The bold red signboard of Hwa Heng Beef Noodle is ubiquitous in Singapore and is also seen overseas in China, Malaysia, even in UK, etc.
Beef noodle is never a mainstream dish in Singapore but Hwa Heng Beef Noodle is a well loved Singapore brand as their many outlets attest. In the Beginning - From Push Cart to Coffee Shop Stall
The story of today's Hwa Heng Beef Noodle starts from Heng Hai / Qiong Hai 琼海 (formely Loke Wei 乐会) county in Hainan Island. Kian Teck Huan 龚德勋, the founder of Hwa Heng Beef Noodle arrived in Singapore from Heng Hai after the Second World War ended. In 1948, Kian Teck Huan together with his wife Lee Suan Liang started a push cart stall hawking their hometown Hainanese beef noodle at Bain Street 培英街 / 猛街.
(Note: 龚 is transliterated as Kiang or Kian. I shall use Kian for this article.)
In 1974, Kian Teck Huan moved his no name street side stall into Wah Hing Coffee Shop 华兴咖啡店 across North Bridge Road opposite Odeon Cinema, hence the no name stall now has a name, Odeon Beef Noodle. That's also how the name Hwa Heng Beef Noodle came about (later).
Beef noodle before or after a movie at Odeon Cinema is the best memories of many Singaporeans.
In Kian Teck Huan's bowl of beef noodle, there were blanched beef slices, stewed beef slices, stewed tripe, tendon and intestines.
There were "dry" and soup versions.
For the "dry" version, the signature thick gooey sauce over the round rice noodle was made of beef stock, finely ground air dried beef, blend of dark & light soy sauce, sesame seed oil and thickened with sweet potato starch. Just imagine the depth of savoury beefy sweet flavours.
For the soup version, Kian Teck Huan's beef soup used fagara peppercorn (Sichuan pepper), star anise, yoke chok 玉竹, kei chi (gogi berry 枸杞), cloves, cinnamon, fenugreek, cumin, etc.
Kian Teck Huan & Lee Suan Liang's recipe is a family heirloom originally intended as a health fortifying tonic 吃补 and 滋补养生, hence the inclusion of Chinese medicinal herbs resulting in the unique flavour that set them apart from other beef noodle hawkers.
Kian Teck Huan made his own cincalok, fermenting krill in salt in sealed urns for three months.
Through the years since 1948, Odeon Beef Noodle stall earned many media accolades such as Winner of New Nation Hawker Hunt in 1981, Singapore King of Beef Noodle 新加坡·牛肉面大王 by 联合晚报 Lianhe Wanbao in 1987, and many more.
Into Food Courts & Overseas Expansion
Kian Teck Huan had two sons, Richard Kian Kin Nam 龚建南 and Kian Kin Tong 龚建东.
In 1979, Odeon Beef Noodle stall opened their first branch outlet ran by Richard Kian Kin Nam at Sin Chew Jit Poh building canteen at Pekin Street.
Kian Teck Huan's Wah Hing Coffee Shop stall (opposite Odeon Cinema) closed in 1984. Daniel Mok 莫家光 (born 1940), a regular customer and later close family friend together with Kian Kin Nam 龚建南 opened the Scotts Picnic stall in 1986 under the Hwa Heng Famous Beef Noodle brand.
新加坡华兴驰名牛肉面(1989)私人有限公司 was incorporated in 1989. Daniel Mok owned 45% share of Hwa Heng. In 1994, Daniel Mok and Kian Kin Nam launched Hwa Heng's first overseas venture, a stall in Chongqing city in Sichuan province of China.
Hwa Heng Beef Noodle ran by Kian Kin Tong was one of the inaugural stalls when the historic Lau Pa Sat was remodelled and reopened in 1992 as a food court.
Daniel Mok registered Odeon Beef Noodle under his own name and opened a few stalls under the brand (today it has a stall at Junction 8 in Bishan).
Odeon / Hwa Heng Beef Noodle Today
In the third generation now, Kian Kin Nam continues to guide Hwa Heng Famous Beef Noodle, currently with eight stalls across Singapore (as at Apr 2025).
Kian Kin Tong 龚建东 and daughter Kian Wei Ling 龚慧玲 run the sole independent Hwa Heng Beef Noodle stall at Bendemeer Market and Food Centre. For nostalgia, taste, and value for money, this stall is very very hard to beat has no equal in beef noodles (as far as I know).
References
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