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
One of the most stressful and terrifying supper experiences one can undergo, with a most handsome reward...if you survive the onslaught.
Come midnight, once everything is ready, the stall lights come on, and (like when you alert the Witch in Left 4 Dead) the horde closes in via stampede to instantly form two queues - one to pick the ingredients, and one to place your order and make payment. It is essential to go in a minimum party of two and assign the relevant roles beforehand if you want to reach home before daybreak. You will feel cold limp sweaty flesh caress your body parts from behind as the ravenous zombies dart for taupok and brinjal below and above your arms; you will hear desperate cries of "aiyah just 随便 (anyhow) pick lah!!" from warriors who simply want the ordeal to be over; your body will be shoved left and right by aggressive golems in the fray if you don't stand firm when you're picking your items; your patience will be worn thin when the uncivilized and daring brazenly cut queue and fling their bowl ahead of yours, in manner of skillful frisbee toss, in the bowl queue. It will be ugly.
But if you survive - and I have, precisely six times - you will be rewarded by one of the best yong tau foo around. The variety of ingredients is wonderful (their pork items in particular like their pork belly fly off the shelves), and the ikan bilis-heavy soup demands consumption in its entirety. I always ask for green chilli padi to be added, but do be warned - they add a fierce edge to the soup and will sting you without mercy if you happen to bite on them.
(There is a cheat code, like in every other game, if you wish to avoid the horrors of the above-mentioned experience - just go after 12.30am. By then, order will be restored by way of self-regulation, and all you have to do is queue for a long, long time. But where's the fun in that?)
Soon Li Yong Tau Foo is a must try. This is non-negotiable. But before you taste the best, you gotta pass the test. 4.4/5 #Hawkerpedia
