Empress Place Beef Kway Teow

Address 936 East Coast Road LTN Eating House

Opening Hours 10am-10pm daily closed alternate Thursdays

“Yes uncle”, “hello ma’am”, “hi miss, dry or soup?”, he never fails to bark a greeting to any unsuspecting customers hovering around his little beef kway teow stall in the east. He was unusually brought up well despite his weathered, old boy in da hood’ and jaded look.

As a kid growing up in the sixties, his grandfather would ignore him and passed condescending remarks if he did not greet Ah Kong (grandpa), Papa and his uncles each time he visited their beef kway teow stall in town.

Ah Kong was the late legendary Mr Tan Chin Seah, founder of the Hock Lam Street Beef Kway Teow, a household name in Singapore makan today. His father and an uncle help out at the stall along North Bridge Road. That little makan street had a reputation that ranked way up there with the old Bugis Street and Gluttons Square in Orchard Road. They all made way for urban redevelopment in the 80’s.

His uncle then moved on to set up shop at the Capitol Theatre food centre under the Hock Lam Street name. But David Lim’s father, continued at the Empress Place food centre at where the Asian Civilization Museum waterfront eateries are now. He helped out at his father’s stall everyday till the late 80s, when it was torn down.

David then moved on to a string of unmemorable jobs and careers. In 2002, he decided to revive his Ah Kong and daddy’s recipe for a church food fair and fundraising event. It was so popular that a friend suggested he set up shop in his eatery. And today, a slice of that Hock Lam Street legacy lives on.

 

“Frankly, I don’t know or worry about what my uncles recipes are. I cook my father and Ah Kong’s style.”, which is why 50 year old David, does not sell the gooey sauced Hainanese version. “My grandfather sold only the traditional Teochew soup style."

And the magic of David’s beef kway teow is in the soup. He professed his recipe to me and all at once I understood why there was this unexplainable light sweetness. He uses pandan leaves in the very beefy stock that is simmered gently in low fire with bones, tripes, tendons and brisket. And when he floods a piping hot bowl of that soup over the smooth and thin Ipoh kway teow that he uses, and tops it with finely sliced medium rare beef, beef balls, coriander and salted vegetables, you will understand why his motley crew of regulars keep coming back.

A bowl of dry version comes minus the soup and is blessed simply with his, and I must admit is one of the best around, stinging and zesty chili sauce and sesame oil.

Again, he brags about his chilli sauce recipe and I have permission to reveal this…crushed pineapples are used.

But David laments the quality of the dish today, “Beef don’t taste like beef anymore. Don’t know what they inject it with but they taste so plastic.” He recall his granddad’s Hock Lam Street days when even the more exotic parts of the cow were on the menu. “There were regulars coming often for a gu piang (beef penis) and gu lam pa (testicles) kway teow. It has a distinct taste and testure. They asked for everything except for the meat.” One very notable regular customer was Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew’s father. His favourite order was yellow noodles soup with tripe only.

David says the best way to order his dish is to ask for kway teow soup version with “everything on it”. But fear not, “everything” these days mean meat, tripe, tendon and beef balls (the minced meat version, that is!)

Once, he had to serve a very painful version of his “everything” beef kway teow. A good old mutual friend of ours visited his stall right after a stay in the hospital. He was terminally ill with cancer and was carried into his stall in East Coast. David knew he came to see a pal for the last time and to have a final fling with his beefy goodness. In his advanced stage, he wolfed down three bowls and David did stop him as it was the least could do. He weakly stuck a thumbs up when he finished. He passed on a few weeks later.

So dear Sebas, bless you, wherever you are, you knew what the simple pleasures in life are.