Penang Food Trail 5: Penang Vs Singapore Part 1

We are not done with Penang just yet. There are still quite a few stalls to recommend for those who are planning to head up to Penang.

The next two posts will cover the foods that are very similar between Singapore and Penang. So unlike Penang Laksa and Penang Char Kway Teow which are quite unique to Penang, we will be covering stuff like Char Siew Rice and Chicken Rice in the next post. In this post, it is Penang vs Singapore in Prawn Mee, Beef Kway Teow and Oyster Omelette.



I think I have to conclude that the prawns in Penang are just more fabulous than Singapore, and probably much cheaper too. So anything that they cook with their prawns is sure to beat Singapore hands down.

One of the things that you really need to try when you are in Penang is their Hokkien Prawn Mee Soup. My first mouthful and all my umami receptors were turned on to the max. It was just one of those oomph moments. The secret to the supershiok soup is the fact that they slowly boil these small little prawns till they are almost dried. At first I thought they were hae bee (dried shrimps) until they told me that they were actually fresh prawns cooked till they became these powerpacked little morsels of protein. 4.75/5


Green House Prawn Mee and Loh Mee along Burma Road 8pm to 4am

It's Penang 1, Singapore 0.



Our local foodie, CK Lam actually brought us to a few places for beef kway teow and on the last day, she brought us to this stall which is considered to be the best in Penang.

The special thing about the stall is that they serve this bit of gristle which you can't find in Singapore. You can see it in the middle of the bowl in the photo above. At first, we were told that it was the bone marrow, but when I saw it, I identified it as part of the spinal cord right away. Now, you know about Mad Cow disease right? Well, this part of the cow cannot be sold in Singapore because the virus responsible for Mad Cow disease actually resides in the brain and spinal cord. So for a time, even the Porterhouse steaks were banned from sale in Singapore because this cut of the beef also includes part of the spinal cord.



So if you like these type of forbidden fruit, you might be pleased to know that they are available in Penang. It tastes ok but it's not something I would order again. Overall, I think the beef we use in Singapore is better, so our beef soup tastes more robust than the ones in Penang which tends to be more sweet than beefy. 4/5


Located at the junction of Chulia and Lebuh Pantai

Although the prawns are great in Penang, I don't think I can say the same of the oysters. Mind you, the oysters in Singapore are not great either and I heard it is becoming difficult to get Korean oysters now, so the quality is also suffering.



The oyster omelette is almost identical to the ones that we get here in Singapore, except that the oysters were smaller. We were told that this stall is the most popular in Penang. So if that is the case, I would say that I have tasted better ones in Singapore. The omelette was well executed, there was some gooey bits and other crispy bits so the texture is alright but somehow the taste just didn't cross the threshold into sublime shiokness. 4/5


Coffeeshop at the junction of Carnovan Street/Kimberley Street

Conclusion

So there you go and surprise, surprise, its Singapore 2 to Penang 1 at the moment. Guess at the moment, the grass looks greener on our side.

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Hock Lam Beef Kway Teow: Let's Raise the Bar on Beef Kway Teow!

Minipot Shabu Shabu sets starting from $15 (All proceeds donated to Operation Smile)

I recently complained to a TV producer that she should not continue to make TV shows that glamourise $2 hawker meals. I mean, do we really want to encourage more hawkers to compete just price rather than to focus on quality?


With food prices going up, our hawkers are all suffering from lower profit margins but at the same time still under pressure to provide meals at cheap cheap prices. Our friend Liverpool of
Good Morning Nanyang Cafe is still forced to sell his cup of Kopi for $1.10 just because he is selling "Kopi" (Ya Kun already increased to $1.50 btw) while the same people won't even blink an eye to pay $5 for a cup of cappuccino at a cafe.

What we need is to change our mentality and reward hawkers who are willing to give us quality stuff rather than cheap cheap stuff. Either we do that or we risk all the good hawkers not being able to pass down their skills to the next generation. In the end we will all lose out.

I have made it my personal mission to support hawkers who are opened to new ideas and to providing better quality hawker food for us all. The fact is that even if they increase their prices, it is still cheaper than eating at a restaurant, but you derive more shiokness out of it.

So I am very happy to announce that Tina from Hock Lam Beef Kway Teow and taken on my suggestion of introducing a Shabu Shabu style Beef Kway Teow which I hope will do for Beef Kway Teow what Big Prawns had done for Prawn Noodles.

