Hakka Noodle @ Holland Drive Market & Food Centre

Hakka Noodle is one of the crowd favorite at Holland Drive Market & Food Centre.

Google about them and their specialty, the Hakka noodle, will turn up as one of the top results in the search engine.

If you are scratching your head over what Hakka noodle is, you might be more familiar with its other name - yong tau foo. It come in two sizes ($3/$4) and I ordered the big serving.

The ingredients are fixed so there is no choosing here.

My order come with a plate of noodle and a bowl of soup.

Xiu Ji Ikan Bilis Yong Tau Foo @ Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre

I cannot decide which is more off-putting - the never ending queue for the yong tau foo or the fact that the stall is located right next to the toilet?

For years, I have walked past the stall countless of times but not once did I throw it an extra glance due to the reason above.

It wasn't until recently that I finally relented.

I figured that they must be doing something right since they are able to command a perpetual queue everyday despite its less than ideal location.

On the day of my visit, I was elated to see less than ten customers in front of me however, the queue was very slow moving.

Bai Nian Niang Dou Fu @ People's Park Food Centre

Over here at Bai Nian Yong Tau Foo, the only way you can have your yong tau foo is with bee hoon (rice vermicelli) soup. They do not serve it dry or have other kinds of noodle options like kway teow (flat rice noodle) or yellow noodles.

You have no choice over the ingredients as well as the ingredients are fixed. The only decision you can make is whether to have more bee hoon (at no extra cost) and whether you want the small ($4.50) or big bowl ($5.50).

Recipe: Yong Tau Foo Soup 酿豆腐汤

The Yong Tau Foo originated from the chinese ethnic group, Hakka. It is basically Tofu stuffed with minced meat (add some salted fish to the minced meat mixture for that extra oomph!) and deep fried. My Mum is a Hakka so she would made it for us periodically. I guess as time progresses, people became more health conscious resulting in more varieties being made with vegetables such as brinjal, okra, chilli pepper and bittergourd. The name Yong Tau Foo has thus been used liberally to apply to foods prepared in this manner. Yong Tau Foo in soup is generally a healthy (just omit the fried stuffs) one-meal dish comprising mostly of vegetables. Well, it just happened that it is one of those days when I felt lazy and do not want to cook up a storm in the kitchen. I bought some pieces of Yong Tau Foo from the wet market and simply threw them into the stock in the evening and voila, dinner is served. Serve this over a piping hot bowl of steamed rice. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do. Bon appetit!