Affordable Yong Tau Fu in the campus...

When I'm experiencing brain dead situations and I really couldn't decide on what I should be having for lunch, most of the time if I can hop on the correct bus, I would usually go to the canteens that are spread across the NUS campus. And this is one of my favorite options in the campus. :P

'Yong Tau Fu' As far as I know, there are at least 3 or more canteens in the campus that are preparing and selling this. The best part? Since you can pick and choose the ingredients yourself you can decide the number of ingredients that you want to have for lunch. Besides for the vast spread of ingredients that they are offering, the price that they are charging for each individual ingredient is so low that it's too good to be true. And in case you are not into the meaty stuff and you can't differentiate them, here's a quick walkthrough on how you can differentiate the meaty stuff. Firstly, vegetables are vegetables, those should be pretty easy. For the vegetables that wraps around some ingredients, most of the time these ingredients are seafood. However if the ingredient that is wrapped inside a vegetable is dark in color, that is very likely to be a meaty ingredient. And the ingredients that doesn't comes with vegetable but is dark in color, that is very likely to be a meaty ingredient too. The rest are mainly seafood ingredients. And it's time for the interesting part.

Not that the dry version is bad, it's just that I prefer the soup version of the 'Yong Tau Fu' much much more. Though I have requested for both sweet and spicy sauce to be added, I'm getting the nice sweet taste, but the sauce ain't spicy enough. But regardless it's the dry or the soup version, the standards of the ingredients still remains to be pretty high. In fact, I think I have given all the ingredients that they are offering over here a good try already. And most of them are pretty tasty. In fact there were a few occasions where I was picking a bit too much ingredients that it ended up to be a small hill surrounded with a big pool of tasty soup/sauce. :P

So where can you give this 'Yong Tau Fu' a good try?

The name of this stall would be 'Healthy Choice'. It's located inside the NUS Frontier Canteen, there's actually one other stall in the NUS Arts Canteen that I visit quite frequently, but I prefer this one much much more.

Notes:

• Operating Hours:
  Weekdays: 07:30 - 16:00
  Saturdays: 07:30 - 15:00
  (Closed on Sundays)
• The queue over here during the regular lunch hours can be pretty crazy. Therefore, most of the time I would try to avoid the crowd by having a late lunch. :)

* Click here for the location of 'NUS Frontier Canteen' on 'Google Maps'.

Not really like a bowl of Yong Tau Fu...

Though the idea resembles a normal bowl of 'Yong Tau Fu' but if you take a look at it from a different angle, it might look alike but at the same time it's pretty different too.

The other day, my friend has mentioned about the uprising of such stalls that are preparing and selling such a dish. I have seen quite a few near my workplace but I have not given it a try. Hence that acts as the main push for me to give it a try. And that uprising dish would be... 'Mala Hot Pot'(麻辣香鍋) You can go for the dish only or you get top up a bit more for an extra bowl of rice to go with it.

So what's so special about the this dish? Over here in Singapore, you will be choosing the ingredients that you want to have first. The selections that you can choose include the different types of vegetables, seafood and meat. As you hand the ingredients over to the helpers of the stall, they will calculate the exact price of the dish and at the same time, they will ask you for your desired level of spiciness. Since this is my first attempt at this dish, I decided to go for the 3rd level. (The maximum they have over here is level 5.) The above shows the end product of my selection. This eventually has changed into a bowl of stir fried ingredients topped with extra ingredients like peanuts, sesame, sliced chillies, etc... topped with their special blend of spicy sauce. This is pretty new to me. The ingredients are slightly a bit wet, but the chef has prepared it properly. None of the ingredients still has the raw and cold touch, which is a (+). And since I have chosen a variety of ingredients with a different texture, hence in every bite I'm getting a sweet, spicy, crunchy, chewy sensation, which can be pretty appealing to me. Not only the dish is pretty tasty, this bowl of ingredients is big enough to be shared by 2 individuals. On top of that, since these are ingredients that I have chosen, therefore these are stuff that I like. :D Anyway I think that I can go for the level 4 or 5 of spiciness since the level 3 itself isn't fiery enough. :P

The above shows their charges for the individual plate of ingredients over here. For the convenience of those that couldn't read Chinese, I will break it down for you. Basically, vegetables are going for S$1 per plate, meat are mostly going for S$2 per plate, premium meat and seafood are going for S$3 per plate. A bowl of rice over here would be charge at S$0.50 each.

