Showing posts with label Thunder Tea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thunder Tea. Show all posts

Sunday, May 10, 2020

Dining at Home During Circuit Breaker - Pang's Hakka Delicacies

Hakka1
c
How about trying something different during the circuit breaker? Hakka cuisine is not something commonly available. In fact, there are not many restaurants or stalls selling them in Singapore. I would recommend Pang's Hakka Delicacies if you are keen to try some authentic and nostalgic flavours of Hakka cuisine. Pang's Hakka Delicacies is a pet project of Chef Pang from Antoinette to share the unique heritage cuisine and preserve the tradition. It is only available for takeaway and delivery.

Hakka3
Hakka Mugwort Kueh

I have never tried Hakka Mugwort Kueh until the recent order. The mugwort has a soft mochi-like skin texture filled with white radish, salted turnip, sweet turnip, carrots, minced pork, garlic, dried shrimps, mushrooms and shallots. The greenish skin comes from the mugwort, a herb widely used in Chinese medicine which is also known as wormwood.

Hakka4
Hakka Mee Tai Mak, Abacus Seeds

Other delectable selections include the Hakka Mee Tai Mak and Traditional Abacus Seeds. The Hakka Mee Tai Mak is stir-fried in pork lard with minced pork, Chinese mushroom, salted radish, chives, carrots, deep-fried beancurd and sprinkled with fried lard and dried sole fish powder.

Customers will be more familiar with the Traditional Abacus Seeds. It is not too soft, still retaining a delightful bite. To bring out the flavours, it is cooked with premium dried shrimps, dried cuttlefish, leek, garlic, black fungus, dried mushrooms, Chinese celery and fresh minced pork.

Hakka2
Hakka Pang's Lei Cha

For Lei Cha fans, you will enjoy Chef Pang's version. Served separately with their Lei Cha paste which consists of a mixture of mugwort, Thai basil, coriander, peanuts, mint leaves and sesame seeds.
To eat, mix the paste with hot water and pour into the rice. Do note that Hakka Pang's Lei Cha only comes with brown rice. There is a minimum order for Lei Cha too. Kindly check their Facebook for more information.

Order via WhatsApp 90217507. Place order 2 days in advance is appreciated. Delivery available from $10 - $15, 1pm - 6pm


Pang's Hakka Delicacies
30 Penhas Road
Singapore 208188
Facebook
Nearest MRT: Lavender (EW Line)

Opening Hours:
12pm - 6pm

Direction:
1) Alight at Lavender MRT station. Take Exit B. Walk to V Hotel Lavender. Walk down Horne Road and turn right onto Penhas Road. Walk to destination. Journey time about 5 minutes. [Map]

Monday, May 6, 2019

Rasa Hakka Restaurant @ Taman Sri Tebrau [Johor Bahru, Malaysia] - My Go To Place For Thunder Tea

RasaHakka1

A decade ago, I chanced upon Rasa Hakka Restaurant when visiting our neighbour across the causeway, and since then, whenever possible it will be one of the pit stops for my meals. Years back, when someone asked what would be my last meal on earth, I was never certain. As I age and settle into myself, the answer found its way to me. It would be Ham Cha. Most of you probably know it as Lei Cha aka Thunder Rice Tea, terms that I got acquainted with much later in life. It's a dish filled with memories of me helping my mum with the pounding and grinding of the tea leaves, peanuts, in a round wooden vessel with a wooden pestle before we proceeded to a more conventional stone bowl and grinder, then to the current blender. Trust me, the taste is not the same. Anyway, I don't remember a moment that I have never like it, even as a kid and it just satisfies me so much to have a real good one.

RasaHakka10
Rice Wine Chicken 3.5/5

I brought my parents there this time round to have a taste of their other dishes. My dad chose the Rice Wine Chicken (RM$18 small) straight away. The soul lies with the rice wine of course, and for those who have not ever tasted homemade rice wine before, I must say you are truly lucky. It is a lost trade, at least, till I learn it from my mum. Soon I hope. My dad's instant response towards this dish was "your grandma's one is more fragrant". It was decent enough to satisfy our cravings but the flaw I guess comes from the fact that the dish was not prepared a la minute, and so the flavours of the chicken and the wine didn't fully bind together.