The premise is very simple. We like Beef Kway Teow, we like good beef and we also like our beef not too well cooked. So the solution to this is to provide nice Sukiyaki Grade Beef with a Mini Hotpot of stewed beef tendon, balls, tripe and you can cook your sliced beef yourself!


How often have you eaten Beef Kway Teow and wished the beef could be better?

Needless to say, the longer you cook the soup, the more "Tok Kong" (addictive) it is going to get and the slices of beef that you cook yourself just melts in your mouth and is even more shiok with Hock Lam's famous chilli sauce! 4.5/5

I prefer the soup version to the original dry version here. But you should try Tina's new "Gorn Lor" Hor Fun which is fragrant and the kway teow just leaps into your mouth. 4/5

Hock Lam will be introducing their Minipot Beef set on their 97th anniversary which is on 1 Oct (Hari Raya). And to commemorate their anniversary, they will be donating all the proceeds of the day to Operation Smile which is a worldwide movement to fix cleft palates in kids. So that is an added incentive to go down and try this very special way of enjoying one of Singapore's truly heritage foods. And, if it is well received, they might even put it on their menu!

Conclusion

I have tried very hard to convince Tina that there will be a market for better quality beef, but she is worried that consumers might not want to pay for it. How do you all feel about it? Would you like to see Wagyu beef or Karubi on the menu? Or do you want to just stick to the traditional $4 Bowl of Beef Kway Teow?

Please Note:

This special dish is only available on 1 Oct 2008 to commemorate their anniversary. However, if the feedback is good, they might decide to put it on the menu.The ieat kakis will be going there for lunch at around 1.30pm, do come and join us and at the same time support Operation Smile!

They will be opening from 10am to 3pm on that day itself.

Hock Lam Street Beef Kway Teow
22 China St, #01-01
Far East Square
62209290
90180508 (Tina Tan)



What to do next:
Read what others have to say about Hock Lam Beef Kway Teow! Very heated indeed!
See which other kakis are coming in our Forum.

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Empress Place Beef Kway Teow: Teochew Beef Kway Teow got no gravy one!

With SCS Butter


Did you realise that most of the hawker food that we are familiar with are less than a century old? It's true! A few of our most famous heritage stalls can trace their roots back to around the early 1900's. That makes it about 3 or 4 generations from then till now. There are a few very famous names which have span 3 or 4 generations and inevitably they would have created some sibling rivalry along the way. Names like Beach Road Prawn Noodle and Rochor Bean Curd immediately come to mind.

Then of course there is the famous Hock Lam Beef Kway Teow which is the subject of our discussion today. Yes, the man who made famous the Teochew style Beef Kway Teow bestowed the business to his 4th son, Anthony because he did not do so well in school. But later on the youngest son also wanted a piece of the "Hock Lam" name. So the only legitimate owner of the Hock Lam franchise is the one at China St whereas the "Popular" Hock Lam Beef Kway Teow at Purvis street is considered the illegitimate one though both are brothers and thus share in the family recipe.

But that is not all, the patriarch, Mr Tan Chin Sia also had a daughter who also decided to go into the Beef Kway Teow business, but she started selling it at Empress Place and called hers Empress Place Beef Kway Teow instead. It did very well, but unfortunately had to close down during the MadCow epidemic in the late eighties. Fortunately for us, the Brand was resurrected again in few years ago when her son decided to bring back the familiar Beef Kway Teow that he used to eat at his grandfather's stall.



So much for that little bit of Beef Kway Teow history, back to a more tasty subject.

Have you ever wondered why Beef Kway Teow is called Kway Teow even though most of the time you eat it with thick bee hoon? Well, there are really two types of Beef Kway Teow in the market, the Hainanese style and the Teochew Style. The familiar one with the thick bee hoon and thick sticky gravy is in fact Hainanese style. According to David, there are very few stalls apart from his that sells true blue Teochew style beef kway teow. True Teochew beef kway teow is never served with thick bee hoon and there is never any thick gravy. David said that his Grandfather will turn in his grave if he realised what had happened to his Hock Lam St beef kway teow.

