The Hakka noodles which are like mee pok but slightly narrower, thicker came in a separate bag from the sambal sauce. By themselves, the noodles looked anaemic but once tossed in the sambal sauce, it showed us its true colours. It looked fiery and intimidating, and we can smell the lard as we tossed and folded the noodles.
They tasted so good!
The noodles lost a bit of firmness in transit but we can still feel a tender spring in the bite. The sambal and lard combined to coat each strand with a delicious savoury spicy lardy flavour. The little bit of fried minced pork buried in the noodles provided a subtle sweet undertone.
Of course, the traditional way to eat Hakka noodles is with just the minced pork and lard like the wonderful Hakka noodles we had in Seremban, Malaysia. But, it is nice smothered in Beef House's signature sambal too.
The beef balls were amazing. If you have been following my blog for a while you will know that I hardly ever used this word to describe food. I myself couldn't remember when, if I ever said that before.
It's an addictive blend of sweet, beefy, savoury flavours in a firm-tender subtly chewy ball. There could possibly be beef tendon blended into the beef ball. Great texture and taste with every bite.
The clear soup that the beef balls came in was good too - full flavoured with well balanced savoury, sweet, beefy tastes in every spoonful.
The Beef House's house made yong tau foo pieces were all good too. They have more texture and flavour than those generic yong tau foo commonly found elsewhere.
Take this tofu for instance - it is topped with a pinch of pork and fish paste. The tofu had nice tender spring and subtle chew to the bite. The pork and fish paste had nice layers of sweetness.
Another example, mushroom filled with pork and minced fish. It tasted good with a blend of soft-tender texture and different types of sweetness. So unlike those generic flat tasting surimi filled yong tau foo commonly found in Singapore.
Beef House's yong tau foo came with savoury spicy chili sauce and an old school sweet sauce which is undergirded with fermented bean paste flavour. Nice! and not easy to find in Singapore now.
We also had Hakka style bang kuang kueh (jicama) which is called 沙葛粄.
Inside the nice tender-chewy gummy skin, it was full of ingredients (stewed bang kuang, dried shrimp, mushroom, etc), so the little steamed dumpling is packed with savoury-umami and sweet flavours.
This reminded me of the must-try traditional choy ban we had in Kulai which is the home of the largest Hakka community in Johor.
We enjoyed all the goodies from The Beef House together with zero calorie Vichy Catalan Premium Tonic Water courtesy of buddy Sam Wu, Singapore's one and only water sommelier. Yes, you read correct, water also have sommelier one hor... . You'll be surprised how deep is the pool of water knowledge.
We drank it chilled. It tasted like sparkling fizzy soda with a slight spritely lemon zest. I liked it. If you like to try some, call Sam at ☎ +65 6535 3833
Written by Tony Boey on 22 May 2021 🥡 Day 7 of Singapore Phase 2 Heightened Alert to curb Covid-19 spread.
i used to buy a whole load of these for when it was my ex wife’s family turn to host chinese new year. perfect to do in steamboat. the owner is very friendly but a bit volatile as he is forever drunk.
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