Lau Sim Shredded Chicken Noodles: You are only allowed a maximum of 7 giaos!
With Amagada and SCS butter
Shredded Chicken Noodles with Fish Dumplings (Her Giao)
There is a popular saying amongst the Hokkiens that Teochews are very "Hao Lian" (Proud). Well, when you meet a hawker like the Mr Sim, you can't help but agree that there is some element of truth in it. Having blogged so many hawker stalls, it is inevitable that when I chance upon a hawker that is a bit of a Food Nazi, there is a very big chance that he would turn out to be a Teochew.
But it is good to take pride in the food that you serve, because it is only that pride that keeps you from taking short cuts in the preparation process. The Teochew "Her Giao", which is a dumpling made with minced pork and dried sole wrapped in a skin made almost entirely of fish meat, is a labour intensive dish which many hawkers have decided to outsource to a supplier. You can't blame them really. In order to make the skin, you have to debone the yellowtail, take all the meat and knead it till it can be rolled out as a paper thin sheet. It is not something one would do unless he is a little "Hao Lian" about his food.
This stall is the kind of stall which I get very excited about blogging. SCS Butter has been telling me about this place for months, but he never mentioned about how the owner does business here. Situated in an old style coffeeshop with that classic old black and gold wooden signboard, you would be likely to give it a pass unless someone had told you about the stall. And even if you had just stumbled upon the stall and ordered a bowl of noodles, you probably wouldn't make the effort to return there again. That is because the chicken noodles are pretty ordinary and it is only the Her Giao and the Fish Balls which are exceptional. But if you just went up to the uncle and asked for a bowl of noodles you are not going to get any Her Giao. He only gives it to the regulars and for those people who actually ask for it.
That is not all, he imposes a restriction on how many Her Giao you can actually buy! So here are his rules:
Now, he is not mean about it or anything like that. He just feels that he can only make so many Her Giao per week and he needs to make sure that customers that come to eat his Her Giao gets to eat something when they come to the stall. And he also feels that if you eat 7 Her Giao you probably reach the point of diminishing returns so you would get less enjoyment from the Her Giao as you start getting too full.
Special Her Giao 70cents each
So just how special is this Her Giao? Well, it is quite a different style of Her Giao from what I have been eating all along. The skin is rather chewy but somehow increased masticatory work you have to do brings out that extra "pangness" of the fish. Unlike other Her Giao, this one is packed full of the meat filling which has lots of "Ti Poh" (fried sole fish) in it. So if you love Ti Poh, you are going to love this. The soup here is very special too. It is almost milky white because of all the pork bones used to cook the soup. He does use a bit of msg in the soup but he has a money back guarantee should you feel thirsty within 3 hours of drinking the soup. 4.5/5
The chicken noodle as I have already alluded to is really quite ordinary. 3.75/5. But you need to order a bowl in order to order the Her Giao, so really, you have no choice but to eat it. SCS Butter was telling me that the Fish Balls at this shop is really quite special as well. They are only available on Fridays to Sundays and usually get sold out by lunch time. According to Mr Sim, the best time to eat the fish balls is at around 10.30am. If you come too early, the fishball would be a little more salty as they have not been soaked long enough and the texture is not as good. At 10.30am, the fish balls are just right.
Conclusion
This Her Giao is really quite special and coupled with a friendly Food Nazi, it was a really great eating experience.
Lau Sim Shredded Chicken Noodle
Tai Thong Coffeeshop
1 Tai Thong Crescent
Singapore 347835
96663183
7.30am to 1330pm
Closed on Mondays
15 comments:
One possible way to get into his good books...remove your tie.
SCS butter
How come? You mean this guy is anti-establishment too?
ive been eating this stall since i was a kid coz they were previously situated in my grandpa's coffeeshop...
sad to say that his mother's noodles were definitely way way better...i find that hes very stingy with the ingredients...
his mum used to have the most delicious braised mushrooms added to the noodles...and it was all for a good price...
i used to sit at the coffeeshop and watch all the SBC (what mediacorp was previously known as) stars eat her noodles..haha but i gotta admit that the her giao is indeed different..
Thats a stall I've passed by a couple of times but the chicken noodles looked very normal. Thks for letting out about his giao. Now he's gonna limit them to one!!!
The giao sounds so special...whatsmore no extra add-on. This is what I really like to try when I visit S'pore.
sorry about the re-post.
im surprised he allows media coverage. i thought he has strict rules on that. and i never get 2 giaos .. its usually one fishball on fri-sun or a chicken dumpling(?) -- wrapped in a normal yellow wanton skin.
his fishballs are what i find heavenly. the texture is so soft that it simply breaks down with one bite.
ooh! haha... i've been eating here since i was young! definitely a regular. I always get special order when I go there with my aunt. They have the best her giao. The kway teow soup is nice and I always add their chilli sauce into the soup. The mi fen is also supposed to be good.
So CK, when you coming to Singapore? Now Air Flights so cheap you can just pop by anytime.
Ruth, yes he shuns the media. But I went there with SCS Butter and we don't look very much like media people.
err...media people got look one meh...
perhaps i should change to lurpak butter hor...tink lurpak taste better hee hee
maybe we should have a vote on favorite butter thingy..
scs butter
honestly my bf and i were quite upset he got featured here. we are worried that he'll get a sudden influx of customers.
cuz the more customers he gets, he gets more cranky and his noodles somehow wont taste as good.
wahahaha... he has his mother's temperament. it didn't stop her noodles from always tasting good though. that's the difference... ah... i miss her.
This is the second straight day I came across your blog. Yesterday I read a sexist comment and today it's one that perpetuates racist (or is that dialectist?) beliefs. Just like a couple years back when I consulted an Indian GP here and she blurted that she don't understand why Chinese loves to eat very hot food and therefore have a high incidence of tongue cancer?! I truly am surprised by how some better educated Singaporeans behave.
I think you got the wrong blog!
Hi Leslie,
remember IDIOTS come in all shapes, sizes and varieties. Cowards who don't even have the decency to leave a name behind should be ignored.
GOD Bless.
Sorry, my bad - the sexist is another famous blog but still this is one incidence too.
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