RasaHakka5
Yong Tau Foo 3/5

I grew up in a family where Yong Tau Foo is made from scratch. Mum will painstakingly scrap the fish meat off from the skin and bones and fill in the ingredients one by one. Those ready-made with white fish paste that shriveled under heat, my mum basically scorns them. At Rasa Hakka, you can pick and choose the Yong Tau Foo at RM$1.80 per piece , coupled with rice or noodles. I would suggest choosing noodles over rice when having Yong Tau Foo in Malaysia for a change. The handmade noodles with the minced meat is really quite delicious. I find the soup here one of the better ones. For the past few times I came, it was consistently sweet with a depth of savouriness. I thought it was even tastier this time round but the Yong Tau Foo itself sadly was less enjoyable. Although they were made of real meat, the meat was too compact and lacked juiciness from elements like water chestnut bits. The saving grace was the add-on noodles.

RasaHakka7
Thunder Rice Tea 4/5

And of course, my favourite Lei Cha. There are 3 options - White Rice, Brown Rice and Full Vegetables, small or large. I always go for the Full vegetables (RM$12 large) which comes with a bigger bowl of tea too. I don't think the taste of it has changed much over the 10 years, just that they no longer served black-eye peas. Perhaps you could share with me which stalls still serve that. The vegetables here are neither too salty or bland, nor oily. The cai pok has a balanced of sweet and saltiness, hence even though it may seem quite a big scoop, it flavours the entire bowl just right. My favourite part is the generous portion of mani cai, which to me is one of the leading characters to an authentic bowl of Lei Cha, next to peanuts and cai pok. Because it is such a laborious task to prep this vegetables, you will only see this mani cai in independent food stalls in Singapore. I love their tea too, nicely seasoned and rich enough with tea leaves and herbs.

RasaHakka8

Other everyday Hakka dishes include Deep Fried Pork Belly, Steamed Pork with Preserved Mustard. Within walking distance from KSL shopping mall, Rasa Hakka Restaurant serves well as a fuss-free dining option and a good alternative if you want to take a break from your usual pit stops.

Words and photos by Si An. A girl who is allured by travelling, loves the feel of freedom, smell of the rain and the aroma of fine coffee and food. Note: This is an invited tasting.


Rasa Hakka Restaurant
No 93, Jalan Keris 1
Taman Sri Tebrau
80050 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Tel: +60 127071449
[Map]

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Hakka Thunder Tea (客家佬擂茶) @ Tanglin Halt Food Centre

IMG_4996ed

I have known about Hakka Thunder Tea (客家佬擂茶) at Tanglin Halt Food Centre for years but I have never thought of trying it because I am not a big fan of thunder tea. I always think that it is a weird idea to have rice with tea. Anyway I decided give the stall a try as I noticed that they also sells Hakka Yong Tau Foo.

IMG_4991ed
Hakka Yong Tau Foo 4/5

The greedy me picked almost all the different varieties available. All the Yong Tau Foo comes stuffed with fish paste. There are items such as brinjal, bitter gourd, chilli, mushroom, beancurd, tau gwa, lady finger etc. I am not sure but I suspect these yong tau foo is homemade as you can see the inconsistency in the ingredients.

IMG_4992ed
Hakka Yong Tau Foo 4/5

The yong tau foo comes in either dry or soup version. I decided to go for the dry version for the reason that almost all the ingredients are deep fried stuff. It will be good if they offer a mix of non deep fried stuff.

IMG_4993ed

Pardon m but I could not remember the exact price. I think it is sold at sixty to eighty cents per piece.
For those that likes Thunder Tea, it seems that the stall is quite popular with it. Basically most of the people in the queue is ordering that, and I was the odd one out.


Hakka Thunder Tea (客家佬擂茶)
Tanglin Halt Food Centre
Blk 3A Commonwealth Drive
#01-31
Singapore 140003
Nearest MRT: Commonwealth (EW Line)

Opening Hours:
Tue-Sun: 10am - 8pm
(Closed on Mon)

Direction: 
1) Alight at Commonwealth MRT station. Take Exit A. Walk to Tanglin Halt Road. Cross the road. Walk to destination. Journey time about 5 minutes. [Map]