Hock Lam Beef (Far East Square)

Many times in my eating journey have I come across old hawkers who are ready to call it a day as their educated children take more comfortable jobs. Well, its a good thing that Hock Lam Beef Noodles is going to be one of those surviving hawkers as the founder's daughter Tina continues on this arduous journey.

At a recent visit to this simple eatery at Far East Square - a far cry from the many higher end restaurant settings in the area - I decided to have a simple lunch and ordered their signature beef noodles (dry) with tendon ($8.50).

I liked how unlike most famous eateries, they do not just put up celebrity photos but they also have a section for their most loyal customers who have been following them for many years, many who are in their old ripe age.

But back to the food, I felt that as the recipe has not changed over the years, it is still the same old good tasty noodles that I am accustomed to. However, I have realised that the amount of beef has actually decreased - guess it is the result of rising food prices. All in all though, a simple bowl of soup now and then does good wonders for the soul.

Actaully I will prefer to rate it 7.5 for overall. Hopefully HGW can make the overall rating more flexible than simply whole digits. Even with 0.1 decimals might be great. 

To date, the best beef noodles I've tried. Usually I'll order kway teow dry(with gravy) with all beef(slices) because I dont really eat beef briskets and organs all that.

I say everything is pretty perfect about the dish. The kway teow smooth and springy, the gravy is of the right consistency and seasoning, the accompanying soup was filled with herbal goodness though some might find it a tad saltish. Beef is tender, very fresh and simply marvelous. Service is also very fast too as beef cooks in seconds. Environment wise, it might be warm and as noisy as a market during lunch time as business is good. Not a place where you want to chat after your meals because the chairs have no backs.

Nothing much to complain except that their prices is always increasing EVERYTIME I patronize them. And everytime I feel annoyed that I'm contributing to the wealth of the very snobbish female boss who sometimes walk into her shop with her nose stucked in the air, treating all customers as invisible. My impression of her is very bad because I witnessed her scolding her employees upside-down. And common, you dont do that when you have customers in your shop no matter how wrong your employees are. Can never forget how she looked like when she's was KPKB-ing. Scary. 

On the other hand, her father, also the boss, is a very nice and humble man. I once told him that my barley was as bland as plain water and he immediately changed for me while sounding apologetic. And he was very polite and nice to his employees. Their employees are all foreigners, mostly from China, service pretty ok. Though it's still very affordable, I'm still rating a 6 of value because I dont wish it to keep increasing their prices until it's like $20 for a bowl of beef noodles. I still have to commend and respect him that his beef noodles is one of the best that I've eaten. =)

It's one of those places where the owner have been in the business for years and the second generation has taken over...

IMHO, some try to "improve" it through their own means and honestly, there are some "fail" improvements here.

The food is still great! Awesome! Nothing to complain about... I mean, the original chef (the dad) is still there. He was trying to usher people into the "stall" rather than cooking though.

But what I cannot stand was the HEAT in there!

I'm not sure if there was no A/C or that it was faulty but there was only some "SONA" fans in there cooling the crowd.

It was cooler outside (12 pm afternoon sun, not cloudy) than inside.

The seats were also so close... it's one of those stalls where they try to pack everyone as close together as possible to squeeze in 1 or 2 more tables. IMHO, fail.

Value... I mean... 6.5 for a bowl with such eating conditions... please...

The service was decent.

This eatery is undoubtedly my favorite when it comes to a good bowl of beef kway teow. Spanning nearly a century (since 1911) but I discovered it only a few years ago. Well, guess it's better late than never!

I usually go for the mixed beef kway teow (regular - $6.50) which include beef slices, balls, brisket and tripe.

The hand-sliced beef is delectably tender and flavorful but I especially like the tripe for its chewy texture. The homemade chili sauce is a great complement, providing just the right amount of heat without being overpowering.

Doused in a viscous yet robust gravy with a slight garlicky accent, this dish never fails to satisfy, with or without chunky peanuts and preserved salted vegetable. Even the soup is extremely slurp-worthy.

Service is pretty nondescript and so far I've always had my meal at odd hours when the place is practically empty.

I come here once a week, so you can say I'm pretty comfortable with this place and its offerings.

I usually have the medium kway teow soup (the small just isn't quite enough). The beef slices are really tender and the soup is tasty. Sometimes I get them to add beef balls, but really, nothing beats the meat slices. I prefer soup over the dry type, cos the gluey stuff can be jia-lat after a while (so I have to squeeze a lot of lime in). The chilli that comes with it is a wonderful accompaniment and really complements the noodles.

