Provenance & Chef Background
To understand Cheeky Signature’s, one must first understand its architect. Chef Darwin Wong is an F&B veteran who worked in the kitchen of two-Michelin-starred Jaan and helmed the kitchens of butter-focused restaurant Beurre as well as the French-inspired izakaya, Jidai. HungryGoWhere His trajectory is atypical for someone who would ultimately dedicate himself to a bowl of rice vermicelli. Chef Darwin explained that he wanted to offer gourmet food at affordable prices so more people can enjoy good food. Sagye Korean Pot The result is a concept that operates somewhere between a neighbourhood noodle shop and a laboratory for applied culinary science — a tension that makes every visit intellectually interesting, not merely gastronomically satisfying.
The restaurant was formerly known as Cheeky Bee Hoon before rebranding to Cheeky Signature’s, and currently operates out of three locations: Katong (37 East Coast Road), White Sands, and the newest outlet at Macpherson Mall.
The Space: Ambience & Design Philosophy
Cheeky’s interior oozes with ’70s nostalgia: rustic wooden tables, vintage photographs and posters, and a charming orange payphone next to the counter. HungryGoWhere The walls are adorned with a collection of old metal trays and other items of a bygone era, such as an old-fashioned tear-away calendar. There are Kickapoo bottles, an analog food weighing machine, and even the orange coinafon. The Ordinary Patrons The flooring is repurposed from a basketball court, and one of the benches is from an old church, adding to the nostalgic vibe. Blogger
This is not incidental décor. The design functions as an active frame for the food — a deliberate invocation of Singapore’s mid-century Chinese kopitiam culture, into which Darwin’s technically sophisticated cooking is quietly inserted. Diners are cued to experience the food as comforting and familiar, even when the techniques behind it are anything but. The restaurant is intimate: it seats about 24 people at a time, and fills up by noon. HungryGoWhere Arrive early, or be prepared to wait.
The Bee Hoon: A Primer on the Noodle Itself
Before engaging with the dish, it helps to understand the substrate. Bee hoon (米粉, mǐfěn) is rice vermicelli — thin, dried noodles made from rice flour and water, typically translucent white or pale ivory in their dried state. What makes Cheeky’s version distinctive begins before a drop of broth is applied. The bee hoon here is handmade in Sarawak — it is soft, silky, and absorbs the heady broth like a gem. Blogger Sarawak-made bee hoon is celebrated for being marginally thicker and more yielding than mass-produced industrial varieties. Under a spoon, the strands part cleanly; lifted on chopsticks, they cohere without clumping. The pale white filaments acquire a faint golden translucency as the pork bone broth permeates them, shifting hue from chalky ivory toward a warm amber at the noodle’s core.
The noodle’s behaviour is central to the entire conceptual strategy of the restaurant. As Darwin himself has explained, he infuses wok hei into the broth itself, which means he doesn’t have to first fry the noodles in a wok. This ensures that the rice vermicelli retains its original qualities in the soup, while also possessing that wok-kissed aroma. Eatbook.sg This is a meaningful departure from convention. Standard practice for achieving wok hei in a noodle soup context is to flash-fry the noodles first in a screaming-hot wok before ladling stock over them — a technique that develops flavour but degrades the delicate texture of bee hoon, making it slightly roughened and prone to absorbing excess oil. By relocating the wok hei from noodle to broth, Darwin preserves the noodle’s structural integrity while distributing the smoky aromatic quality across every spoonful.
The Broth: Anatomy of a Complex Liquid
The broth is the intellectual and sensory centre of the bowl, and it merits careful analysis. There is a strong wok hei aroma permeating the soup, punctuated by peppery notes, umami, and the rich taste of pork bone stock. Goji berries and rock sugar also add a touch of sweetness to each sip. Eatbook.sg
From a culinary chemistry standpoint, this is a multi-register broth engineered to hit several flavour nodes simultaneously. The pork bone base provides a collagen-rich, lipid-forward foundation — long-simmered bones release glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline from their collagen matrix, yielding a soup with noticeable body and a faint gelatinous quality. White pepper contributes both aromatic volatiles (sabinene, β-caryophyllene) and a slow-building heat that sits at the back of the throat rather than the front of the mouth. The goji berries, added late in the simmer, leach a subtle berry-sweetness and a faint tartness that plays against the savouriness — a technique with deep roots in Cantonese tonic cooking, where wolfberries are conventional additions to restorative broths. Rock sugar rounds the whole structure by suppressing bitterness and softening any acidic edge, a standard manipulation in southern Chinese soup cookery.
