One of the common gluten dangers of eating out in Singapore is that just about everything gets at least a small sprinkle of Soy Sauce.
Thunder Tea Rice is different. It is designed to be healthy. No lard, no sauce, no MSG. Just plenty of vegetables, tofu (soft, no gluten skin!), peanuts and ikan billis (dried anchovies). You can ask for it to be made without any of the above if you have nut, fish or soy allergies too, since everything is prepared separately and put together in a dish to serve. It's a little like Bim Bap if you are familiar with Korean food.
The 'Thunder Tea' component is a concoction of blended green tea, mint and basil leaves with hot water. Some eat it like a soup, which I did at first. Now I have taken to pouring it over the rice so that the whole dish becomes almost like a soup! On the side of course there is soy sauce for the gluten eaters, (glutenators?), and usually a chili sambal which should be checked every time you eat at a new place to make sure it is home made (i.e no thickeners or preservatives that would contain wheat).
One of my favorite things about Thunder Tea Rice is the option for brown rice, which adds to the flavor and touted 'excellent medical and pharmacological values'.
Dish Origins - this is Hakka food with origins in herbal medicine during the Qin dynasty.
No photo this time. I realised that not having the right photo makes me procrastinate in writing this blog so I have decided just to post anyway! Someone else has taken some very nice photos of the Joo Chiat Road store here: http://www.camemberu.com/2009/10/thunder-tea-rice-hakka-lei-cha-fan.html
