#Abacus gold skin

Next came a fat roll of beancurd skin stuffed with the fish paste then deep fried, while a ring of filled bittergourd drifted like a green lifesaver in the soupy pool.

In the bowl, I found an irregularly shaped, yet bouncy fishball, bearing the mark of having been hand-shaped. The other was a painstakingly made-from-scratch fish paste. One was the abovementioned minced meat and fish paste mixture, with the vital salted fish for added fragrance and flavour.

From what I could see, there were two kinds of stuffing for the variety of yong tau foo. So I decided to take inventory of the remaining contents of my bowl.Īll the familiar stuffed tofu favourites were there, along with a few other delicious surprises. Understandable, given their limited, hand-made quantities. Sorry, no choice,” he said firmly, but with a smile. I asked Mr Chia if customers had the option to choose their ingredients like many typical buffet-style yong tao foo stalls. Sadly, there was only one in the bowl and all too quickly, it was gone. The distinctive oyster flavour brought out the umami of the salted fish in meatball beautifully. It was an oyster meatball, featuring a plump Korean oyster snuggled in a jacket made from a mixture of minced pork, fish paste and salted fish. However, one bite put to bed my initial reservations.Ī hit of brine gave way to gloriously soft, unctuous meat. A dark grey lump sitting on a paler grey clump, I confess it wasn’t the prettiest of things to eat. It was unlike anything else I’d encountered at other yong tau foo stalls. I took this to mean I was very lucky to have bagged one of his precious last servings and dutifully picked up the first thing I saw in the bowl. READ: Best eats: These UFO-shaped Fuzhou oyster cakes in Jalan Besar are out of this world Nothing is kept overnight because we make fresh daily.” It’s hard work to hand-make each piece, so we can only serve a limited number. Our suppliers make their deliveries from 1am every morning and we start making it from 2am. Then, referring to the yong tau foo, he said: “We make everything using quality ingredients. He informed me that they fried up a batch every fortnight, using chilli, garlic and hae bee (dried shrimp). More than tasty on their own, the noodles came alive with the addition of Mr Chia’s spicy, homemade chilli sauce, which was an absolute flavour bomb. The minced pork topping was well-seasoned and just fatty enough to give it moist tenderness. The springy, twisty noodles were lovely and firm to the bite, with lots of little sauce-catching kinks to deliver maximum flavour. We get ours specially made,” Mr Chia was quick to point out. Very hard to find! Only one or two factories make these in Singapore. The sauce was fragrant with lard and the perfectly al dente noodles were like a cross between thin mee kia and thick, flat mee pok (egg noodles). The other contained an attractive pile of glistening noodles topped with minced meat and herby green garnish.ĭeciding to let the soup cool, I dove into the noodles first, giving them a quick toss. One was chock-a-block with stuffed tofu ingredients and other goodies, submerged in steaming broth. I made a mental note to return for both on a later date and realised that Mr Chia had already placed two bowls before me on the table. Housed within the same coffee shop was their other stall selling beef ball noodles (which also comes highly recommended) and an economical rice stall (“not related to us!”). My siblings help out in the food business and my cousin runs the drinks stall!” he shared in Mandarin. READ: Best eats: Sweet, spicy mee soto packed with flavour and heritage in Ang Mo Kio Quite the chatty, gregarious character, he encouraged me to have more drinks while I waited for him to prepare my S$3 set of yong tau foo in soup, with an accompanying side of dry minced meat noodles (S$4 and S$5 sets also available).