The Beef House 牛肉之家

My last visit to The Beef House was like 8 years ago and I'm pretty glad that after the pandemic period such traditional food is still around. The 2 stalls are still located side by side selling the traditional Hakka delicacies.

Hakka Yong Tau Foo and Hakka Beef Balls Stall

After about half an hour of waiting, I finally get first in the queue however they allow callers to interrupt the queue.

Hakka Yong Tau Foo

Comparing the stall that I saw the last round, the prints of media was tidier than before.

Stall of Hakka Beef Balls

Finally, we got our order in place! 2 bowls of noodles with a beef ball soup and Yong Tau Foo.

Order for the day

Do not judge the book by its cover. The beef balls in the soup make look plain and plain with stingy amount of broth but this simple looking bowl of soup still remain as tasty as before. The flavour tasted full-bodied and was filled with natural sweetness from beef bone broth. 

Beef Ball Soup - $4 

The beef balls are still undeniably chewy and bouncy with beefy flavor in every bite. These are very addictive.

Beef Ball

Every piece of YTF tasted fresh and appetizing. As you reach the bottom of the soup with the spoon, you will realize that there are a handful amount of soya beans. 

Yong Tau Foo - $4

Here comes the Hakka Noodles! The Hakka Noodle is similar to Mee Pok just that they are narrower in size. The execution of Hakka Noodles usually topped with a handful amount of minced meat. 

Hakka Mee

The special part of the Soon Kueh as compared to the usual ones we had was that the skin was made with yam.

Soon Kueh 笋粄 - $1

Soon Kueh was plump and had chewy skin. Ingredients were filled to the brim with turnip, mushrooms, shrimp, black fungus etc. 

Inside the Soon Kueh

Food is of traditional taste however the busy pace of this classic coffee shop had led to order confusion for many as they lack structure in order. To order both Yong Tau Foo and Beef Noodles, I have to repeat my order several times to both parties. They also have a unique way of serving of "dropping" a bowl of food from a certain height that creates a sound when serving to customers.

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Posted 01 December 2014

Its not easy to find specific dialect cuisine nowadays who serves Hakka Food especially those who served Hakka Dishes like Beef Balls and Yong Tau Foo but one of the coffeeshop in Lavendar had done it all at an affordable pricing.

Gar Lock Eating House

A typical looking stall with faded yellow articles from the media overlapping each other and pasted all over its stall front, this rather "out of place" beef house is really a hidden gem. Even though for its location, the seats were close to a full house when we were there and waiting time was quite some time.

The Beef House

With its bigger portion of beef balls Bee Hoon, the bowl consist of 6 beef balls and a choice of noodles. Soup and bee hoon are on run of the mill but their beef balls are definitely one of the best in Singapore. These balls are made from scratch with minced meat, handmade too thus the meatballs are not very uniform in size. Unlike those packed from the factory, these balls are fresh and free from the beefy smell.

Beef Balls Bee Hoon - $5

 The balls are big, firm and bouncy, giving a QQ texture when you sink your teeth into it. Real yummy stuff!

Beef Balls

 Besides its legendary Beef Balls stealing most scenes in the coffeeshop, they have other Hakka Dishes like Yong Tau Foo. Items from the Yong Tau Foo bowl is fixed, fresh but nothing special to me.

Hakka Yong Tau Foo - $3

 Mee Pok from the Hakka Stall is thinner than the usual ones and they were topped with minced pork meat to pair along. The noodle is slightly dry over here.

Mee Pok

Considering the price, its real value for money, especially its beef balls!

Rating: 3.5 / 5

The Beef House 牛肉之家
Location: Gar Lok Eating House, 217 Syed Alwi Road Singapore 207776 

Traditional Hakka Lui Cha

Having residing in the West side of Singapore for so many years, it hard to find a stalls that sell Traditional Hakka Lui Cha. In fact, the all time listed in my favourite list is none other than this Traditional "He Po Ke Jia Lei Cha" which already has 2 outlets for more than 10 years in the West. Perhaps if you ask the West Side Foodies, they will also name these 2 few apart from those situated in the modern food court.

Traditional Hakka Lui Cha

The dish Lui Cha or rather Thunder Rice deemed to be a healthy bowl of food that helps to dispel "wind" & moisture from the body system, improving blood circulation and aids in abdominal bloat, pain as well as nausea, a nutritional dish among healthy conscious diners.

Lui Cha with brown rice - $4

Ingredients that topped the rice is mostly vegetables, consisting of cabbages, kale, long beans, dried raddish, leek, string beans, shu zai cai and azuki beans each providing its health benefits.

Close up

The bowl of pounded tea was not too rough to the throat and gave a faint special fragrant of the basil leaves. Some may prefer to have the entire bowl of soup poured into rice and its ingredients to enjoy while some wish to consume them separately.

Pounded Tea

Once again, being quite rare among the hawkers, they are the few few better choices in the West.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Traditional Hakka Lui Cha
Location: Boon Lay Place Food Village, 221A/B Boon Lay Place #01-96 Singapore 642221

Thunder Rice Tea

One of the famous stalls during the busy lunch hours, Thunder Tea Rice, originated from the Hakka Cuisine and also a healthy option for the health conscious diners.

Thunder Tea Rice

The green bowl of soup is a mixture of tea leaves and herbs grounded, adding liquid with various roasted nuts, seeds as well as grains. It is then poured into the bowl of rice to achieve a complete dish.

Lei Cha aka Thunder Tea Rice - $5.50

Deliciously healthy and you can bid goodbye to constipation as they are rich in fibre. The usual ingredients would make up of anchovies, peanuts, lettuce, cut french beans as shown below. One can opt for either brown or the normal white rice.

Thunder Tea Rice

So are you game enough to try such cuisine out? It has a strong scent of herbs, basil leaves in the tea mixture. Portion is generous and such combinations has given the dish a mixture of textures with its variety of flavours.

Thunder Rice Tea

Every spoonful is addictive given that the tea mixture was not salty and most importantly a healthier meal. It is also hard to come by a stall selling such rare cuisine nowadays.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Thunder Rice Tea
Location: Lau Pa Sat Festival Market, 18 Raffles Quay #01-26 Singapore 048582