It is often said that, a good plate of chai tao kway(carrot cake) is done using kway(cake of the radish) that must not be outsourced. And I’m just wondering why those franchised chwee kway stalls are still getting the queues when not only the kway(rice cake) but the chai poh and even the chilli sauce are obviously outsourced.

Actually, outsourced food doesn’t really mean bad food. When the QC department is doing their job, mass-produced food can still be quite shiok and our beloved KFC and Mcdonalds are “living” examples.

For me, the most satisfying thing out of a plate of chai tao kway(white one) is in the crispiness of the kway and the coating of the omelette must only be sporadically subtle.

Nowadays most chai tao kway sellers would just ’stir-fry’ the kway and then pan fry it thickly with beaten eggs. Not sure what you’re thinking but it’s blatantly clear that in that case, anyone who knows how to fry an omelette can open a chai tao kway stall already.

My most memorable chai tao kway was Lau Goh Chye Thow Kway at People’s Park Food Centre a long time ago. Those days, a $5 plate of chai tao kway to go with a bowl of the Koo Kee Yong Tau Foo(not franchised yet and still very shiok) at People’s Park Food Centre is as common sense as ordering a glass of sugarcane to go with your meal in a hawker centre. From memory, there was no beaten eggs used but only a flatted piece of fried chai tao kway served on the plate which was so crispy to the point where it used to make me wonder how did the seller produce it from a flat pan instead of a deep fryer.

Lau Goh Teochew Chye Thow Kway $3.50: 7.25/10  

Unfortunately, Lau Goh Chye Thow Kway at People’s Park Food Centre closed sometime back while Koo Kee Yong Tau Foo went the franchised route and we all know that Koo Kee’s quality suffered a ’standard dropped effect’ drastically. You can easily guess that from that point, People’s Park Food Centre was rendered redundant for me.

While Koo Kee Yong Tau Foo seems to have lived past it’s “usefulness” for me, Lau Goh Chye Thow Kway was resurrected at Zion Road Food Centre.

Newspaper articles at the stall

Lau Goh’s son, Peter Goh

The front of the stall is filled with newspaper articles showcasing the evidence of a long history that can let the nostalgia customers hark back to the glorious past.

Peter Goh the current owner, is the son of the original Ah Goh who passed on almost 2 decades ago. For the benefit of those who don’t know, Peter is actually partially deaf and takes the customer order by reading their lips. I have to clarify that I’ve never eaten from the senior Goh. His son, Peter Goh had already took over the business when I first ate at the stall at People’s Park Food Centre and if you are wondering how much better it used to be with his father, well me too.

Now, during those days when any meal in a hawker centre was still selling at $2, I was already paying $5(from $3.50) to Peter for a plate of chai tao kway so it’s heartening to know that the price hasn’t increased all these years and you still can get a plate from $3.50 to $5 today.

Lau Goh Teochew Chye Thow Kway $3.50: 7.25/10  

The crispiness of the chai tao kway seems to lose its grip this time round though I must say that I arrived at a time when Peter was preparing to shut the stall for the lull period from 3pm to 6pm. The flavour of the kway though just reminds me of how I used to gobble up the whole plate so effortlessly. I think out of 100 chai tao kway stalls, probably 99 stalls would have kway that is plain white with no other flavour except the chai tao(radish) and the 1 stall that bothers to infuse some kind of shiokadodo flavour into the kway just happens to be Lau Goh Chye Thow Kway.

Not sure what’s in it but the color of the kway is not the common virgin white but darkened(possibly with soya sauce and some other things) with a terrific flavour that can make you wonder why the rest of the chai tao kway makers still insist on leaving it white.

Overall, for $3.50, it didn’t quite hit the spot for me like how it used to in the past. Possibly the wok wasn’t hot enough when I turn up or I was getting the last few bits of leftover kway from the pot. Or perhaps the kway had been sitting there for many hours.

As with any other food, I’m sure turning up at an early lunch time can do more justice. It’s hits and misses for me this time round but I’m definitely not feeling discouraged, for the classic Ah Goh chai tao kuah flavour that I used to enjoy in the good old days still lingers somewhere in the plate.

Price: $3.50

Conclusion: Not as crispy as before but the trademark flavour is still there. Pretty satisfying though there are still rooms for improvement.

Likes: Flavour of the carrot cake is good.

Dislikes: Not crispy enough.

Address		Overall Rating
Lau Goh Teochew Chye Thow Kway #01-26 Zion Rd Riverside Food Centre 12pm to 2pm(Mon-Sat) 6pm to 11pm(All) 10am to 3pm(Sun) Off: Alt Tues		Food: 7.5/10   Value: 7/10   Authenticity: 8/10   Service: 7/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7.25/10