Instead, Teochew style beef kway teow uses normal kway teow and the dry version is served with just a dash of sesame oil, soy sauce and chilli. Now I was skeptical at first, but with my first mouthful of the kway teow, I realised what I have been missing. The kway teow was indeed very fragrant and the slices of beef were cooked medium and were very tender. Unexpectedly good! My favourite was the cooked beef and the tendons which were very "pang" and had an uncomplicated beefy flavour. The soup was also sweet and robust which David attributes to having the bones simmer in the soup for over 2 days. 4.5/5

Conclusion

I tend to believe that Teochew beef kway teow was originally served this way because of the fact that kway teow is used and also that the Teochews in general prefer most of their food to be "cheng" (not heavy). So the sticky gravy I think is more likely to be Hainanese in origin. Any food historians amongst our readers who can shed more light on this?


Empress Place Beef Kway Teow
LTN Eating House
936 East Coast Road
11am to 11pm daily
Recommended by Damien

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Kheng Fatt Beef Noodles: Do You Prefer Soup or Dry?

Damien says it is damn shiok. Makansutra nominated them for street hawker masters for 2007 and they have been around since 1978. So, according to the theory of evolution, this should be good since its the survival of the fittest or should I say, the survival of the tastiest. Yes this sounds like one those stalls I need to add to my collection.

I usually eat the dry version of beef kway teow because I figured that you get the best of both worlds when you eat the dry version since you still get the soup at the side. Also the dry version has got more kick from the sticky thick gravy that covers all the bee hoon.



After all that preamble, it would not surprise you if I said "Hmmm, I thought it should have been better" OK, it is a good bowl of beef noodles but again it lacked that elusive oooomph factor. The soup was robust and sweet but it does not stand heads and shoulders above the other famous beef kway teow previously featured on the blog. Then again, I might have raised my expectations too high after all the hype. 4/5



One thing that really did stand out though was the chilli sauce with chinchaluk (shrimp sauce). Now this chilli really did redeem the situation as I really got a real savoury and spicy kick out of it.

Conclusion

Another famous Beef Kway Teow. Better than most, but not quite the Holy Grail of Beef Kway Teow.


Kheng Fatt Beef Noodles
Golden Mile Food Centre #01-89
11am to 8pm Closed on Wed

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Hai Nan Xing Zhou Beef Noodles: Damien's Favourite Beef Noodles!

With smart, liverpool, bashfulhunter, iwatch_ueat, damien and PowerAunty

Beef Kway Teow Dry $4

According to Damien, this stall sells the BEST beef kway teow in Singapore. Better than all the rest. So we had to make our pilgrimage down to Toa Payoh to try it. The stall is supposed to be opened till 7pm, so we thought that 2.30pm should be quite a safe time to visit. Lo and Behold, there was a queue of some 20 something people lining up for the Beef Kway Teow! It so happens that the day we went there was exactly the day after Channel 8 featured the stall. So by the time we got to the front of the queue, they were already sold out on the gravy for the dry version!

I wasn't going to give up so easily, so I made a return visit the following week just to try the dry Beef Kway Teow. This time I got what I wanted. Or did I?



I was undoubtedly impressed with the stewed beef tendons which were so soft it explodes in your mouth, coating your buccal cavity with its soft and gooey goodness. The beef slices were tender but the beef balls were outsourced, so they were not that special. The sauce itself was good, but maybe my expectations were too high, it did not have that oomph if you ask me. However, one lady who was a regular at the stall confirmed that the gravy that day tasted a bit watered down. I suspect that it could be due to the higher volume sold during the past week. But for now it rates a 4.25/5. Damien and other regulars of this stall might beg to differ.



The beef soup on the other hand was wonderfully robust and sweet and definitely one of the best I have tasted. 4.5/5

This Hainanese man has been selling Hainanese Style Beef Kway Teow for over 40 years. He is still remembered as the Beef Kway Teow stall from Cuppage Centre. When I asked where he learned his recipe from, he simply said that he derived it through experimentation.

Conclusion

Another Beef Kway Teow to add onto the Top Beef Kway Teow list! Definitely one of the better ones around which I am sure many fans will write in to support.

Hai Nan Xing Zhou Beef Noodles
Blk 22 Lor 7 Toa Payoh #01-06
8am to 7pm
Monday Closed

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Mr Wong Seremban Beef Noodle: The One and Only?

With smart, carnineviand and iwatch_ueat


According to the stallowner, Mr Wong, this is the one and only Seremban Beef Kway Teow in Singapore. That's according to him, but as far as we know this is certainly a very unique tasting beef kway teow.

