Perfect for those who don’t like their lei cha too bitter. Pang says he omitted the tea so people of all ages, including kids, can eat it. Ironically, there’s no Chinese tea in this version. It sounds kinda weird on paper and can be polarising, but 8days.sg recently sampled Pang’s updated version and his thunder tea rice is super delicious. It comes with an herbaceous ‘pesto tea’ soup with ground coriander, mint, mugwort and basil which you’re supposed to pour over the rice (we do it in tiny increments). Why did it take so long to reintroduce what we call the original grain bowl? Well, Hakka thunder tea rice ( lei cha in Mandarin) is made with multiple wholesome ingredients like assorted and meticulously chopped veggies, tofu, kidney beans, chai poh, roasted peanuts, crispy ikan bilis and brown rice. Pang’s thunder tea rice takes six hours to prepare Back then, he sold the dish at $8 per set, but he has now lowered the price to $5.90 a bowl to make it hawker food-friendly. The chef briefly sold his thunder tea rice back in 2020 when he ran Pang’s Hakka Delicacies, a mostly online biz during the Covid period. At the upcoming Yishun branch, Chef Pang will reintroduce Pang’s Hakka Thunder Tea Rice ($5.90) - it was a cult favourite back when he used to sell it online before starting his hawker biz. He tells 8days.sg that business “has stabilised after a few months” and the stall “still has short queues during peak meal periods and on weekends”.

Thankfully, he has had better luck with his newest Bukit Merah shop, which opened to long lines back in March. The first four outlets closed down due to poor footfall in quieter locales, coupled with rental issues. Technically, the Yishun outlet marks his sixth time opening a Pang's hawker stall. No part of this story or photos can be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg. He tells 8days.sg that he decided to set up shop at Yishun as he “doesn’t think there are thunder tea rice there”. Now, pastry chef-turned-hawker towkay Pang Kok Keong, founder of defunct French patisserie Antoinette and consultant for cafe chain Surrey Hills, is opening the brand's second outlet in Yishun on 20 September. However, the reaction of Charles & Keith was different – they were “impressed” by how she handled the situation, as Charles and Keith Wong, one of the founders of the brand, also came from humble enjoyed the tasty grub at Pang’s Hakka Yong Tau Foo when we visited the Bukit Merah stall in March this year. Gabriel, a Filipina teenager based in Singapore, drew flak on social media after she shared in her TikTok account an S$80 bag she bought for herself and described it as a “luxury” item. The brand has pledged a donation of US$100,000 (S$135,000), including 20% of all proceeds from the special edition handbag, to fund the UN's gender equality programme. The colour purple is historically linked with efforts to achieve gender equality.Ĭharles & Keith believes that storytelling is a powerful tool for advocacy and promoting equality, and aims to support women's voices in the Asia-Pacific region through this partnership with UN Women. Promoting gender equalityĬharles & Keith launched a special edition of one of its best-selling handbag styles, The Alia, in a purple hue in support of the UN Women's Storytelling for Gender Equality project.

Let us celebrate equality through equity, the way flowers do,” Gabriel wrote. This international women’s day, let us celebrate with compassion. We are like fields of poppy and lakes of lotus – diverse and bold in our differences, beautiful in our own ways.

A post shared by CHARLES & KEITH are like flowers: our time and needs to grow may not always align, but that is okay.

Charles and keith singapore