I met up with a friend for lunch at Tanjong Pagar Plaza Market & Food Centre and he highly recommended me to try this Traditional Hakka Rice stall that often had long queues on weekdays and would normally sell out even before lunch hour was over. That fantastic? I readily accepted his suggestion even though this was my third thunder tea rice in a week. I love lei cha and my fave stall has got to be the one at Lau Pa Sat. To date, I haven’t been able to find another stall that can topple my champion. Will this be the one?
Similar to other thunder tea rice stalls, they had brown rice ($4.00) or white rice ($3.50) to choose from. Side dishes like bittergourd omelette, stuffed bittergourd, stuffed tau kwa and meat balls were also available for add ons.
I had the brown rice that came covered with peanuts, preserved radish (chye poh), firm tofu and various greens. The portion wasn’t as huge as other thunder tea rices I had but definitely ample for me. Overall, I didn’t think the toppings look that sumptuous too but I loved the crunch from every individual item.
This is how I eat my thunder tea rice. I’d just pour the entire bowl of tea broth into the rice and mix it up like a porridge. This broth tasted very nutty and I could barely make out any flavour of herbs in it. I like my broth with a lot of basil that gives it a fresh aroma but this was nothing like it.
I understand now why many people actually prefer this version because the usual herby flavour of the tea is almost non-existent, hence it is generally more acceptable. However if you like a strong, aromatic thunder tea rice like me, then this is definitely not for you.
Traditional Hakka Rice 河婆客家擂茶
Tanjong Pagar Plaza Market & Food Centre
Blk 6 Tanjong Pagar Plaza
#02-21
Singapore 081006
Tel: 9682 8390