Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Hai Nan Xing Zhou Beef Noodles at Toa Payoh Lorong 7

In my second of 3 reviews at Toa Payoh Food Centre, I want to talk about this very well known beef noodle stall that a number of my friends have been raving about.

It used to hail from the famous Cuppage Centre hawker centre many eons ago, and it continues to ply its trade now at the crowded hawker centre here in Lorong 7 of Toa Payoh.

Truth be told, ever since I posted my favorite hawker food in Singapore to be Kovan's Ri Yi Beef Noodles, quite a few people have been quick to point out to me other notable beef noodles.

And so it was, that I decided to try out a few other alternatives to see if there is one that can match, or even surpass Ri Yi's beef noodles.

Beef Balls Noodles


The beef ball noodles were inviting, and despite the fact that the beef balls were outsourced, they did still give a lot of flavor when combined with the heavy beef gravy and pickled vegetables.

The sauce did taste a bit more sweeter than I would have liked, but somehow, this sweeter variant does go down well with a number of customers and younger folks.

Sliced Beef Noodles

The real test for me has always been the standard sliced beef noodles and here, it certainly did not disappoint. Whilst the stock was still sweeter, the beef slices were cooked just about well done and thus, had a good texture and bite.

Most beef noodle stalls tend to overcook the beef slices till they are really overdone and chewy, so it was a pleasant surprise to find it done well here. Still, Ri Yi still holds the crown for the best medium cooked beef slices in town.

So, the final verdict is this popular and well known beef noodle stall, for me, is rated higher than more popular ones like the 2 Hock Lams, but still a grade below Ri Yi.

It is still very good though.

Hai Nan Xing Zhou Beef Noodles
Toa Payoh Lorong 7 
Blk 22, Food Centre
#01-06

3 comments:

  1. From George:
    Hi Chef,
    I am one of the few who had actually eaten at the original Hock Lam St beef noodle run by that man in the black shorts in some old pictures on the stall posted on the internet.

    But I am write this because you mentioned friends who know about the Cuppage Centre hawker food. The one that impressed me was one selling kway chap and pig organs with rice. I always zeroed in on to this stall for the kway chap kway teow with sauce only and more importantly the 'backbone meat' soup eaten with its deliciously cooked boiled rice.

    Unfortunately, after a short interval, we returned to find the whole place has vanished and taken over by what it presently is.

    Would be very grateful if you can pass the word around to your friends who may know where this stall have shifted to or one of its branches as the owner had told me once that he had more than one stall. Sorry, I don't know the stall's name though.

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  2. Hi Chef

    It seem that you have a set tooth. The food is too sweet for my liking and I prefer a more balanced flavor, with FRESH beef. Beef needs to be tender, not overlooked.

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