Tanglin Halt Hakka Thunder Tea Rice now in Margaret Drive • Lei Cha 客家佬擂茶

Tanglin Halt's Hakka Thunder Tea Rice stall has settled nicely at their new location at the second level of Margaret Drive Food Centre. It has re-established itself quickly and is now one of the busiest stalls at the spanking new centre.

Present location

Stall name: Hakka Thunder Tea Rice

Address: 38A Margaret Drive, stall #02-34, Singapore 142038 (Margaret Drive Hawker Centre)

Nearest MRT: 5 minutes walk from Queenstown station

Hours: 10:30am - 3:00pm (Mon off)

Story based on Thunder Tea Rice's previous Tanglin Halt address

I have been looking and tasting lei cha in Singapore for some time and haven't found much inspiration to write any post, until Hakka Thunder Tea Rice 客家佬擂茶 at Tanglin Halt Food Centre. Thanks buddy James Quaky for your recommendation 🙏

Previous location

Stall name: Hakka Thunder Tea Rice 客家佬擂茶

Address: 3A Commonwealth Drive, stall #01-31 Tanglin Halt Food Centre, Singapore 141001

Nearest MRT: 5 minute walk from Commonwealth station 

Tel: 8189 9676

Hours: 10:30am - 3:00pm (Monday off)

I was at the stall one hour before opening, so I went to stalk the whole Tanglin Halt area, plotting my future makan moves. When I came back at 10:31am, there was a queue of ten people ahead of me 🤦

Waited 30 minutes before I got my food. A few people ordered several packets and there were some phone bookings.

Pro Tip: Call 📞 8189 9676 ahead to save on waiting time 😉

$5.50 got me this bowl of lei cha rice set with green "tea" and a piece of yong tau foo (they have several types of YTF, I picked bitter gourd, my favourite).

There's a choice of white rice or brown rice. I dutifully opted for brown for brownie points with my diabetes doctor 😌

The rice was topped with stir fried cabbage, long bean, spinach, anchovy, tau kwa, sweet chai poh, toasted peanut, etc.

The bitter gourd yong tau foo was the Hakka type which I prefer i.e. filled with minced pork (instead of surimi) and deep fried to golden brown outside.

I just tipped the entire bowl of green tea into the rice, my usual way.

The green "tea" is made by grinding vegetables (e.g. basil, leek, kai lan), tea leaves, seeds, nuts, etc into a paste, then mixed with hot water turning it into a "tea".

You know, when even Michelin Star hawker uses styrofoam and disposable plastic cutlery, I am grateful that Hakka Thunder Tea Rice use restaurant quality ceramic bowls and even customised cutlery.

So much pride in what and how they serve 👏👏👏

But, of course, the true test of the pudding lei cha is in the eating.

I like it that Hakka Thunder Tea Rice's stir fried vegetables were freshly fried due to high turn over, so they come out soft crunchy and aromatic. The fried vegetables were not soggy or cold (which is a common issue at stalls with slower business).

The green tea had good body and nice fresh green herby taste. The taste of basil leaves was there but mint which I like in my lei cha green tea was missing. Still, the green tea tasted delicious and held the lei cha dish together well.

The flavours were generally fresh green herby and sweet but with less savouriness compared to those in Johor (where they often put dried shrimp in the dish).

The piece of fried bitter gourd yong tau foo was excellent. The bitter gourd was tender and juicy, and tasted just subtly bitter. The thick, meaty filling was fresh and savoury sweet. They have several YTF types, so if you are a YTF fan, you can order more of them.

I like this lei cha for its rich green flavours though it was missing mint and bit of savouriness for balance.

Lei Cha grinding bowl

Despite the name Hakka Thunder Tea Rice, thunder and lightning have nothing to do with this dish. Lei 擂, the Hakka word for grind sounds like the word for thunder 雷 in Mandarin and somebody a long time ago started misnaming the dish in English. The name Thunder Tea caught on perhaps because it is attention grabbing.

Johor has a large Hakka community, so lei cha stalls are more common there. This is my list of Johor lei cha stalls 👈 click

The origin of thunder tea rice 👈 click

Tanglin Halt hawker centre is slated for demolition soon. Hakka Thunder Tea Rice 客家佬擂茶 stall will be moving to level 2 of the new Margaret Drive Hawker Centre next year.

       

                     

             

             

               

               

             

           

           

           

                         

           

             

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            A post shared by Tony Boey Johor Kaki (@johorkaki)          

       

     

            

Written by Tony Boey on 28 Oct 2021 | Updated 3 Sep 2022