So where can you give this dish a good try?

The name of this stall would be 'Ri Ri Hong Mala Hot Pot'(日日紅麻辣香鍋). It's located inside "People's Park Complex Food Centre".

Notes:

• Operating Hours:
  11:00 - 21:00 Daily
• Their business was so good that they have 2 outlets in the same food centre to satisfy the big crowd.
• Take note, most of the 'Mala Hot Pot'(麻辣香鍋) are doing things differently. I have seen stalls that allows you to pick and choose your own ingredients, which is chargeable by the weight, which can end up to be pretty costly. So do keep that in mind. :)

* Click here for the location of "People's Park Complex Food Centre" on Google Maps.

Beyond Chicken Rice, there's...

They are not only preparing and selling Chicken Rice. There's something special on the menu too. And that would be...

'Yong Tau Fu' Even though you don't get to choose your own ingredients over here. This interesting bowl of soup has everything that can satisfy your craving. Not only there's a moderate portion of vegetables, it also comes with ingredients like 'fish balls', 'fried beancurd', 'fried fish cake', etc... For a start, the taste of the soup itself is relatively sweet and the generous portion of ingredients that was given is an eye opener. Initially, I thought that the portion of 'Yong Tau Fu' is merely an add-on to a plate of 'Chicken Rice'. However, it seems that the portion is equivalent or bigger than a plate of 'Chicken Rice'. The best comes as you dig into the ingredients of the bowl of soup. The ingredients that have been selected are those that can float nicely and doesn't end up to be too soggy. Most importantly, the taste of the soup can blend with the ingredients nicely, which is a big (+).

This ended up to be my lunch that day. On top of the generous portion of 'Yong Tau Fu', I have also placed an order for a plate of 'Chicken Rice' too. The plate of rice comes with this nice fragrance too. :) As for the plate of 'Chicken'...

Even though I'm not so into Rice dishes, but I could never resist a beautiful plate of white 'Chicken'. Not only it comes with a reflective skin, the taste is pretty good too. Unlike most of the 'Chicken Rice' stalls out there that will pour lots of salty sauce all over the slices of 'Chicken', the sauce over here are much more thinner and less salty. Though the plate of 'Chicken' comes with the disturbing bones, but if you are a big fan of 'Chicken Rice', you wouldn't find them a nuisance. :P

So where can you give the food a good try?

The name of this stall would be 'Tian Shui Hainan Ji Fan'(天水海南雞饭). It's located in Tanglin Halt Market.

Notes:

• Opening Hours: 09:00 - 20:00 daily
  (Closed on Mondays)

* Click here for the list of delicacies that you can find and get in Tanglin Halt Market.
~ Click here for the location of 'Tanglin Halt Market' on 'Google Maps'.

No Queue = Big Queue?

This stall might appear to be pretty harmless at first but once you hand your orders over, you will be surprise with the number of invisible customers that are standing ahead of you... =.="""

'Yong Tau Fu' For a start, each individual ingredient over here is S$0.60. This is relatively high as compared to all the other 'Yong Tau Fu' stalls out there. However, besides for the normal stuff that you can get at a normal 'Yong Tau Fu' stall, they have specially made ingredients too. In the end, I'm ended up with this.

