Empress Place Teochew Beef Kway Teow – Comforting Bowls of Bovine Goodness!

Maxwell Food Centre is known to house some of the most legendary stalls that are no stranger to snaking queues formed especially during lunch time. I am glad to say that joining its collection of legendary stalls is none other than the famed Empress Place Beef Kway Teow!

Empress Place Teochew Beef Kway Teow has been serving comforting bowls of beef kway teow to the masses for a long time. It recently made the move to Maxwell Food Centre from LTN Eating House at East Coast Road. At the helm is David Lim, who is accompanied by his daughter, Melissa, who recently joined her dad in running the stall. She recently left a decade long career in teaching to learn and wield the tools of the trade from her father.

As I don’t usually eat beef kway teow, I asked David to recommend a couple of dishes. My colleague and I got the Mixed Beef Kway Teow with Tendon (Dry) ($6/Large) and the Beef Kway Teow (Soup) ($6/Large). I first tried the Mixed Beef Kway Teow with Tendon.

The Mixed Beef Kway Teow with Tendon comes with a fine mix of beef parts. For $6, you get a bit of the flavourful tripe (stomach), soft chewy gelatinous morsels of beef tendon, a beef ball, some thinly sliced beef brisket and beef slices scalded to a pinkish-grey hue. A few slices of  salted vegetables and a dollop of chilli sauce are then added. All of these sit atop a mound of kway teow doused in soy sauce and sesame oil.

To get the best out of this bowl, I first tossed everything together.

With each slurp of the kway teow noodles and beef parts, I was met with a satisfying clash of beefiness tamed by the spiciness and tang from the chilli! Adding a few spoonfuls of the beef broth into the bowl of noodles certainly did mellow the chilli out a little, but the intensity and richness of this bowl of bovine goodness was still very pronounced. The slices of salted vegetables was the cherry on top because it help to cut through the beefiness of the dish.

I also thought that Empress Place’s chilli was sublime. David told me (and showed me) that he adds finely minced pineapple and lime to his chilli. The result is a piquant chilli which pairs very well with the beef.

We then moved on to the Beef Kway Teow soup.

If the Mixed Beef Kway Teow dry version is a bouncer trying to strong-arm me into submission, then the Beef Kway Teow soup is a mother’s loving caress.

Unlike the dry version, the soup version of Empress Place’s Beef Kway Teow feels like comfort food. The soup version evoked a sense of nostalgia in me, coupled with the warm fuzzy feelings and happy thoughts that homecooked food elicits.

The beef slices were pink and soft, and I absolutely loved the added texture from the blanched beansprouts. Every bite was so flavourful.

Because I had never tasted beef broth with this depth of flavour ever before, I enquired further. David told me that the secret to his broth is by using the same exact broth “as a base” to build from. Everyday, he “feeds” it fresh beef bones and cooks the brisket and tripe in that same exact broth to allow the flavours to build up over the course of the day.

With a dish that has withstood the test of time(over four generations), David and Melissa are carrying on the legacy of sending out comforting bowls of beef kway teow the Hock Lam way. I have more reason to frequent Maxwell Food Centre now.