What’s unusual is the superimposition of wok hei onto this otherwise classical base. Achieving wok hei in a liquid is technically demanding: the flavour-active compounds responsible (primarily cyclopentanone and other Maillard-reaction products) are generated at temperatures far exceeding those achievable in water-based media. Darwin’s method — the specifics of which he has not fully disclosed publicly — almost certainly involves reducing portions of the stock over extremely high heat or applying flame-contact techniques before recombining with the main broth. The result, multiple reviewers confirm, is a soup that had a nice balance, with slight peppery notes and a more sweet than savory profile, with the beehoon absorbing the broth wonderfully. Nickblitzz
The Full Bowl: Cheeky Signature ($11.90) — Component-by-Component
Lala (Manila Clams) These are perhaps the most celebrated topping in the bowl. The lala were described as among the biggest ever seen — they absorbed all the goodness from the broth, complementing their natural salty taste. Sagye Korean Pot Clam proteins denature rapidly in hot liquid, so freshness is critical; overcooked lala become rubbery and contract, losing their bivalve sweetness. When properly timed, the flesh is firm-tender, yielding under slight pressure with a mineral salinity that amplifies the umami of the pork base. The shells also contribute — bivalves in hot liquid release their cooking liquor into the surrounding broth, minutely deepening the soup’s iodine-threaded complexity.
Meatballs with Tee Poh Tee poh (底鱼, or dried flatfish) is a traditional Teochew flavouring agent made from dried sole or flounder. Ground into the meatball mixture, it contributes a roasty, dried-seafood glutamate-hit without perceptible fishiness. The pork meatballs are firm and well-packed HungryGoWhere, retaining a dense, springy QQ texture. The tee poh stuffing means each ball delivers a flavour crescendo — a back-note of umami intensity that the plain broth alone would not achieve. Visually, the meatballs are a pale taupe-grey with faint browning at their pressed surfaces.
Cabbage Briefly simmered in the bowl, the cabbage softens to a silk-edged translucency — its exterior layers collapsing while its inner core retains a vestigial crunch. It functions primarily as a textural counterpoint and a mild sweetness foil to the peppery broth.
Minced Pork Cooked directly in the soup in loose clusters, the minced pork takes on the broth’s flavour profile entirely, operating less as an independent flavour contributor and more as a textural modifier — adding soft, granular meat-matter that thickens each spoonful.
Fried Shallots & Goji Berries The goji berries and fried shallots added a soft bite with sweetness that only accentuates the soup further. HungryGoWhere The shallots bring a caramelised, allium bitterness that contrasts against the broth’s sweetness; the rehydrated goji berries are plump, slightly chewy, and faintly tart — tiny red punctuation marks scattered across the bowl’s surface, deepening toward burgundy as they absorb the stock.
The Dry Braised Pork Bee Hoon ($8.80)
The dry preparation reveals a different facet of the same noodle. The noodle tastes like thick rice vermicelli, has the chewy, bouncy “QQ-ness” of Taiwanese noodles, but is curly and soaks up the spicy-savoury sauce like instant noodles. HungryGoWhere The braised pork slices are a blend of lean and fatty cuts, with a sweet savoury dressing plus bits of crispy pork lard, which provided a contrast of flavours and textures. The Ordinary Patrons The fat in a well-braised belly — when reduced correctly — melts into the sauce, creating a lipid-emulsified coating on each noodle strand that gives a glossy hue and extended mouth-feel. HungryGoWhere describes it as producing quite the sensorial experience when the tasty fats meld with the sauce and noodles. HungryGoWhere The dish comes with a bowl of the signature broth on the side — the customer’s triage tool for managing noodle moisture as they eat.
The Dry Mee Pok
A newer addition, the dry mee pok is Darwin’s experiment in noodle diversification. Marked by broader, almost silkier flat noodles, piquant chilli sauce, and chunky pork lard, this dish complements the soup nicely while having just enough to set it apart from most dry mee pok renditions. Eatbook.sg The broader ribbon noodle surface captures sauce differently from bee hoon — its planar faces holding the chilli emulsion in a thick, even coat rather than threading it through. The pork lard, fried to golden amber in colour, contributes what lard always contributes: aromatic fat-soluble compounds, textural contrast, and a comfort register that functions almost neurologically on the Singaporean palate.
The Sliced Fish with Minced Meat ($8.80)
The fish slices impressed with how fresh and tender they were, and how well they soaked up the broth’s incredible flavour. The kway teow had a firmer bite than most, and it remained so even after sitting in the soup for a while. Eatbook.sg The kway teow substitution here is an interesting textural pivot — compared to the silky bee hoon, its flat, opaque white ribbon has a more resistant bite and releases starch into the broth, progressively thickening it. However, the reviewers note that without the lala and tee poh meatballs, the dish sacrifices considerable umami depth. The sliced fish — presumably batang or snapper — is pale white with ivory flecks, its delicate flesh structure well-suited to the gentle simmer but unable to replicate the mineral-savoury contribution of the bivalve.
