Hock Lam Beef (Far East Square)

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.

My colleagues and I made our maiden journey there for lunch today and the queue wasn't that long except that it took a while for them to prepare the noodles and clear the queue. They work in an assembly line style so you have to tell one person what type of noodles you want, and then another what type of beef parts you want (mixed beef with tendon or without or beef balls or slice beef) and if it is soup or dry. Then another person is in charge of putting the condiments for you. It can get a little messy especially when they cant remember who asked for what. Plus the cooks can be rather impatient. One of them made a mistake remembering the orders and was quite rude although we were not at fault. Next,you proceed to the cashier. My mixed beef kway teow dry was thick in black sauce and the sauce seemed to be a little too blend but the soup was a bit too salty. The Original Hock Lum Street Kway Teow at Purvis Street (Near Seah Street/Raffles Hotel) serves better soup and noodles. The sauce for their dry noodles is light brown not black.

Decent portions for a $5.50 to $7 beef kway teow.

Came here 2 week ago with wife after work. Read about it on HGW. We ordered 2 dry beef noodles. The place is all self service and is one of those 2nd generation take over and upgrade the place to be cool coffee shop type of place.

Noodles and sauce were good. But I did not like the fact that their noodles was yellow noodles and not the white type. Their sauce was yummy and with chilli added very very good.

The beef no big deal and the beef balls even more mediocre. Will recommend the place but frankly people, if you go Beach Road Market the uncle and auntie there have a beef ball noodle that kicks Hock Lam's ass.

This legendary dude has got all the awards and photos plastered in his eatery so you can't go wrong. Apparently, he has also been crowned the beef noodle king!

Food wise - the choo mee fen's texture is just nice. The meat taste like gu bak. The soup is the champion. This shop has got the best soup in town. Think its got herbs inside. Overall, the food is orgasmic. Makes a hot afternoon lunch even hotter! If you like it dry, you gotto help yourself with more kiam-chai (it's free!). If you like it wet, ask for more soup (it's also free!)

Ambience - what ambience? Its just a no-frills eatery packed with afternoon raffles place try-hards. The usual long queue and tissue-packets-seats-booking system apply. On good days, you can see some eye candies savouring their beef balls.

Damage - $5 is the standard. Not cheap and not ex. In other words, the damage is nothing to scream about. Lime juice is optional and it taste just like lime juice and its not free.

Service - the dude does say "hi" and smile; otherwise, the place is fully self-service. Go there for the food; go Giordano for the service.

Sets you back by S$7.50

Sometimes, I would brave the hot afternoon sun walking from my office to Raffles Place, just for this bowl of beef noodles.

The beef noodles here is the kind that is worth your money. The ingredients plentiful and the taste is just right. Unlike the usual beef noodles from food courts that spawn from the franchising monster, this place serves up something well-balanced on the palate. I mean I had tasted bad ones from food courts that passed of MSG, salt and water as soup and gravy. Hock Lam here serves up proper soup and gravy that's been made with hours of work. The taste is rich but does not overpower the texture of the ingredients.

Add a glass of lime juice, and you might make yourself very happy for the rest of the day.