The one dish i particularly enjoy from the Hakka dialect group is their thunder tea bowl as it's truly unique, highly nutritious and tasty! So much so that whenever i see it, i would be tempted to give it a try.
For this particular stall at Yishun Park Hawker Centre, Ah Lock, it's actually not my first time trying the food. I have had their hakka thunder tea tofu bowl twice before but only got to take the photographs for blogging on my third visit!
Honestly, i don't know how they survive. For the three times i was there, there wasn't a queue and the stall only had two items available for ordering; Hakka Thunder Tea Tofu Bowl and Hakka Tofu Bowl. However, according to friends whom i shared my photo with; it's apparently quite famous and there's actually a branch somewhere at Tanjong Pagar.
Well, i am not complaining as no queue means a much shorter wait for me to secure my food. And here's my food that's ready in about five minutes!
Compared to typical, traditional thunder tea rice, the bowl from Ah Lock Tofu has a few noticeable enhancements which made it visually more appetizing; the addition of fried tau kwa (bean curd), meat balls (which are not that uncommon in Hakka yong tau foo) and the dollop of mayonnaise-like cream in the middle.
The thunder tea, that greenish soup in a separate bowl, is a key essence although by itself, it's thin, relatively bland with a vegetable flavour that's indisputably infused with coriander and had that slight hint of bitterness. To unlock its potential, pour the 'tea' into the bowl of overflowing ingredients.
Mix them up for the ultimate, fireworks-exploding moment! It was refreshing (norm for thunder tea rice) yet with an added creaminess in every morsel that was punched with the crunch of long beans and this amazing vegetables known as manicai (Sweet Leaf).
Meatballs, topped and fried with a layer of beancurd skin, were satisfying although i am quite neutral with the tau kwa with meat filling. If you ask me, i am okay to remove both items for a reduced price so that more people would be able to enjoy this dish.
Relishing every bite with a bit of guilt since i am trying my best not to have too much carbohydrates for dinner. But the whole combi that included Japanese short-grain rice was just irresistible!
Burp!
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Address
51 Yishun Avenue 11,
#01-08, Yishun Park Hawker Centre,
Singapore 760355
Map
As above.
Pricing
Hakka Thunder Tea Tofu Bowl - S$6.80
(10% discount if you pay using their app)
Other Food In The Same Hawker Centre
(click the links to find out more about my review)
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