Side Dishes
Fresh Crab Handmade Dumpling ($4.80) The dumplings were generous in size and fillings — sweet and juicy with a pleasant seafood flavour from the fresh crab meat, with bits of water chestnut providing a nice crunch. MiddleClass The water chestnut is a textural masterstroke: its cellular structure resists softening even in hot liquids (due to heat-stable cell walls cross-linked by ferulic acid), ensuring that the dumpling retains both a chew from the wrapper and a snap from within. The crab meat itself gives a pale golden sweetness against the translucent dumpling skin.
Tempura Lotus Root ($3.80) The lotus root cross-section — a visually striking white disc perforated by the rhizome’s characteristic air channels — when battered and deep-fried achieves a double-textured effect: the outer batter is crisp and golden-brown, while the root interior remains starchy-firm rather than soft, providing a structure the batter alone cannot. It is a relatively simple side, but the lotus root’s netted interior makes for an unusually photogenic slice.
Cheeky Satay ($1–$1.20/skewer) The satay, added more recently to the menu, was chunky, smoky and tender — the kind of satay that makes you wish you ordered more. Thewackyduo Earlier reviewers noted it may be slightly over-tenderised, losing some of the textural resistance that makes satay satisfying; this is perhaps the one area where Darwin’s fine-dining instinct toward softness works slightly against vernacular expectation.
Recommended Broth Recipe (Home Approximation)
While Darwin’s exact method remains proprietary, the following framework, drawing from established Singaporean and Cantonese bone broth traditions, approximates the key flavour principles:
For the stock base: Blanch 500g pork bones in boiling water for 5 minutes, discard the liquid, and rinse. Return to a clean pot with 1.5L cold water, bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer. After 90 minutes, add a small handful of dried goji berries, a teaspoon of rock sugar, and white pepper to taste. Simmer a further 30 minutes.
For the wok hei infusion: Transfer one cup of the finished broth to a small cast-iron pot or wok. Heat on maximum flame until the broth begins to reduce and caramelise at the edges — approximately 3–4 minutes. Recombine with the main stock. This creates Maillard-derived smoky compounds that approximate wok hei without frying the noodles.
For the noodles: Soak dried Sarawak bee hoon in cold water for 20 minutes. Blanch in boiling water for 30–45 seconds only — do not overcook. Drain and place in serving bowl. Ladle hot broth generously.
Toppings: fresh clams steamed open in the broth (2–3 minutes), pork meatballs stuffed with a pinch of ground dried flatfish, minced pork dropped loosely into simmering stock, fried shallots, and a few rehydrated goji berries.
Delivery: What You Need to Know
Cheeky Signature’s is available across multiple delivery platforms, and the experience draws a frank picture of the dish’s limitations in transit.
Oddle Eats offers island-wide delivery from Cheeky Signature’s, reaching areas including Jurong, Woodlands, Tampines, and Punggol. Oddle Eats The restaurant is also available on Foodpanda across most of its outlet locations (East Coast Road, White Sands, Macpherson Mall, Thomson Plaza, Sim Lim Square, Tampines Mart). GrabFood listings have also been reported.
However, delivery feedback reveals consistent structural challenges with soup-forward dishes: customers report packaging issues and soup spillage, with bee hoon in delivery being overcooked and portions inconsistent. foodpanda At the Macpherson outlet, some customers noted portions felt smaller than average on delivery, though the taste was generally still praised. foodpanda
Verdict on delivery: the soup version is poorly served by a 20–40 minute transit — the Sarawak bee hoon, which is the dish’s star, continues to absorb broth and softens considerably, eventually losing the silky-firm texture that defines the dine-in experience. The dry mee pok or braised pork bee hoon travel better, though these too dry out if gravy is insufficient. For first-timers, dine-in at the Katong outlet is strongly recommended. Delivery is best reserved for those already familiar with the dish who understand what they are getting.
Final Assessment
Cheeky Signature’s occupies a genuinely unusual position in Singapore’s food landscape. It is neither hawker nor restaurant in any traditional sense — it is the product of a formally trained fine-dining chef who has chosen to apply technical sophistication to an aggressively affordable, deeply nostalgic format. The wok-hei broth technique is the most intellectually interesting element: a method that solves a structural problem (how to infuse smoky flavour into a delicate noodle without degrading it) in a way that reveals the chef’s professional background without advertising it.
The dish scores on nearly every dimension — flavour complexity, textural variety, ingredient quality, and value — and is undermined only by the unforgiving delivery context that strips its best qualities in transit. If you can go in person, go. If you must order delivery, go dry.
Recommended order: Cheeky Signature soup ($11.90) dine-in, Fresh Crab Handmade Dumpling ($4.80), water chestnut longan drink ($3). Allow the bowl three minutes before eating to let the broth fully permeate the noodles.
Outlets open daily 10am–9pm. Not halal-certified. Reservations available via Chope for the Katong outlet.