Hey Hive!
Recently, the Singapore government announced that there will basically be another lockdown, so unfortunately, we're unable to eat in restaurants now and can only do takeaways. We've also been limiting our time spent just being out in general, to be safe. So we've been ordering in and doing more takeouts nowadays.
[Note: the following pictures were taken before the new lockdown was in place]
And recently, we went back to one of our favourite hawker centres, Woodlands Glen and tried takeout from a new shop!
I've written about a store from this hawker centre/food court once before, but today's post is about a different stall! The food court itself has quite a nice interior though; very modern looking with a natural wood aesthetic, mixed with red brick accents.
The food court itself is also air-conditioned, so it's not stuffy with so many stalls cooking hot food inside a closed area. And it's actually pretty comfortable if you can get seats there. But it gets really crowded especially during dinner time and weekends.
Anyway, the new stall we tried this time was this stall called Ah Lock Kitchen!
They specialise in Hakka Tofu Bowls, which is basically the Hakka version of Yong Tau Foo - a Chinese dish consisting primarily of tofu filled with fish paste or ground meat. It can also include vegetables and mushrooms stuffed with ground meat or surimi. Yong tau foo is eaten in numerous ways, either dry with a sauce or served as a soup dish, along with noodles or rice. (Cr: Wikipedia)
Since it mostly consists of vegetables, Yong Tau Foo is probably one of the healthiest meals you can get in hawker centers. And this Hakka Tofu Bowl takes it to the next level in terms of nutrition with quality ingredients, fresh vegetables and Japanese rice.
Ah Lock Kitchen also sells Lok Lok, which is a street food in Malaysia consisting of various meats and vegetables on a skewers! And I believe they sell it at $1 per skewer! We've never tried it before, but it looks like they fry the skewer or meat/vegetables, and it's pretty standard skewers like sausages, mushrooms, fishballs, etc.
Anyway, their standard menu of Hakka bowls include different types of vegetable and meats along with a bed of Japanese rice, or curry noodles along with the Yong Tau Foo and different types of chicken.
Ultimately, we decided to get one Hakka Tofu Bowl, and one Crispy Chicken Bowl. Perhaps next time we'll try the curry noodles.
So here was Sean's Hakka Tofu Bowl, which came with crispy tofu, some fried chicken pieces, kale and beans.
And this was my Crispy Chicken Bowl that came with broccoli and a soft boiled egg:
It definitely did taste healthy, and I like that the broccoli in my crispy chicken bowl had a slightly charred taste to it. The chicken was also nice and crispy, with some tasty seasonings and slightly peppery.
Sean's bowl was also very tasty. I thought the beans would have a strong taste to them but it didn't really taste like much, which was good. Same for the kale as well. The tofu was nice and crisp on the outside, and the chicken pieces had a nice batter as well.
Overall, the Hakka Bowls were delicious! And it definitely did taste healthy and nutritious as well. I actually read that the owner of this chain of stalls, named Lock Teng, who started cooking at the age of 10, combined his grandmother’s own yong tau foo recipe with elements found in a bowl of Hakka thunder tea rice, producing a unique modernised donburi (rice bowl) with a touch of tradition and familiarity. (Cr: Seth Lui)
He's also really proud that parents often come to his stall and praise his food for getting their children to eat more vegetables. I can definitely see how that can be since he makes the vegetables so tasty; there's no bitterness to them at all! In fact they're pretty savoury, especially with the special mentaiko sauce they use.
These bowls definitely appeal to people of all ages and if you're looking to try Hakka cuisine for the first time (like myself), I definitely recommend Ah Lock Kitchen!
Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Originally posted here: https://hive.blog/hive-120586/@taco.cat/tacocat-s-treats-103-healthy-and-tasty-tofu-bowls
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