115 Bukit Merah View
#01-78 Bukit Merah View Market & Hawker Centre
Singapore 151115
Friday:
12:00am - 03:00am
Enjoy dining without burning a hole in your pocket, no membership required
$14 for two. Stall opened a little before midnight on this occasion, queued for a total of just over half an hour.
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Visiting this stall requires advance planning, with its iffy, unusual opening hours.
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Went it alone this time, which goes against all advice and prior experience - you need at least 2 people to queue.
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One queues for payment, the other queues to pick the ingredients. The latter has to regularly pop in and out of queue when items are replenished.
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Still, managed to get by on the kindness of strangers, who helped save my spot in the queue. Couldn't manage a large portion, so didn't get their iconic metal bowl.
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Must-get here: the pork belly, stuffed tofu, stuffed tofu puffs, and stuffed vegetables. I usually get both their robust soup (say yes when they ask if you want ikan bilis and chili), and the rich YTF pink gravy.
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The soup has an addictive sweet savoury flavour with a light spicy kick. The gravy has a complementary depth of sweet savoury, making this bowl really delicious.
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Usually open (but not always) from 12midnight to 3am. Best time to visit is actually between 11:45pm - 2:15am. Closed on Sunday night / Monday morning.
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Go earlier if you want more variety of ingredients (with the risk they might open late + a long queue). Go later if you want a short queue (with the risk that some ingredients are sold out).
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Soon Li Yong Tau Foo
115 Bukit Merah View #01-78
Singapore 151115
$7 odd per pax, the elderly couple is known to be ferocious towards people who doesn’t follow their “rules”, and charges customers as they please... I wonder if they consulted a Fengshui sensei about their stall’s opening hours and their attitude toward customers (or could be the other way round, chicken-and-egg issue hahas). Back to the topic, love the peppery soup, as peppery as the stallholders, it reminds me of bak kut teh, with more dried chili flakes! Don’t order the pig innards, they just taste weird. Must take those 3-layer sio bak!
Having read so many good reviews so finally tried this out.
Good points: soup got taste, crispy pork lard, fish maw (my favourite)
Down side: pig stomach got smell, veggies not washed, got sand
Dun understand why so popular with long queue
Damage: $16 for 2 ppl
Read so much about this Yong tau foo that opens only in the middle of the night and it's hostile stall owners that I was determined to try it one day. Waited for more than an hour at 1230am before the stall really opened and was ready for customers to pick the ingredients. Many were there early, and you really gotta be fast or you just gotta wait even longer.
What stood out for the YTF in this stall was the wide selection of unusual YTF ingredients. They had mostly internal organs, many fried items like pork belly, some seafood, in addition to the usual ones. Every order came along with a bowl of pig liver soup. Also, the soup base tasted pretty light, doesn't seem to have MSG added. $27 for a pot of soup for 3, without any bee hoon.
Remember to mention:
1. Whether you want Dry bee hoon to go with the soup, how many bowls
2. Your bowls of ingredients to be cooked in the same pot of soup or separate pot
3. Whether to add vegetables, chili padi and Ikan bilis into your pot of soup
Well, the stall owners weren't exactly as hostile as I thought they would be. Just don't obstruct their way and give clear orders and you will be fine!
#BurppleMajulahMakan
This is one supper joint you must come fully prepared for. Bring a troop — assign one to "chope" seats, one to stand in line to place your order and another to wrestle alongside you to "kiap" the most prized ingredients on the Yong Tau Foo shelves. It's a battle waiting to happen at the stroke of midnight (note that they sometimes only open at 1am if the owners are still busy prepping), when the signage lights come on and hordes of veracious eaters rush forward. Apart from usual suspects like brinjal, cuttlefish and taupok, Tastemaker Fiona Ting recommends getting the Spam. We hear the pork items are the fastest to fly off the shelves, so zoom in on those as well. Give it about 30 minutes for the owners to prepare your food, and you'll be rewarded with a metal basin brimming with your picks, swimming in an unbelievably flavourful ikan bilis broth that has been boiled for hours. Pro tip: If you can, bring a portable stove (because why not!) to keep your soup bubbling hot throughout your meal!
Avg Price: $10 per person
Photo by Burpple Tastemaker Fiona Ting