The biggest goal I have from posting about durians, is to highlight durian sellers who are honest, trustworthy, and sell good quality durians at a fair price. Using the aforementioned as a criteria for a good durian stall, then Kong Lee Hup Kee is probably the best durian stall in Singapore.
Kong Lee Hup Kee TradingLocation: Blk 440 Pasir Ris Dr. 4, #01-03
Contact: 98517753 This small stall is run by a husband and wife team, named Mr and Mrs Chia. The ambiance of this almost like a family home. With their grandson usually appearing in the background of the stall. Amazingly, Mr Chia has been selling durians for almost 40 years now. He is probably still most well-known for his Tiger Hill Durians stall, which existed on Waterloo Street, in the 1980's.
Mr & Mrs Chia work in harmony together, and really do their best to ensure the durian that you take away is of the highest quality. Mr Chia is very open to sharing his decades of knowledge on durians, and will show you exactly what you should be looking for when picking out a good durian.
D13 can be known as a 'poor man's mao shang wang' simply because a lot of its characteristics are similar to Singapore's most popular durian. Because of this reason, sly durian seller's often sell D13 under the name 'mao shang wang'. To avoid falling into this trap, study up on how to identify a real mao shang wang - The most obvious sign in the 'star' shape that is at the bottom of the fruit.
From the outside, the D88 just looks like a typical medium sized pear-shaped durian, which is pretty similar to many species. It is only when the durian is opened up, that you can behold its true glory. The flesh is stunning, with gigantic pasty yellow pearls staring back at you.
XO durian is one of the smaller durian species, the flesh is typically watery, clumpy and bitter. It is famous for having a distinctively alcoholic aftertaste.
Out of the three durians that I sampled,
D13 was definitely the sweetest. The flesh does resemble mao shang wang slightly. But it is evident the quality is vastly different. The flesh doesn't have the complexity of flavours that MSW has. The flesh is a little on the watery side, and the seed is significantly bigger than MSW. A nice light durian, but nothing too outstanding to take note of.
Price: $8.00/kg. 6/10 After seeing the
D88 inside the sytrofoam box, I wasn't expecting much from it. It looked a little raw and seemed like huge seeds were lurking underneath the flesh. However, I actually really enjoyed this durian. Although it is not as top quality as golden phoenix or MSW, it is still a great value durian, that has both excellent taste and texture. The seeds are surprisingly small, and the flesh is thick. This is not a durian you should be putting in the refrigerator - As I found that the flesh becomes too hard. The texture of the flesh is ideal at room temperature.
Price: $8.00/kg. 7/10This season I've faced a lot of disappointment when it came to finding a perfect
XO durian. Mostly, the species is guilty of being too watery. The XO durian that Mr Chia sells, however, is definitely the best I have had all season. XO is always going to be a little watery, but this durian was about 80% creamy and 20% watery - Just perfect. If you find that the texture is still too watery, then refrigerating the durian overnight will harden the flesh. Texture wise I found this XO was outstanding, the only let down was the lack of alcoholic flavour, which XO typically has. However, I did notice a dominant vanilla flavour, which was highly intriguing.
Price: $12.00/kg. 8/10Conclusion - Who would have thought that a small little stall in Pasir Ris is one of the best durian stalls in Singapore. This review has helped to highlight Kong Lee Hup Kee Trading's 'lesser' durians, which you can purchase at a more affordable price. My next review of Mr & Mrs Chia's stall will take a look at the more high quality durians that can be purchase during the main durian season.