For a start, they have separated the ingredients nicely. Once you started mixing all the noodles and the ingredients together, the heavenly sensation is a big (+). Every single bite comes with a nice mixture of chewy and crunchy ingredients topped with a nice blend of spicy and sweet sauce. Best of all, the ingredients that were separated into the bowl of noodles are mostly ingredients that will end up to be soggy when it's served in a bowl of soup. In fact, I ended up finishing the whole bowl of noodles + ingredients without even touching the bowl of soup + ingredients. :P

As for the bowl of soup, it comes with a strong and nice taste of soya beans. The original taste of the soup is pretty sweet, which is something that I like. However, it would be great if I can add a bit of small sliced green chillies to spice up the overall taste of the soup a bit more. :P As mentioned earlier, the choice of ingredients over here are pretty good. The ingredients that were added into the bowl of soup didn't end up to be pretty soggy and the sweet taste of the soup can blend with the ingredients nicely.

So where can you give the nice 'Yong Tau Fu' a good try?

The name of this stall would be 'Rong Xing Yong Tau Fu'(榮興酿豆腐). It's located inside 'Tanjong Pagar Market and Food Centre'.

Opening Hours:

• 07:00 - 14:30
  (Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays)
  
• Things can get pretty scary when there are more than 20 invisible customers that are standing in front of you. So either you have to be pretty early or you have to endure with the long queue... :P(Although it's a bit costly otherwise I couldn't imagine how long the queue will ended up to be if the price of each ingredient has been lowered... =.=""")

* Click here for the location of 'Tanjong Pagar Market and Food Centre' on 'Google Maps'.

Good Yellow Tail Fish Balls...

In the older days, fish balls are made from 'Yellow Tail' fish. I have given several stalls that have been boosting about the 'Yellow Tail' fish balls that they were making and this is one of the better ones...

'Yong Tau Fu' For a start, unlike most of the 'Yong Tau Fu' soup out there, they are not using 'Yellow Bean' to prepare this soup. And based on what I have read, they are using 'Ikan Bilis' and 'Fish Bones' to prepare this soup. Although the taste isn't as strong as the usual soup that you are getting, but the soup has this nice sweet and savoury taste, which is a nice (+). As mentioned earlier, the fish balls over here are made from 'Yellow Tail' meat. Therefore, I find the texture of the fish balls to be pretty chewy, bouncy and it doesn't have the fishy smell. On top of that, most of the ingredients over here are handmade by the stall helpers. In fact, they are owning 2 side by side stalls over here and they are using one of the stalls as a mini fresh ingredients making factory. XD As for the bowl of noodles that I have ordered, the crispy ikan bilis that were sprinkled on top isn't too salty and it's adding a crunchy sensation to the bowl of noodles itself. The biggest drawback would be the fact that they only have chilli sauce over here, therefore if you are keeping a lookout for the sweet sauce, too bad... :P

The menu over here is pretty straight forward. For a start, you can either go for the standard bowl of 'Yong Tau Fu' that comes with 6 pieces of ingredients with Noodles/Rice Vermicelli. Alternatively, you can go bowl of 'Yong Tau Fu' with merely 8 pieces of ingredients. On top of that, you can request for a few other types of ingredients with an extra charge.

So where can you give the delicious fish balls and 'Yong Tau Fu' a good try?

The name of this stall would be 'Xiu Ji Ikan Bilis Yong Tau Fu'(秀記江魚仔釀豆腐). It's located in one of the hidden corners on level 2 of 'Chinatown Complex Food Centre'.

Notes:

• Operating Hours:
  06:00 - 15:00 Daily

* Click here for the location of 'Chinatown Complex Food Centre' on Google Maps.
^ Click here for the list of delicacies that you can find and get in 'Chinatown Complex Food
  Centre'.

My First Attempt at Vegetarian Buffet

We were spending our own sweet time trying to pick the correct place for a gathering. After spending a few days looking at all the various options and discussing, we finally managed to come up with something. And this is my first encounter with...

'Vegetarian Buffet' They have all these nice starters for you to begin with. And it's not restricted to merely 'Dim Sum' alone, there's pastry, 'Sushi' and all sorts of cakes too. :P Furthermore, they have all these special booths making and preparing dishes like 'Chee Cheong Fun' upon ordering. And the chilli that they are providing over here really fit into the taste of the 'Chee Cheong Fun'.

