Living Wholesome (Bukit Timah Market)

This had a short queue at ~6.30pm on a Saturday. Had seen some raving reviews of this but sadly we didn’t really find it very impressive. There’s long beans, red beans (I don’t usually see this in leicha!), tofu, peanuts, long beans, cabbage and some other veg. Some of the tofu was very tasty, as it was soft with a bite to it; but some of the smaller pieces weren’t as nice. Peanuts were crunchy, the rest of the ingredients were decent, nothing much to say. On first taste, I found the bowl quite meh, but I found it better towards the end. It’s very clean tasting, it’s definitely a good choice for those on a diet. But it tasted a bit flat? Compared to other leichas I’ve had. Maybe adding mani cai would help? The soup has a palatable level of bitterness so it was easy to drink.

Overall, I’ve had better leicha at other places, but I hear lots of people love this so this might be to your preference!

Love, love this lei cha so much! It’s light-tasting, not oily or salty, and filled with plenty of clean ingredients, making for a filling meal. Interestingly, the thunder tea paste here isn’t made of tea leaves, but instead of a blend that includes nuts and beans, resulting in a slightly sweet and nutty tasting paste that’s delicious. They let you customise your bowl. The woman in front of me asked for kosong (no rice or noodles) and more vegetables, and I asked for less bee hoon and more tofu.

Only ever had thunder tea rice once many many years back. It was so long ago that I don’t even remember liking it or not 😂 That changed recently after trying out Living Wholesome’s! Love theirs - it’s a bit pricier, but it comes default with brown rice and a full variety of vegetarian toppings (chye poh, beancurd, wing beans, long beans, etc.). It’s fragrant, clean and not at all oily. You can top up a dollar to upgrade to a bigger portion, but the default’s already very substantial. There’s also bee hoon as an alternative.

They offer delivery now as well, with free deliveries within 1km or up to $9 islandwide, without minimum orders.

I love how all his ingredients are very clean/light tasting and super refreshing (not too oily or salty). Other versions that I've tried elsewhere are usually too oily or salty for my tastebuds and tend to have those jelat feels afterwards.

One super unique selling point of this shop is that they have a beehoon version instead of the rice. The beehoon has a super fragrant sesame oil aroma and is light tasting. As a person who tend to feel very bloated when i eat too much rice, i am so glad that there is thunder tea beehoon version because now i get to satisfy my 雷茶 cravings and have the whole plate to myself without being overly full by carbs.

Also i love that for their ingredients, they have savoury sweet chye poh and azuki beans as well as winged beans << which is different from other stalls.

The tea soup itself is super aromatic and the basil+mint werent too overpowering. Also, their version has the perfect balance herbaceous minty taste and roasted nutty profile. I love how its slightly savoury too.

Beehoon set: $5/$8
Rice set: $6/$9

The small portion by itself is really super filling and is quite huge. So worth!

The boss is also really friendly and i love the rock music that he blasts. HAHHA super cool personality. The lady boss is also really nice and friendly!

Worth it: 5/5
For the portion, taste and service, this is really worth it!!! I feel that its cheaper than other thunder tea rice stalls out there (ie. Sunny choice cafe version which cost $9.50) and the taste is even better.
Taste: 4.75/5 (minus a little because i felt that the tau pok was a little too overly-fried and hence it was a bit too heard and i couldnt taste the fragrance of the soy)
Overall: 9.75/10

No go
Can go
Must go😊😊YASS

#burpple

I seldom take vegetarian food, attracted by the queue, I decided to give this a shot. The ingredients were fresh. Tried the Thunder tea on its own but the taste was a little too funky for me so I decided to pour into the rice and mix together. It tastes much better when you mix everything together. It’s good, healthy and very filling.

$6 thunder tea rice with really nice and fragance brown rice that is very soft and moist. The fragance comes from the pandan leaves and lemongrass that are cooked together with the brown rice. Had to queue for approximate 10mins but ohwells, the uncle at the stall is quite entertaining. He is kind of “dancing” with the blasting 90’s oldies music at the background while preparing all those ingredients.

Looking at all this colour just makes me so happy!!! All ingredients on this plate are freshly prepared so they’re never ever soggy or cold and stale. Since I’m not a fan of ikan bilis that most leichas have, I like that this version comes with sweet radish instead. You can also choose between beehoon or brown rice.

Pro tip: While you’re queuing for your food, just pay attention to the boss who takes so much pride in cooking the food. Doesn’t it make you feel happy just seeing someone enjoying the whole process of food preparation? 😌😌

💸 $6 (small)

Requested for less brown rice more veggies (assorted chopped vegetables, wing beans, chye poh, tau kwa, azuki beans & peanut) and the friendly owner gladly agreed ☺️ As a fan of thunder tea rice 擂茶饭, this is one of the best stall I’ve tried despite it’s vegetarian (so no ikan billis or hae bee) The soup is v flavourful and not as bitter as others

Haven't had many thunder tea rice(s?) so I'm not the best judge but I think this was balanced both in taste and texture. The small is pretty big already so idk how big the 'normal' ($7) would be 😂

Bukit Timah, during weekend is always over-crowded, this hakwer offering numerous food choices including the vegetarian Thunder Tea Rice, and the owner will sing the song out loud.