I felt like it was time to try something new and start a small business on my own,” How Mun shares. “A friend told me about a stall vacancy here and I came to take a look. I liked the environment and ended up signing the lease soon after.”

“I’m very familiar with making broths from my years of experience as a Chinese chef. The restaurants I worked for used to serve pao fan, and I believe I can offer an affordable version of what is typically a luxury dish found at high-end restaurants,” he adds.

Eschewing atas pao fan broth, which may be rendered from crustacean shells or high quality fish bones, How Mun opts for simplicity by only using two ingredients: pork bones and carrots.

The former is simmered for about five hours into a stock, while the latter is added for sweetness and to give the broth an appetising orange hue. The result is a light, clean-tasting broth that is similar to the comforting concoctions made by our mothers.

“As a Cantonese, I want to serve a simple, traditional broth that can pair well with both seafood and pork toppings that are on my menu,” says the reserved chef.

Mun offers three types of pao fan: the signature Seafood Pao Fan ($6.90), an all-pork Mixed Pork Pao Fan, ($5.50) and the most affordable Fishball Pork Pao Fan ($4.50). If you’re fond of Malaysian-style noodles, make sure to try the stall’s noodles as well: there’s the classic Fishball Pork Noodle ($4.20), Ipoh Mixed Pork Noodle ($5.50) and Seafood Noodle ($6.90), which is essentially their seafood pao fan served with noodles instead of rice.

This signature dish offers an impressive variety for under $7: you get a scallop, two big prawns, lala and snakehead fish slices. While the scallop may be the first to catch your eye (How Mun serves it on the half shell), the fresh, plump prawns are what we enjoyed the most in the dish. Other supporting flavours come from the crispy deep-fried rice grains, which provide a nice nutty crunch, and chopped coriander stalks, which offer a punchy, aromatic kick to the dish.

If you prefer a more intense, full-bodied soup, this is probably not for you. The allure of How Mun’s broth is in its light, restrained flavours, which allow the fresh seafood ingredients to shine – you can finish an entire bowl of soupy rice without feeling overwhelmed.

Despite its name, Mun’s Seafood Pao Fan offers an all-pork version on the menu as well. “There are a lot of elderly residents in this area so I wanted to offer something that is more appealing to them. Our Mixed Pork Pao Fan has been very popular among my older customers,” explains How Mun.

Variety is again the selling point of this dish. How Mun makes his own paste using an 80-20 mix of fatty and lean pork, and drops spoonfuls of them into the simmering broth to cook into pork balls.

You can also find pig intestines, meatballs and lean pork slices in this dish – we like how it reminds us of our favourite old-school pork porridge, but with a heartier texture from the soaked white rice instead of mushy grains.

Warning: How Mun’s noodles are definitely not for the health-conscious. Formerly from Ipoh, he has brought the city’s style of savoury, dry-tossed noodles here. The yellow noodles are lusciously slicked with pork lard and heavy on the dark soy sauce, which makes them all the more yummy, and the accompanying mixed pork soup features the same toppings you’d get in the Mixed Pork Pao Fan. The noodles also come with a generous sprinkling of crispy pork lard – resistance is futile.

We enjoyed the homely, comforting pao fan here, but don’t go expecting a big hit of umami in the pork-driven soup like in some of the versions from other stalls. The fresh, generous seafood toppings somewhat make up for the lack of rich brininess in the broth. Overall, the food here will probably appeal more to older folks with lighter taste buds.

Mun’s Seafood Pao Fan is at #01-01, 25 Ghim Moh Link, S270025. Open daily 10.30am-8pm. https://www.facebook.com/munseafoodpaofan/.

Photos: Kelvin Chia

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