However, if you are the typical rice or noodles sort of a person, they have lots of choices for you to try over here too. There's options like 'Fried Rice', 'Fried Noodles', 'Fried Kway Teow', 'Fried Rice Vermicelli', etc... And since there's all these filling main dishes, they have also provided lots of side dishes like 'Yong Tau Fu' and various types of vegetables dishes. And its not restricted to stir-fried vegetables only. In fact, more than half of the variety are pretty new to me too.

If you are big fan of Chinese food, you will know that an important dish is missing over here. And you're right, that missing dish would be 'Soup'. Over here, they have not only prepare a big pot of soup, there's like 2 or 3 different pots of soup for you to choose from. In fact, the soup are so tasty that I have used them as a substitute for my usual hot beverages.

And they also have these indulging dishes too. I have given the 'Chicken Rice' and 'Laksa' a try. The taste of the 'Chicken Rice' is pretty normal but the 'Laksa' is pretty much similar to the normal 'Laksa' out there. Even though the 'Laksa' isn't too spicy, but the gravy is both thick and smells nice. In fact, it's so good that I have gone ahead with a second serving. :P Before you overload your stomach with lots of food, do remember to leave some space for desserts. They not only have both hot and cold desserts over here, they also have a corner for the fruity 'Ice Cream' too. On top of that, the variety of beverages that they are offering over here are pretty interesting too. They not only have the typical 'Coffee', 'Tea' and 'Soft Drinks', they also have special blend of 'Tea' like 'Winter Melon' Tea. :) The 'Vegetarian Buffet' over here is very interesting and they really have a large variety of food over here. :P

So where can you give this 'Vegetarian Buffet' a try?

The name of this restaurant would be 'Lotus Vegetarian Restaurant'. It's located on level 2 of 'Quality Hotel'. (Hmmm.... speaking of 'Quality Hotel', it reminds me of the 'Porridge Buffet' in the same building too...)

Notes:

• Operating Hours:
  Lunch: 11:30 - 15:00
  Dinner: 18:00 - 22:00
• Do secure a reservations before you make your way down. Probably due to the reasonable price that you are paying per pax and the amount of dishes that you can try over here, it seems to be pretty crowded during the weekends.

* Click here to find out more about 'Quality Hotel'.

Another Hakka 'Yong Tau Fu'

Since there's a free lunch shuttle bus departing from my office to a nearby food centre on weekdays, I decided to hop onto the free shuttle bus that's going to 'Clementi' last Friday.

'Hakka Yong Tau Fu' For a start, I love the Chilli and Tomato sauce that they are pouring all over the bowl of noodles. As you can see, the sauce itself isn't too watery and in actual fact, when you stir all the sauces and the noodles together, the chewy noodles will ended up to have this sweet and spicy touch. However, I don't find it to be spicy enough. Probably they can try to increase the spiciness of the sauce even much more. :P As for the bowl of ingredients itself, all the ingredients look pretty rich in colour and the taste of all of it are relatively good. All the meat paste that were stuffed into the individual ingredients were firmly wrapped together. You wouldn't be getting the meaty stuff falling apart and best of all, the taste of the meat and the individual ingredients are blending together nicely. As for the sweet clear soup itself, it does come with a nice taste of 'Soy Bean' but it's not strong enough. Probably it would taste much more better, if they have added much more 'Soy Bean' and preferably 'Ikan Bilis' too.

Although most of the ingredients might appear to be pretty much the same as compared to a normal 'Yong Tau Fu' stall, but in actual fact there's actually a major difference. Rather than stuffing most of the ingredients with fish meat, they are actually stuffing it with meat paste, which makes it pretty unique and special.

The name of this stall selling 'Hakka style Yong Tau Fu' would be 'Chen Ji Ke Jia Niang Dou Fu'(陳記客家釀豆腐). This stall is located inside 'Clementi Market and Food Centre'.

