It always begin with a mad rush of email corresponds, we will flood each other with suggestions to go, and this time it’s Hairyberry who tempted everyone to come for dinner by bringing Teochew mooncake with preserved vegetable. Our initial plan was to go for a round of Burmese food, before heading to queue for claypot rice while waiting for a few others to arrive.

Unfortunately things didn’t quite go to plan, we only realised three hours before dinner that the claypot rice was closed every Wednesday, but we proceeded on with the Burmese food anyway. And it’s only after sitting down and ordering drinks that we noticed that the Burmese stall was closed too! So much for Plan A & Plan B, but nothing’s gonna stop a bunch of hungry food bloggers from getting what they want, we walked around and ended up here.

And just in case you bump into our kind in the future, here’s some interesting things you should know about food bloggers:

Light, is everything. When we stepped into a restaurant, the first thing we look at is not how nice the ambience is, but which spot has good lighting. And we always have the same reaction when it’s those romantic, dull lighting – oh shucks, the photos are gonna suck today!

We are not shy when it comes to using a big camera and pretend that we are paparazzi shooting celebrities. Or rather, we are so used to the attention that we don’t care anymore. When the food arrived on the table, all the weird glance from the surrounding tables are forgotten, our only priority will be getting that perfect kodak moment of the food.

And oh yes, we take a long time (read: the food gets cold) to take photos, while others are tucking into their bowl/plate of warm food, we are still busy snapping photos, adjusting ISO, changing white balance, taking different angles, doing everything we can to make sure the photo looks good – all the fuss for one nice shot that you see here.

Going in a big group is always preferred since more people means we can try more food. Sometimes we can just go in pairs or a small group when the rest couldn’t make it. There’s always next time for a bigger group outing, but let us go in a small group to check out that place first. When food bloggers come out to play, it’s always food, food, and more food. Not to mention desserts are a must have after dinner.

And just in case you are wondering, our conversations are not just about food. Of course we will rave about that newest hotspot-in-town, or that particular dessert which made us go gaga, but we talk about traveling, the latest news and juicy gossips, and everything under the sun!

Dinner generally doesn’t restrict to just one place, it’s only the start to more food. Our logic? Since we are already out, might as well check out more places! Not everyone can live the life of a food blogger, but I definitely love to hang out with my folks, it’s always fun, laughter, food and more food when we are together. So the next time you see a table of people using big bulky cameras taking photographs of food, that’s us! Don’t be shy, come over and say hi!

Meet my fellow floggers:
Catherine @ Camemberu
Edwin @ Southernoise gluttony
Hairyberry @ Black Tie, White Lie
Julia @ AromaCookery
Leroy @ The Hungry Cow
Phil @ Keropokman

Thaksin Noodles & Brothers Rojak
Blk 449 Clementi Ave 3
See Lam Herm coffee shop

With more and more of our heritage hawkers getting in their ages, it is difficult for them to continue whip out the delicious food that they have been doing everyday for so many years. And being a hawker isn’t a glamorous job, compared to being a banker, lawyer, teacher or other professionals. Therefore, most of the heritage hawkers don’t any successor, and we risk losing out all the good food, which our future younger generations will not live to eat.

Hock Lam Beef is the golden testimonial to beef kuay teow. Having been around since 1911, it is a wonder to see it continue serving out bowls of beef kuay teow everyday rain or shine up till today, for 97 years already! We have Tina, the 4th generation owner, who gave up her professional job and rather slug it out in the kitchen, so as to ensure our beef kuay teow will still be there.

To commemorate their 97th anniversary, Hock Lam decided to donate all their sales proceed on 1st Oct to to Operation Smile which is a worldwide movement to fix cleft palates in kids.

As proceeds for that day was all going to charity, Tina came up with a special menu, instead of their usual $4 a bowl beef kuay teow. There was three different selections, the beginner at $15 which had sliced beef plate. The original at $20, a mixed beef plate which included sliced beef, tendoin, tripe, shin and beef balls. And the “give me the whole cow” premium gourmet set at $30 which had the same stuff as the $20 set, with the exception of the sliced beef, and instead there was marbled shabu shabu beef.

Give me the whole cow gourmet set ($30)

The Gau lau mian (traditional dry noodles) was nice, with their sauce used. Besides having fresh beef, the other thing that makes or break a good beef kuay teow will definitely be the soup base. And Hock Lam’s one certainly was excellent. Personally i did not really like to eat beef kuay teow or noodles because from far i could detect the very strong beefy smell of the beef soup.

Hock Lam soup did not have a very strong beefy smell, but that did not mean that their soup wasn’t good, rather, the soup was very intense with beef flavours, which was evident of the many hours put in to cook the soup.

For the older generation and the traditional beef kuay teow purist, they might resist the idea of shabu shabu in a traditional shop like Hock Lam. But times are changing, and having gourmet beef at one of the best store serving Beef kuay teow, will be an interesting concept, which i believe appeals to the younger generations who will pay more for quality.

Tina and her father, for without them, there will not be any Hock Lam Beef kuay teow.

Happy 97th birthday Hock Lam Beef and many more years to come! And i will like to thank the folks at Olive consulting who invited me for the occasion, and Tina for her hospitality.

Hock Lam Beef
22 China Square #01-01
Far East Square
Tel: 62209290
Disclaimer: This was an invited review