The dry version is sweeter than the local version. Sweet black sauce and other condiments are added to the bee hoon before he adds the beef sauce. The sauce is more sweet than beefy, but I found it quite nice since I like my food a little on the sweet side. I like the peanuts and sesame seeds that you help yourself to. It is certainly very different from the other beef noodles I have eaten. 4/5



The soup version is also sweeter than our local version. The extra sweetness comes from the carrots and radishes in the soup which has got a sweet beefy aroma when it arrives on your table. I found it to be quite a satisfying bowl of soup. 4/5

Conclusion

Certainly very unique and it is probably true that it is the only one in Singapore. Good for those who like things sweeter, but if you are looking for the beefy umami rush, you might be disappointed. But overall it is still quite a satisfying bowl of beef noodle.

Mr Wong Seremban Beef Noodle
Blk 84 Marine Parade Central
#01-184
www.sbestfood.com/mrwongsbn
11am to 8.30pm daily
Closed whenever something pops up

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The Beef House: Bouncy Beef Ping Pong Balls

With liverpool, iwatch_ueat and introducing our latest makankaki, The Butcher


This is Happi Mummi's favourite Beef Noodle place and she insisted that I should blog it one day. So I hope she is looking at the pictures and drooling!

The stall is called the Beef House, but the only beef they sell are these Ping Pong Ball sized Beef Balls. This is not your run-of-the-mill beef noodle stall. It is Hakka style Beef noodles. That means you get your Beef Balls in a clear soup with thin bee hoon, kway teow, or the mee kia. They also serve other Hakka stuff like the Soon Kueh and Yong Tau Foo.

Now when I say Beef "Ping Pong" Balls, I really mean it. They were super bouncy and you get a serious temporo-mandibular joint (TMJ) workout when you bite into them. I suspect that if I do drop one by mistake that it should just bounce back up onto the table! They were juicy and had a nice beef flavour. The beef balls are still made in-house so it is no surprise that I have never tasted anything quite like it anywhere else. 4/5



They ran out of kway teow that day so I had the mee kia instead. This is the type of noodles that you typically get with Hakka Yong Tau Fu, with a season minced pork to accompany it. Boy they were good! At least one of the best mee kia I have ever tasted. QQ enough to be a delight to the bite, yet soft enough to absorb the subtle flavours of the minced pork. The noodles were so good, I am rating them separately. 4.5/5



We also tried these super large Soon Kuehs that looked as good as they tasted. Chock full of dried shrimps and turnips, they were excellent. Tastewise, I think they are almost the same as other Soon Kuehs but it is the size that really sets them apart. 4/5

Conclusion

Really very few stalls that sell this style of Beef noodles. Although I liked the beef balls, my other kakis were less enthusiastic about it. The noodles were really memorable. Liverpool said the Yong Tau Foo here is pretty shiok too but I did not get to try it because they had sold out already.

The Beef House
217 Syed Alwi Road
Gar Lok Eating House
9am to 6pm
Closed on Fridays
96654919, 98215463

Recommended by Happi Mummi
and eslim

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Hock Lam Street Beef Kway Teow: Traditional Teochew Recipe since 1911

With liverpool and iwatch_ueat


My Beef Kway Teow list would be incomplete without the inclusion of this famous stall which has been around for almost a century. Hock Lam Street is famous not only for its traditional Teochew Beef Kway Teow recipe, lately it has also become well known for having the most agreeable looking Beef Kway Teow Stall vendor in Singapore (As far as I know).

When you venture into the stall, you are greeted by a young lady whom you think could be wearing a Sarong Kabaya. When starts speaking, you'd probably wonder why she's not wearing a Citibank uniform instead. The fact of the matter is this fourth generation Beef Kway Teow vendor just happens to be an Australian Degree Holder to gave up her $10K bank job to take over the family business! So you can actually buy a bowl of Beef Kway Teow and talk about the BULL market at the same time!



Tina is adament that the receipe be preserved in its original Teochew form, so it comes with salted vegetables and plenty of ground nuts and WITHOUT the familiar Chinchaluk (shrimp sauce). The sliced beef was nice and very tender. Tina tells us that all the beef is still sliced by hand and no tenderizer is used. The stewed beef and tripe were both very good. The beef balls were nice but they no longer make it themselves. I felt the sauce could be more Shiok, but Teochew food tends to emphasize more on the freshness of the ingredients, so Teochew sauces tend to be a little more bland when compared to the other dialect groups. 4/5

Conclusion

Definitely one of Singapore's heritage hawkers and one cannot discuss Beef Kway Teow without including this famous Zhao Pai (Signboard). I am glad that Tina is ensuring that future generations will still get to savour their age old recipe.

