Empress Place Teochew Beef Kway Teow @ Maxwell Food Centre. Hock Lam Street Tradition Since 1921 (CLOSED)

While having morning coffee with Stella who works near Maxwell Road Food Centre, she mentioned that Empress Place Teochew beef kway teow is one of her favourite stalls there. As a beef noodle lover, I decided to have it for brunch straightaway 😄 (Update: This stall is closed since Apr 2020.)



Any beef noodle fan in Singapore would have heard of Hock Lam beef kway teow, the legendary beef noodle at Hock Lam street where Funan Centre stands today. The original stall founded by Tan Chin Sia in 1921 at Hock Lam street spawned several offsprings opened by his sons and daughters.


Photo credit: Singapore National Archives

This stall is by one of the founder's daughters Tan Sok Eng in 1971, named after the place where the stall first operated, Empress Place Food Centre (demolished). Located right beside the Singapore River, Empress Place FC was one of old Singapore's most charming hawker centres and dating hotspot.

Who remembers the once infamous smell stench of Singapore River before the clean up (initiated by then PM Lee Kuan Yew) that took 10 years (1977-1987) and $170 million? Smelling and seeing the transformed Singapore River today, I think it was the best $170 million spent.

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David Lim runs the Empress Place Teochew beef noodles stall founded by his parents at the old Empress Place hawker centre beside the Singapore River. Today, David runs the stall at Maxwell Food Centre with his daughter Melissa. Melissa is the great granddaughter of Tan Chin Sia and fourth generation of Hock Lam beef noodles. 😋 Get a taste of the Singapore hawker legend here 👉 https://johorkaki.blogspot.com/2019/12/empress-place-teochew-beef-kway-teow.html

A post shared by Tony Johor Kaki (@johorkaki) on Feb 19, 2020 at 3:03am PST

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This 4th generation Hock Lam beef noodle stall is run by Melissa with her dad, David. Melissa's grandma Tan Sok Eng is the eldest daughter of Hock Lam beef noodle founder i.e. Melissa is one his great granddaughters. The stall moved here in Maxwell Food Centre in May 2019, and they retained their old "Empress Place" name on the signboard, plus mentioned their Hock Lam beef noodle lineage.



I had the soup version with lean meat slices, brisket, tripe, tendon, beef ball i.e. everything and kway teow (rice ribbon noodles). There's also a bit of chai sim (greens), coriander, bean sprouts and kiam chai (salt preserved vegetables).



The light-medium body broth was well balanced savoury sweet with mild underlying beefiness and a subtle tangy note. Melissa used pandan leaves to moderate the beefiness of the soup, so there's a bit of characteristic sweet pandan taste and aroma in it. I like it.



Every piece of beef in the bowl was tender and juicy. The tendons were slightly soft and had a subtle beefiness (whereas in most other beef places tendons have no flavour).

The kway teow noodles tenderly soft and slurpy smooth, flavoured by the beefy soup clinging to the sweetish white strands.



Chatting with Melissa after enjoying my soupy beef noodles, I found out that they have a dry version but it is not the usual (Hainanese inspired) starch thicken beefy brown sauce type.

Melissa said her grandmother created Empress Place's own version mixing the kway teow with a blend of sesame oil, light soy sauce and house made chili sauce. I ordered the dry version to try. Melissa seeing that I just had a big bowl of soupy beef noodles, suggested that I come back another day for it. "Nevermind lah, I just treat it as dinner lo.. ." I insisted. (I bluffed, I actually have dinner later 🤭 )



Kway teow with beef everything and garnish inside with sesame oil, light soy sauce and house made spicy savoury zesty tangy (pineapple laced) chili sauce. I like it, the spicy savoury aromatic blend has a comforting, home made kind of feel - the kind we would mix ourselves when we cook and eat noodles at home.

The savoury sweet beefy bowl of soup is served separately.



Recommended for you 👍 A nice bowl of Teochew beef noodles and soup with all the beefiness I like. Unique dry version with special house made chili sauce.

I saw that they also have fried kway teow with beef but I really cannot already 😂 Have to take a rain check on that.

Melissa's granduncle Francis' Hock Lam beef noodle stall in Old Airport Road hawker centre 👈 click



Restaurant name: Empress Place Beef Kway Teow
Address: Maxwell Food Centre, 1 Kadayanallur Street, #01-43, Singapore 069184
GPS: 1°16'48.5"N 103°50'41.9"E 🌐 1.280129, 103.844979  
Waze: Maxwell Food Centre
Tel: 8754 0568
Hours: 10:30am - 8:00pm (Sat & Sun 11am - 3pm)

Non Halal

Date visited: 19 Dec 2019