Old Mother Hen

The informal Batu Pahat makankakis in Singapore met up at Old Mother Hen aka Lau Kway Bu in Hokkien, last Saturday for some nom nom nom nom nom..... I've been there with some friends before and quite like the food there. Especially loved the fish head, pork fallopian tubes and Shi Quan chicken soup.

First dish... KL style hokkien noodles. Love this love this love this. I can eat this everyday and die a happy man. We agreed that it tasted better than the one we had at Big Eater during the last outing.


Next, pork fallopian tubes! I personally have no problems devouring "spareparts" other than kidneys. Kidneys if not prepared properly would have that ammonia aka URINE stench but then again, improperly washed stomach, intestines, rectum(yes we eat pork rectum too) and many other spareparts would have yucky stench as well.... hmmm... I just can't stand that urine taste in my mouth. Ok I digress...

I love this dish too. As far as I know, I've not eaten this anywhere else and I'm glad that they serve this here. "Crunchy" and firm without any offensive odour. The savoury sauce is sweet and spicy and blends really well with the fallopian tubes.


Homemade tofu... which self respecting chinese style restaurant would not have this on their menu? Their version is competent there's nothing to dislike about this dish.


Next is the source of fibre for every meal. The vegetables! I like their imaginative way of serving the boring kai lan with this but majority of us didn't like it. The kai lan was a bit old and chewy.


The star of the meal was this. Half a very fresh red grouper head with a very tasty and spicy sauce. Guarantee to whet up the appetite. Enjoyed picking on the skin and bones.


This is their version of claypot chicken rice. Not too bad I'd say and competently executed but I know I've tasted better elsewhere. One thing thats different is there were no salted fish added and replaced by a salted egg yolk. I'd prefer it with the salted fish though. Edit: Seems like I didn't scoop any of the salted fish at all!


I've always love herbal soups and especially Shi Quan(Mandarin)/Sip Chuan(Hokkien). Mum used to cook this for the whole family. We had some pantang(taboo) that after drinking the soup, we should not drink cold drinks and not drink tea, reason being we'll have permature greying hair. I dunno man, there are some things that we just follow without questioning.

This soup belongs to the "heaty" group. According to teh interwebs it is said to consist of the following

• Panax ginseng (Ginseng)
• Angelica sinensis (Dong quai)
• Paeonia lactiflora (Peony), root
• Atractylodes macrocephala (Atractylodes), rhizome
• Poria cocos (Hoelen)
• Cinnamomum cassia (Cinnamom)
• Astragalus membranaceus (Astragulus), root
• Liqusticum wallichii (Cnidium), rhizome
• Glycyrrhiza uralensis (Licorice)
• Rehmannia glutinosa (Rehmannia), root

Also it is not recommended for expecting mothers to consume this soup. The other alternative Ba Zhen that is said to be the same minus 2 ingredients. Well thats what my friendly neighbourhood chinese medicine hall proprietor tells me.


Check out Camemberu's account of the outing here and Keropok Man's here.