Kulai has a predominant Hakka population and is renowned for its Hakka cuisine. And 大树下擂茶 is a well-known eatery in Kulai that serves Hakka lei cha (擂茶) and Hakka yong tau foo (酿豆腐). Officially, the eatery does not have a name nor signboard but is commonly addressed by locals as “大树下擂茶” or “榕树下擂茶” due to it being under a big banyan tree — let’s call it (Under a) “Big Tree” Lei Cha for ease of referencing.
“Big Tree” Lei Cha has just two types of Hakka dishes on its menu. Its lei cha — meaning “ground / pounded tea” but often misinterpreted as “thunder tea rice” — is served with either white rice, brown rice or without any. Their various types of fried yong tau foo are available as side dish to accompany the lei cha rice dish.
The big-size Lei Cha with Brown Rice (擂茶糙米饭) is served with chopped long beans, cabbage, spinach, white eye beans, peanuts, small cuts of tofu, etc, on brown rice. Accompany the rice dish is a bowl of rich, savoury tea broth for adding to the rice before eating. The rice dish, with its crunchy ingredients, has nice natural flavours with subtle saltiness and not bitter. It is delicious indeed.
Besides Lei Cha, their handmade Yong Tau Foo (酿豆腐) — I picked stuffed tofu, eggplant and lady fingers — are well-fried with nice tastiness. The sizes are quite big and generously stuffed with minced meat. They taste even better after dipping them in garlic chilli sauce.
So long as the food are delicious, it does not matter whether “Big Tree” Lei Cha has an official name or not. Everyone, far and wide, knows where to find it.
Address:
Jalan Air Hitam, Taman Nam Tak, 81000 Kulai, Johor, Malaysia
Opening Hours:
10am to 3pm | Closed on Thursday
How to Get There:
Take BAS.MY J30 from JB Sentral to Kulai Bus Terminal and change to BAS.MY J300 / CityBus 2. Read: JB Bus / Train: To Kulai District in Johor (柔佛.古来).
Nearby:
More Eats @ Kulai:
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