MooTeow – Teochew-Style Beef Kway Teow at Wild Market? Teow Me More!

Just when I thought that there is no place where I can get my Teochew-style beef kway teow fix but at Maxwell Food Centre, I was proven wrong by MooTeow Chilli Beef Kway Teow.

Meet 37-year-old Ruben, the man behind MooTeow. If you have not noticed, MooTeow serves dishes similar to what Empress Place Teochew Beef Kway Teow churns out. There is a mention of Empress Place Beef in its signboard as well. That’s because Ruben took an apprenticeship under David, the owner of Empress Place, to learn the intricacies of making Teochew-style beef kway teow.

So how does MooTeow’s beef kway teow fare against Empress Place’s? How similar are they? With the memory of eating Empress Place’s beef kway teow still fresh in my mind, I tucked right into Ruben’s rendition of Teochew-style beef kway teow.

The Mixed Beef w/ Tendon ($8) was up first.

Suffice to say, it really did hit the spot for me.

MooTeow’s Mixed Beef w/ Tendon sports flavourful slivers of beef tripe, beef brisket, soft beef tendon and a couple of beef balls. Just like Empress Place’s version, all the ingredients sit on a mound of kway teow that’s drenched with soy sauce and sesame oil, accompanied with a dollop of tangy chilli sauce at the side.

The ritualistic mixing of kway teow, sauces and chilli, followed.

One slurp of the noodles and a bite of the beef parts confirmed that my fond memory of eating David’s beef kway teow has not been defiled. MooTeow’s chilli is piquant and provides a satisfying kick to whatever beef part it coats. I also enjoyed the crunch of the lightly blanched beansprouts.

While the beef tendon was soft and easy to bite into, I noticed that its size pales in comparison to that of Empress Place’s. Not a dealbreaker in my books though. Moving on!

I had the Mixed Beef Soup ($7) next.

A spoonful of the slightly murky beef broth revealed a savoury and lingering sweetness that I knew could only be achieved by boiling a mixture of beef parts continuously for hours! Letting the beef parts steep in the beef broth also helped to bolster the overall flavours of this comforting bowl of noodles.

While MooTeow’s beef broth was good, I felt that the beef broth served was slightly lacking in terms of depth of flavour. Of course, this is in comparison to Empress Place’s beef broth which is in a league of its own.

There was the Sliced Beef Dry ($6) as well.

Ruben cooks the sliced beef quickly, to a greyish-pink hue, in the boiling pot of beef broth. He makes sure that the sliced beef are of the perfect doneness! I can’t stop emphasising this, but don’t forget to toss the kway teow and chilli together!

While MooTeow’s beef kway teow dishes reminded me of Empress Place’s beef kway teow, it certainly wasn’t the same and didn’t evoke the exact same feelings in me as Empress Place’s version did. But it doesn’t mean that MooTeow’s rendition is not good. Ruben is trying to modernise the Teochew-style beef kway teow and make this dish his own, and that’s very commendable!Ruben shared that another outlet is in the works and is set to open later this year!

If you want to have yourself a comforting bowl of Teochew-style beef kway teow but don’t want to make the trip down to Maxwell Food Centre, let MooTeow at Wild Market serve you a bowl!