I was born just pre-independence era in Singapore. I grew up having seen first hand, how we transformed so quickly and headily from third world to number one in everything we care to be numero uno in. Then, many shops and stalls around have a pre or suffix saying “sharikat”, “kedai” or “sendiran berhad”, it spells our old Malaya heritage. There are a lot of things, many small and insignificant by today’s culture, that endeared me to this land and why I constantly wear our national flag in my heart. I don’t need exhibitionistic practices to show my patriotism. I occasionally (ok, more often than that lah), let slip a “siow ah”, or “ wah lao” or “kena sai” to punctuate my grammatically or politically correct local English conversations. I tell all my foreign friends and makan commentators to give the best hamburgers and Michelin star creations here a miss and first go blend themselves into a plate of chicken rice, laksa or even satay beehoon. I inject a vial of Singaporeanism into their bloodstream and get them high on it, even for a while. I think it’s the best local souvenir they can take home with.

Strangely, it was not chicken rice I grew up and celebrated my citizenship with. It was flavours like ketchup laced wanton mee at a corner coffee shop in Geylang where I was raised, claypot rice in Chinatown, and stuff like roti prata and mee goreng sold by mobile hawkers in the 60s around Lorong 3.  Sure, I was floored by and remembered vividly, the original Swee Kee chicken rice stall at Middle Roast- with all those fat chickens, flavourful and oily enough rice and freshly made stinging chilli sauce. But it was something else in that vicinity that struck a chord with my palate- the iconic Hainanese Odeon Beef Kway Teow stall opposite the defunct Odeon Theatre. That, along with bell bottomed pants, platform heel men’s shoes and the groovy 70s culture, made me realize as a young teen, what having a heritage and culture meant. It is stuff you cannot mentally press control-delete, nor be inflicted with memory deleting viruses.  That coffeshop was torn down and made way for the Raffles Hotel extension and swankier shops along North Bridge Road. Then, the Kian family, owners of the Odeon Beef Kway Teow legacy, moved on and the siblings opened up shops in the old Scotts Picnic Food Court at the basement of the former Scotts Shopping Centre (now in a food court in Ion Orchard) and another at Toa Payoh Hub. I enjoy the food court setting but somehow I miss the old coffeeshop culture and I was all glee when Andrew, a makan mata (our food police), told me the younger Kian had installed himself at a little non-descript coffeeshop in Serangoon Road area.

this Hainanese dish, slathered with thick smooth beef sauce, will stick to your memories for a long time.

The younger Mr Kian Kin Tong is now 65 years old and says “I will cook beef noodles till I cannot anymore”. He was just an 11 year old kid when he helped his father tend the old stall. Just watching him blanch his thinly sliced, palm sized (bigger than usual) beef with dark and tanned cuts of beef shin with gorgeous bits of soft tendon hidden inside, is an art. He blanches them pink in the beef stock and factors the residual heat in the bowl which cooks it perfectly medium and soft, when it’s plated and served to you. The sauce, is actually saucy, not gooey, like how I remembered it then. The stock is perfectly reduced with spices, herbs and a bit of starch, so gently, it comes savoury and sweet with no uncomfortable beefy nor herbal overtones. They doused the noodles, two cuts of beef, beef balls, salted vegetables and bean sprouts with sesame oil, a “very good grade of thick soy sauce”, before they slather the thick dark sauce over, with a puff of white pepper on top. The stinging vinegar laced thick chilli sauce with a smooth dollop of chincalok and a wedge of lime, just holds the whole deal together. The soup version has a stock that reeks comfortably of beef, light herbs and greens- very refreshing and sans “centralized kitchen flavour”.

One extra good news, his legacy will be heralded into the next generation by his daughter, Wei Ling, who “ don’t like to study so I help out my dad in this old fashioned business lor”. She’s been at it for over 20 years now and cooks everything today, including the sauce, to daddy’s satisfaction.

Blend that into your heritage, kids.