Cheng Kee Beef Kway Teow

Cheng Kee Beef Kway Teow is one of the few places I remember my parents bringing me to, as it was within walking distance of the centre my brother and I had our weekly gymnastics sessions at. Incidentally known as Tumble Tots. Then we grew older and a mall was built right across the street from our place, so it’s been at least 13 years since my last visit here. It’s quite a famous stall in its own right, having earned a spot on the 2007 edition of Makansutra.
Beef kway teow (soup), $ 4.00 — This was a belly-​warming bowl of beef noodles. The beef slices were tender and juicy, and the slightly herbal broth aromatic. I dipped the slices of beef into chinchalok, a fermented shrimp paste that’s the Malaccan equivalent of Korean saewoojot — the similarity between the two condiments was a discovery which totally geeked me out. Then again, these beef noodles have Hainanese (a provincial group of people in China, and also one of the dialect groups of Singaporean Chinese) roots, yet to the uninitiated you’d probably be able to get away with calling them Vietnamese phở.
But back to the taste of the chinchalok, which added a tangy and rather refreshing dimension to the beef. Very interesting. I found myself slurping down spoonful after spoonful of the soft kway teow until nothing remained, although I’m supposed to be scaling back on carbs. On such occasions I tell myself that I’ll compensate by having salad the next day. I didn’t.
I remember the beef kway teow at Cheng Kee to be tastier in the days of yore, but you know how we tend to immortalize foods we grew up with. I’m trying to discount the nostalgia and not hold the food to an impossibly high standard that may not even have existed. Objectively speaking, it was good. Not wowWwwW fantastic, just better-​than-​okay good.
In any event this was still a way better bowl of beef noodles than the Hock Lam stuff I make do with on weekdays: Functional, yes, but commercialized and hardly satisfying. Alas the sad truth of life for an office minion is that your lunch options are restricted to the area you work in… meh, the stuff we do for money.

I rarely have the chance to eat the beef noodles as they are usually sold out after 6 pm. I deviated from my usual order of beef slices and beef balls and had the mixed beef kway teow (flat noodles) dry version.
For $ 4, you get a generous serving of meat and parts of the beef (not sure what they are but they taste pretty good) soft noodles. I love the the condiments which came with it ~ salted vegetables, coriander, chopped peanuts, chili and chin cha lok. You also get a big bowl (bigger than the usual small bowl) of soup which is full of beefy goodness in it.
One of my favorite places for beef noodles. If only they are open for dinner, that will be perfect.
Note: The coffee shop has renovated and the stall is next to Tian Wai Tian Fish head Soup stall. It is along the stretch where DBS bank is, and the first prominent sign is a Western stall.

This coffee shop looks newly renovated not the old run down kind of eatery. There is normally a long queue so be prepared to go early so that you can enjoy a hot bowl of yummy beef noodles and all at an affordable price of about $ 4.
The soup is my favourite and i like to order it with the thick bee hoon noodle, along with the chilli and complimentary chin cha lok from the stall, the dish is perfect. All the flavours blend together and sing in tune in your mouth. The dry one is good too with thick sauce that is not too starchy and very nice flavour, with lots of salted vegetables and tender slices of beef and briskets.
Service is great too and the uncle will gladly add more salted vegetables for me when i request for it. They will generously add more chilli too as i love their chilli and it is a must have with the beef slices. One of my favourite stalls for beef noodles.

This Beef Kway Teow stall is located in the centre of the heartlands in Hougang. It’s not too difficult to find as long as you follow Google Maps diligently.
Anyway, I had to wait quite a while for my beef kway teow, even though I must admit that the wait was probably made to feel longer by the fact that I was getting really hungry by the time I got here.
When the meal finally arrived, I tucked in immediately. I found that the beef brisket and slices had just the perfect bite to them. They were tender enough, and in general were cooked to perfection. The broth was light but yet very satisfying, and the kway teow had just the right texture as well.
I could go on and on about how much I like the beef kway teow, but suffice to say that if you like beef kway teow, you will definitely not be disappointed by the one offered here.