Sunday, July 03, 2011

Bagus

We've always passed by here but it never really cross my mind to bring my colleagues here to try their fare. And last week, we saw a spate of wet weather so on one of those days, I suggest that we come by to this popular Yong Tau Fu place for lunch.

Nothing like piping hot soup on a rainy afternoon…


Menu 1


Menu 2


Menu 3

Been a long time since I last came here so I almost forgot how the 'Ampang' style is done. My Chinese colleague told me that it's just some starchy gravy ala 'horfun'.

However, I vaguely remember some slight sweet & sour taste so I asked the staff there and they confirmed it. My colleague was slightly surprised that their take on the 'Ampang' sauce was slightly different (but it's starchy, alright).

Funny how when you actually travel to Ampang in Johor (Malaysia), their version of Yong Tau Fu is different from their namesake here in Singapore.


'Ampang' Yong Tau Foo w/ La Mian

I took a fair number of both the wet & fried stuff. With the Ampang version, every one of them were put together in the bowl.

However, almost all the items were given a quick fry in hot oil prior to serving so the outer layer of those pre-fried ones were really crispy and when coated with the thick sauce, it was pretty delightful (unhealthy, I know)… Surprisingly, even the wet items like those with the fish paste , quail eggs and green chilli were fried as well. Excluding the leafy veggies, of course.

Only the dried seaweed was left to soak in the hot soup in a separate bowl.

The sauce had a consistency that's similar to your 'zhi char horfun', albeit having a slighly sweet & sour accent that reminded me of pineapples, somehow. Wish I had chosen the 'kway teow' instead of this 'la mian', their supposed specialty.

These freshly-made noodles, not that that weren't any good but they got soggy pretty easily in the gravy and filled me up way too quickly.


Laksa Yong Tau Foo 1


Laksa Yong Tau Foo 2

My other colleagues all chose the 'Laksa' gravy.

With this rendition, the fried stuff were re-fried and served separately, away from the (more watery) gravy which would have made them soggy easily, as compared to my more starchy version.

The laksa taste and consistency was much milder and lighter than the actual version so one finds no harm in sipping the gravy every now and then. Too bad they didn't top the bowl with more of the 'daun kesum' (Vietnamese mint leaves). That would have made the laksa taste more... erm... laksa-ish.

All of us waddled back to the car after we're done. My colleague was fretting about how one loses self-control when choosing the items for Yong Tau Fu. They don't look like much in those (large) bowls, initially. Only when they are served, do we realised that we've chosen too many.

Do you have the same problem? I encounter that same issue when buying Indian 'rojak' too. They don't look like much when you put the items on the (large) plate. Only after they are cut up and piled onto the serving plate do I realise the damage…

Definitely coming back here. I wanna check out their Cuttlefish Kang Kong. And the shredded chicken horfun.

Bagus La Mian Yong Tau Fu
276 Changi Road

(adjacent to Darul Ma'wa Orphanage)

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