Notes:

• Opening Hours:
  12:30 - 16:30
  (Closed on Sundays)
• I was eavesdropping the conversations made by the customers standing in front and behind me and they were mentioning that when business is good, all the ingredients will be gone before 3pm. Therefore, if you really want to try the food over here, you should really start queuing before 12:30 when the queue is still super short.

* Click here for the location of 'Clementi Market and Food Centre' on 'Google Maps'.
^ Click here for the list of delicacies that you can find & get in
  'Clementi Market and Food Centre'.

Hakka Style...

Since my current workplace is located near this gem hidden in a hawker centre nearby, I decided to give it a go. :D

'Hakka Yong Tau Fu'(客家娘豆腐) So what's so special about 'Hakka Yong Tau Foo'? Well for a start, rather than stuffing most of the ingredients with fish paste, they are stuffing the ingredients with meat paste. Hence, besides for the usual bitter gourd with fish paste, they also go all the way out making bitter gourd with meat paste. On top of that, the staff owners have also gone the extra mile frying some of the ingredients. For example: fried capsicum, fried bitter gourd, etc... So basically, although every single ingredient might appear the same, but the filling and the overall taste of the ingredient can differ. What I love best about the food over here would be the soup. Although the clear soup might look ordinary, but the generous portion of green vegetables that was added and the super nice taste of the soup itself have definitely caught my interest. I think that soybean was one of the ingredients that was added into the soup, but it doesn't seems to be so simple. There's simply depth in the soup base, I think. Although I'm not a big fan of rice vermicelli, but the sauces that was added into the bowl of vermicelli have definitely helps a lot. The overall dining experience is pretty nice. The sweet and spicy taste is definitely worth trying. :D (By the way, I think they are making their own sauces, because I don't think the taste of the sauces reminds me of anything out there.)

So where can you give the 'Hakka Yong Tau Fu' a try?

The name of this stall would be 'The Hakka Yong Tau Fu Stall'(客家娘豆腐). It's located inside 'Ghim Moh Market and Food Centre'.

Notes:

• Opening Hours:
  From 08:30am till 14:30pm
  (Closed every Mondays)
• Take note, during lunch hours, the queue at this stall can be pretty crazy. Hence, it ended up to be a matter of either you go there pretty early or you don't.
• By the way, ignore the queue over here. It's probably a 'fake' queue of people crowding around the stall waiting for their food. You should take a bowl of ingredients and pass it to the auntie standing next to the stall and tell her how would you want it to be prepared. She will pass you a piece of paper with a queue number written on it. And you can go around the food centre sourcing for more yummy stuff while waiting for the food. Just remember to pick up your precious bowl of 'Yong Tau Fu' afterwards.

* Click here for the location of 'Ghim Moh Market and Food Centre' on 'Google Maps'.
^ Click here for the list of delicacies that can be found in 'Ghim Moh Market and Food
  Centre'.

4 eating or for washing your face?

I suppose most of the locals have eaten 'Yong Tau Foo' in Singapore before. It's basically a store that gives you the option to choose the ingredients that you would either have in a bowl of soup or have it in a dry manner and add ketchup/chilli sauce into the bowl of ingredients. Besides for the bowl of ingredients, you will also be given the choice of having it with a bowl of rice/noodles/rice vermicelli. But you can also choose to have the noodles of rice vermicelli to be added into the bowl of ingredients and mix them together. Either ways, time to move on to the next step...

Biggest 'Yong Tau Foo' bowl in Singapore I was browsing through the web and some of my friends were posting photos of this place and since it's located near my current workplace and my house, I decided to give this place a try. The time is 8:30pm and the stall doesn't seems to be open so I decided to give the other stalls a try. Time is 9:00pm, I was browsing around the place hoping that there would be a stall selling desserts... O.O I saw a long queue outside the opened 'Yong Tau Foo' stall itself... Time to join in the queue too. Looking at the stall wondering how come there's a few bowls placed in front of the stall itself. Suddenly realised that I need to grab the ingredients in a bowl before I queue up... Quickly grab all the ingredients and jump back into the queue again... (==)""" 11 in line... Waited for 20~30 minutes and it's almost my turn but wait, the stall aunty just added a few more types of ingredients... and that look nice... added a few more ingredients to my bowl again... Finally, it's my turn. The stall uncle will ask the question of how would you like the ingredients to be prepared?