This shop isn't around for close to a century for nothing.

Another thing I LURVE about this place is the service. It's always crowded but the staff does such a good and quick job clearing up as soon as people finish and leave that it's never a problem to find a table. I come here on my own often, and they're always happy to help me "chope" a seat too, so I can go and line up for my food. Sometimes they even help me get more soup if I want, or order drinks (lime or barley) if I can't be bothered to get in line again. This, my friends, is the customer service that is lacking in so many atas establishments!

I'll probably keep coming back here for a filling and satisfying lunch.

With more and more of our heritage hawkers getting in their ages, it is difficult for them to continue whip out the delicious food that they have been doing everyday for so many years. And being a hawker isn’t a glamorous job, compared to being a banker, lawyer, teacher or other professionals. Therefore, most of the heritage hawkers don’t any successor, and we risk losing out all the good food, which our future younger generations will not live to eat.

Hock Lam Beef is the golden testimonial to beef kuay teow. Having been around since 1911, it is a wonder to see it continue serving out bowls of beef kuay teow everyday rain or shine up till today, for 97 years already! We have Tina, the 4th generation owner, who gave up her professional job and rather slug it out in the kitchen, so as to ensure our beef kuay teow will still be there.

To commemorate their 97th anniversary, Hock Lam decided to donate all their sales proceed on 1st Oct to to Operation Smile which is a worldwide movement to fix cleft palates in kids.

As proceeds for that day was all going to charity, Tina came up with a special menu, instead of their usual $4 a bowl beef kuay teow. There was three different selections, the beginner at $15 which had sliced beef plate. The original at $20, a mixed beef plate which included sliced beef, tendoin, tripe, shin and beef balls. And the “give me the whole cow” premium gourmet set at $30 which had the same stuff as the $20 set, with the exception of the sliced beef, and instead there was marbled shabu shabu beef.

Give me the whole cow gourmet set ($30)

The Gau lau mian (traditional dry noodles) was nice, with their sauce used. Besides having fresh beef, the other thing that makes or break a good beef kuay teow will definitely be the soup base. And Hock Lam’s one certainly was excellent. Personally i did not really like to eat beef kuay teow or noodles because from far i could detect the very strong beefy smell of the beef soup.

Hock Lam soup did not have a very strong beefy smell, but that did not mean that their soup wasn’t good, rather, the soup was very intense with beef flavours, which was evident of the many hours put in to cook the soup.

For the older generation and the traditional beef kuay teow purist, they might resist the idea of shabu shabu in a traditional shop like Hock Lam. But times are changing, and having gourmet beef at one of the best store serving Beef kuay teow, will be an interesting concept, which i believe appeals to the younger generations who will pay more for quality.

You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!

I have tried it when my dad brought us to Singapore Swimming Club about 10yrs ago and that became my favorite food hunt every wkend, was so sad when it moved out...now working near to Raffles Place, i am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad to find it again. Understand from the daughter, her father (the old uncle) has retired about 4yrs ago but hey who cares, the food still taste EXACTLY the same as what I ate 10yrs ago!the soup was so tasty with very nice combinations of beef and herbs taste, no msg after effects because I don't feel thristy after that..and the sliced beef, just soooo tender that they melt in my mouth!...what downhill? what no longer the same...BS...ha...ok, I am just too happy to contain my happiness after finding my favorite beef noodle stall again....

It was so jam packed when my colleagues and I went on Wednesday but the lady at the door was so nice to usher us in, after which we were greeted by another guy staff and asked us how many of us, when he was told there were 7 of us, he assured to find us a table while we join the long Q and true enough after paying for our food, we got a nice seating area near to the back (but alittle hot though)...nice staff!

I am going to bring my whole village down this SUNDAY!

Since I have tried the one in upper serangoon and was so delighted and excited by the fact I found a super nice beef noodle shop, I will definitely drop by this branch too. The namecard listed this shop as one of the branches, so the quality must be superb as well!

Saturday (12 Apr 08). Had lunch here with LL and JT. I had a mixed beef noodle soup and a glass of lime juice for $8.50. The various beef parts were nice and I enjoyed eating them. I found that the soup however, lacks the 'oomph'. The lime juice was nice and sour.

Ambience here is nice. It is air-conditioned and clean. Service was not too bad either.

I reckon the beef noodles have gotten worse since the banker daughter started dabbling in the operations. My colleagues and I used to like the food here but stopped going some time ago after we realised it didn't taste the same anymore (watered down, less robust flavour). The assembly line chefs are often grouchy, terse and impatient. I don't know about you but that can sometimes ruin one's appetite.