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He needs his fortnightly beef noodle fix

Geoffrey Eu | The Business Times | Tue Oct 2 2012

Hutcabb Consulting’s Oliver Tian has been a regular patron of the Geylang Lorong 9 beef kway teow.

by Geoffrey Eu

Singapore, October 2, 2012

Hutcabb Consulting's Oliver Tian has been a regular patron of the Geylang Lorong 9 beef kway teow for only a couple of years, but his rapport with the owners is strong enough for him to know who is cooking at any specific time of day, and when his favourite cook is "at wok".

The chief executive of the specialist developer of information technology applications for clients said: "You can have a standard formula for a dish, but you can never have the same style of cooking - chefs can't transfer their skills so easily."

He drops in on Lorong 9's Geylang Famous Beef Kway Teow for his Cantonese- style beef kway teow fix about twice a month, typically at lunch time on weekdays, when parking is ample and tables are readily available.

He said: "I bring customers who are prepared to roll up their sleeves and go anywhere for good food."

Another beef hor fun stall which plies its trade in a kopitiam across the street from his favourite stall has a similar recipe and is just as good - perhaps because it is run by a relative of his stall of choice, he said.

However, it opens only in the evenings.

At Lorong 9, the beef is sliced just right and is incredibly tender, he said.

"It is very juicy and tasty and the gravy is fantastic - I just love it.

"The beef in the dry and soup versions can sometimes be a little tough. Here, the beef just melts in your mouth."

He said he also enjoys the familiar wok hei flavour in the rice noodles.

Mr Tian considers himself a semi-serious foodie who would go to all corners of the island for good hawker food.

"I like to go to the more remote places - somewhere which hasn't expanded and become part of a chain, because then the food isn't the same anymore," he said.

He recalled a time a few years ago when he and a few others teamed up for a local food hunt, in which the objective was to track down good hawker stalls in central Singapore based on clues given.

He said: "We ended up at a place where we really liked the food and forgot about the rest of the hunt. We lost the hunt but we proved ourselves to be the true food lovers!"

At Lorong 9, he usually orders the crispy beef noodles dish in addition to the beef kway teow; he just cannot get enough of those succulent beef strips, it seems.

Although he has a nose for good food, his own culinary skills could do with some improvement, he confessed.

"I try to cook at home sometimes, but nobody wants to eat my food."

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