Lei Cha Rice

I am clearing a lot of backlogs only now because my camera roll is filling up, but let me just preface this post by saying that the message here is you don't know what you have until it's gone. I never actually tried the thunder tea dishes from Thunder Tree when they were still open at VivoCity, Chinatown, or even Bugis (this was from the Bukit Batok branch, which I will get to later). Technically, the only reason I ended up trying this dish was because they were no longer accessible to me, but I jumped on the opportunity to join a rare group buy organised by someone in my neighbourhood who is friends with the family, and this was the only dish available. Since I missed Thunder Tree so much, I decided to order it anyway. As it turns out, I really loved it. Their thunder tea rice is really just that #special, packed full of nutritious ingredients from #tofu to #longbeans to #beans and #carrots. Their #rice was different from normal white rice, and it wasn't brown rice either, which I really appreciated. The 'tea' was also really good and palatable to me, even though I typically dislike the teas in similar dishes. All this is to say that I really regretted not trying the dish years earlier, and to make up for lost time, I even joined a second group buy to get this dish again. That was the last time I ate this dish. Sadly, I highly doubt I'll get to eat this dish again in the near future since it's no longer on the regular menu (and thus I also decided not to list this review under the Bukit Batok branch to not give people false hope). And now, to explain my extended hiatus and backlogs, is another tale of the message that you don't know what you have until it's gone, this time for donations.

It took my friend ordering this as #takeout for me to actually try their prime dish 🙈 I’m very particular about my #leicha so it’s no surprise I didn’t find this to measure to my standard, even if it was by all means really good 🫢 I’m just too used to my spot in Kuching! My honest opinion is that it had too much going on for it for me to enjoy; More of a bibimbap than a #leicha really 🫣 Still, shame that such an amazing place is gone!

Please support closing next month organic and local iconic place!

Served with organic crystal brown rice, which was quite soft like white rice. Personally prefer the kolo mee version with springy and savoury noodles tossed in sesame oil sauce! The soup (not pictured - made using mint, basil, and tea) wasn't very bitter; it was my mum's first time trying lei cha and she found the taste of the soup nicer than it looked haha. Topped with lots of healthy ingredients including black-eyed peas, beancurd, preserved radish, and fresh organic vegetables from their farm Fireflies Health Farm. Really appreciate how affordable the food is even though it has an organic farm-to-table concept! ($7.80)

Thunder Tree has recently opened a stall within VivoCity Food Republic! Generous serving of vegetables, tofu, beans and peanuts on brown rice. Served with a bowl of lei cha soup. Extra chilli on the side. One of the better lei cha around. Would return.