Hock Lam Street Beef Kway Teow
22 China St, #01-01
Far East Square
62209290
90180508 (Tina Tan)

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Beef Kway Teow: Flavour that you can See! Changi Village Hawker Centre Part 4 of 6

With smart, holydrummer and iwatch_ueat


I find it the most satisfying to discover stalls which sell really great food, BUT which still does not have any newspaper cuttings or pictures of Mediacorp Stars on them! Don't let the simple, unadorned frontage of the stall fool you. Within this unassuming cubicle lies a pot of gravy so good that I gurantee you can SEE the FLAVOUR in the picture!

Before we get to that. Let's just talk a bit about the soup version. We found the soup to be sweet and robust and all the meats to be tender and flavoursome. On of the better beef soups around. 4/5



OK, let's get down to the exciting part. The dry version is the one to die for. Seriously, this is the best gravy I have ever seen and tasted! Savoury and full of bovine goodness!



Just LOOK at it! See what I mean by FLAVOUR that you can SEE? The beef strands floating in the gravy is your preview of what is going to happen when you scoop a spoonful of the gravy to put in your mouth. Think of it as Sharksfin soup but with beef instead of crabmeat! 4.5/5

Conclusion

You really call yourself a lover of Beef Kway Teow until you have tried this!


Beef Kway Teow
Changi Village Hawker Centre
#01-19
11am-11pm daily

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Hong Kee Beef Noodle Amoy Street Food Centre Part 1 of 5

Yet another famous Beef Noodle Place! This hawker has been selling beef noodles for 48 years since his father's time. They are so established they have a newspaper clipping from 23 years ago! The original stall was at Kock Street which then moved to Cuppage Centre. For the readers who still remember the Beef Kway Teow at Cuppage Centre and wondering where they move to, now you know!



I liked the dry version at this place. The gravy is excellent and the beef succulent. The beef balls are unfortunately bought from a supplier, so it tastes quite generic. Otherwise, quite a satisfying bowl of dry Beef Kway Teow. 4/5


Hong Kee Beef Noodle
Amoy Street Food Centre #01-42
63231679
Weekdays 11am to 7.30pm
Weekends 9am to 2.30pm
Closed on Public Holidays

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Bugis Beef Kway Teow - Golden Mile FC: Part 3 of 8

With fellow foodies: ieatMaMa, iwatch_ueat, genetronics.



To me Beef Kway Teow has always been one of those dishes that I ate occasionally but never really craved for.... until now. This one is so good that I cannot stop thinking about it after I got home. For your info, the Grand MakanGuru comes to Golden Mile FC specially to eat at this store. Talk about a great recommendation!




The dry version is pretty darn shiok. That gravy contains enough bovine essence to make you want to Moo.... and that's no Bull. I have never tasted a better gravy. It so savoury, so beefy, so tasty, so Shiokadoodle Doo! (Better than a Scooby snack, no, TWO Scooby snacks!) The meat really soft and tender and they don't overcook it so it is still pink when it is served.




Phwa say! Nothing more to say!




The Beef Balls are the World's Second Best (Best dunno where). They actually still make their own Beef Balls from scratch, and you can taste the results. The ball is springy and is not adulterated with flour, so you get 100% beef protein. Mmmmm... there of lots of air bubbles trapped in each ball, such that its texture is like cross between a Fishball and a Souffle. I could eat a whole bowl of these in front of the TV!

Incidentally, did you know that in order to make the balls springy, the meat is not minced but actually beaten? In the good old days, they used 2 rectangular metal batons to pound the meat. Pounding the meat straightens out the protein strands and causes the springiness. Same method goes into making Fish Balls.



Can't resist taking this picture of an old photo to show you the original stall at Bugis. The stall was started by father of the lady who now runs the stall with her husband just after the war in 1945. This picture was taken probably in the 70's before they cleaned up the Bugis Area. Bugis, as you know was famous for its Ah Kwas (Transvestites) then. Back then, Singapore was also the regional centre for sex change operations, a dubious honour that has since been lost to Bangkok.




Conclusion

If you've never been passionate about Beef Noodles, now is the time to see the light Brother/Sister! Better than the famous, Hock Lam Beef Noodles at Purvis street. 4.5/5

Bugis (Long House) Lim Kee Beef Noodle
505 Beach Road #B1-27
Golden Mile Food Centre
Mobile 9069 4916
11am -9pm daily

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