Warm Tofu with Rice Noodle If anything, 2024 just seems like a year where we are likely going to be a little more open to trying new foods in particular; had a surprise go at Filipino food on one occasion in 2023 and it does seem that exploring new flavours that aren’t quite to our usual tastes had been quite the experience at least since our trip to Bali mid-2023. Was scrolling through the phone looking around at unfamiliar spots within Woodlands and found an establishment named Mother’s House Myanmar Cuisine that is located in the Yak Hong Kopitiam situated within Woodlands Bizhub — while the location does sound quite off the beaten track considering it is a coffeeshop in an industrial building, Woodlands Bizhub is actually rather accessible with bus stops located in close proximity to the building right where Yak Hong Kopitiam is with a bus connection that will bring one to Yishun, Woodlands or Woodlands North MRT Station depending on the direction that the bus is travelling. Run by several Burmese ladies behind the counter, Mother’s House Myanmar Cuisine serves up quite a variety of Burmese cuisine; this would not only comprise of the noodle dishes that we are more exposed to from the various Burmese food stalls that are situated across the island, but also rice and dishes that one can order in the same way as one would have their Nasi Padang / Chinese-style economic mixed rice. Some of its noodle offerings includes familiar-sounding names like the Warm Tofu with Rice Noodle, Shan Noodle and the Coconut Noodle (described as Yangon-style Laksa). It is also noted that the stall does sport quite a tidy look even when we dropped by during dinner hours on a weekday.
We had been seeing quite a number of coffeeshop-based Burmese cuisine stalls serving up the Warm Tofu with Rice Noodle; that being said, we are not quite keen to make a special trip down since most of these stalls are located in some neighbourhood that we are usually more enticed with trying something else instead — the fact that this was situated in Woodlands and thus, a little more “convenient” and a neighbourhood that we had tried pretty much everything that interests us made it all the more appealing to us. Visiting Mother’s House Myanmar Cuisine on a weekday dinner service, we were glad that the Warm Tofu with Rice Noodle was still available — considering that there is some work to be done to serve up the item, there is a somewhat of a 10 to 15 minute waiting time for the Warm Tofu with Rice Noodle to be ready to be served; a buzzer will be issued by the staff of which the patrons would be other to collect the order at the counter once it is ready. On first look, one would not be able to see the noodles in the dish; everything seemingly getting covered by the yellowish tofu layer that sits atop the bowl. The tofu is also topped off with fried shallots, meat in chili oil, spring onions and peanuts as well. We were initially had the impression that the dish is one that is going to be light in texture and palate; this is especially given so for how the impression of tofu is like in other forms of cuisine — this turned out to be surprisingly heavy for a tofu dish instead; for one, the noodles hidden in the layer of tofu were actually rice noodles. That aside, the tofu layer turned out to be one that had been churned to a smooth texture almost akin to a puree. Considering so, we figured out they the best way to enjoy this dish is to give everything a good toss so that the tofu puree can get around all the other elements and cling onto the rice noodles.
Mixing up the rice noodles with everything else in the bowl, the initial impressions of the dish was how sticky and clumpy it is. That being said, mixing it up introduces some air into the dense puree while loosening up the clumped up rice noodles. As we slurp on the noodles, we found the rice noodles to be soft and chewy; almost akin to that of glass noodles. We also figured out that the tofu puree is probably introduced to give the dish a creamy texture; while rather neutral tasting on its own, tossing it with other elements certainly added a slightly umami note especially from the soy sauce and fried shallots. peanuts does offer a soft crunch that adds on to the textures in the dish. Meanwhile, the meat that comes with spicy oil is actually quite well-needed addition; we suspect that the chunks of meat here were pork considering its consistency but these small chunks of meat were considerably tender and did not require much effort to chew apart anyway. TheThat being said, the chili oil does provide much kick of spiciness that would tickle the tastebuds of those whom are tolerable to moderate levels of spiciness — also brings vibes similar to mainland Chinese dishes without the numbness from Sichuan peppers.
Accompanied with the Warm Tofu with Rice Noodle was a bowl of soup that was clean-tasting; one that felt homey and almost similar to the usual that comes with Hainanese Chicken Rice — a rather well-rounded one that comes without salt or any distractions land thus really hearty. Also came with a “very hot” dry chili which was almost similar to a Lao Gan Ma-style chili; more smoky than actually spicy, as well as pickled vegetables that were really similar to the Chinese Sichuan Vegetable pickles that is just a wee bit spicy, but also tangy and have a slight crunch. Mother’s House Myanmar Cuisine doesn’t state the prices of their dish on the menu; that being said, we paid $6 for the Warm Tofu with Rice Noodle — a little high for a coffeeshop situated in an industrial area, though probably reflects the labour that goes into the making for it. As for whether or not their fare is truly authentic to the Burmese tastebuds, we will leave that to the Burmese patrons to decide …