I have listed some of the possibilities below.

• Dry
• Soup (With or without vegetables or ikan bilis or green chillies
• Split the ingredients into 2 or more bowls
• etc...

You will also be given the option of having a separate bowl of
noodles/rice vermicelli or you can also choose to have it inside the
big bowl of ingredients. Either ways, rather than trying to squeeze
all the ingredients into a bowl, if you have taken too much ingredients,
that will place all the ingredients into a bigger metal bowl, similar
to what I have shown in this post. In fact, the surface of the bowl
is big enough to cover more than half of my face.

On top of that, the bowl of noodles that I have ordered separately
is full of crispy bits, which is pretty much the same as the sides
of a fried dumpling and I'm loving it. Too bad the bowl of noodles
is much smaller than the bowl of ingredients that I have otherwise
it would be a good satisfying meal. :P

Either ways, I loved the soup. Besides for the sweet taste that most
'Yong Tau Foo' stall has, the soup has a spicy touch to it. Besides
for the taste, the wide variety that the place has is pretty astonishing
too. There's all sorts of pig organs, all types of deep fried stuff, etc...
If I'm not mistaken, they have more than 40 types of ingredients for
you to choose from. ++"""

Well where to get this 'Yong Tau Foo'?

The name of the stall will be 'Soon Li Yong Tau Foo'(顺利娘豆腐). It's located in 'Bukit Merah View Market and Food Centre'.

Notes:

• Operating Hours: Irregular but usually its from midnight onwards daily
• Remember the following, queue up and get your ingredients first, before queueing up for the food. :)

* Click here for the location of 'Bukit Merah View Market and Food Centre' on
  Google Maps.
^ Click here for some other delicacies that can be found in 'Bukit Merah View Market and
  Food Centre'.

A DIY meal (Closed)

Ever had the problem of don't feel like eating parts of a meal and feel like eating parts of the same meal? For example: I have the urge of eating Fish Ball Noodles Soup but I want to have it with rice. Seems like mission impossible but that isn't such a difficult task at all. Here comes...

a bowl of 'Yong Tau Hu'.
This is a bowl of 'Yong Tau Foo' with Laksa Gravy.
So what's a 'Yong Tau Foo' anyway?
Basically, a 'Yong Tau Foo' stall will give you the option of
choosing and selecting the ingredients that you feel like eating.
After selecting the ingredients, you will be given a choice of having
it in a soupy or a dry manner and on top of that, you will also be
given the choice of having it with either a bowl of Rice or Noodles
or Bee Hoon (Rice Vermicelli) or even Yam Rice.
(I guess that should more or less explains the DIY title. :P)

The above would be a bowl of 'Yong Tau Foo' that comes with a bowl of clear soup and a bowl of Rice. On be the way before I move on, take note that there are some special ingredients that you can only find at a 'Yong Tau Foo' stall. For example: Green/Red chillies stuffed with Fish Cakes (this is one of my favourites), Bean Curd stuffed with Fish Cakes, bitter gourd, etc.

The above would be a bowl of 'Yong Tau Foo' that comes with a bowl of clear soup and a bowl of Yam Rice. I like it especially when I can have it with a small plate of Chilli.

So where is this stall located?

It's located Kim Tian Road. It used to be the eating place that
I frequent the most back then. I was passing by the place the other
day, hence I decided to give it a try again. Although the prices
have increase a bit but for the sake of the fresh ingredients and
a good meal, I don't mind paying a bit more.
Oh, by the way this is a 24/7 stall so you can pop by the place
at any part of the day of night, which sort of reminds me of the
late night gathering that I have been having at this place back then. XD

* Click here for the exact location of this "Yong Tau Foo" stall.