Hock Lam Beef

I was a bit skeptical about visiting HLB, since I heard and read that their soup and sauce bases are «herbal» and given my experiences with some herbal bases (and getting sick), I was a tad bit hesitant. However, this place was beyond expectations and I left with a happy belly!
If I recall correctly, my friend and I shared a combination set that came with your choice of drink, appetizer, and noodle. We went with barley tea, Asian-​style chicken nuggets (for lack of a better description), and your style of noodles. They have something similar to sushi places, where you get a pen and paper and mark down your choices of food to order.
Noodles come either with a savory, herbal, thick sauce or herbal soup. We went with the saucy option, which is something I don’t usually do since I always prefer noodle soup. BUT, it was really good! The meat was tender and the sauce wasn’t the herbal flavor that I dislike. The noodles were of perfect consistency. The saucy version of these noodles comes with hot sauce and a side of their broth. We also got a side of meat parts doused in similar sauce.
The spicy chicken nuggets were inferior to those from Hong Kong or even at bubble tea shops here in the US — but it was the best option among the others. It wasn’t amazing, but not terrible either.
The cold barley tea here was mm, mm, good — refreshing and with barley at the bottom.
This place was not busy at all after work on a weekday… probably 1 other party was there.

I love Hock Lam Beef Noodles. Old school unpretentious beef noodles very popular with the CBD crowd. I think there’s another outlet in Circular road.
The restaurant is noisy and crowded during lunch time, but I don’t usually have a problem getting a seat if I go around 1pm.
I often order my beef kway teow dry with mixed beef balls and sliced beef, and soup on the side. The kway teow sauce is thick, the flat white noodles are springy and delicious, and the beef balls taste splendid. The sliced beef sometimes taste a little tough and chewy, but overall they’re quite good too.
Service is very fast and I can wolf down a meal under half an hour if I’m in a rush.