I actually had on my mind to eat some soya sauce chicken rice but they must have sold out as they closed a bit earlier today. When your mind and stomach have already settled on something, it can be hard to make a new choice that will satisfy. Luckily I was drawn out of my confused state by the bright lights of the new yong tau foo stall “Koo Kee yong tow foo mee”. The stall uses a powerfully lit sign (halogens?) to capture your attention and hey, it really works.

I ordered number the #1, the koo kee set meal. It’s a three piece meal. Soup with the tau foo, a bowl of dry noodles, and a side of kang kong — all for $5.20. “Not bad!”, I thought to myself.

I started with the noodles. What can I say, they were divine. Thin and whispy egg noodles, similar to mee kia but flat at the same time, shrunken mee pok is a more apt description. The noodles are coated in oily lard and some deliciousness in the clear sauce, making each bite heavenly. I couldn’t get enough. There is a small amount of chicken mince also, of which the sweetness cuts through the oils of the lard.

The soup was the clear kind, with a strong ikan bilis flavour and something else, I wasn’t sure what. But it has a nice clean taste to it, countering the heaviness of the noodles. There were five different pieces of yong tau foo in the soups.

• A fish ball with great flavour and nice chewy texture. So springy in fact that as I bit into it, the other half flew from my chopsticks and onto the table (5 second rule??)
• A piece of soft tofu with fish paste adhered to the side, the texture was nice but the fish paste was overly salty
• A deep fried tofu pocket stuffed with fish paste that deliciously soaked up all the soup
• Some fried bean curd skin with fish paste — can you go wrong with fried bean curd skin?
• A fried hard tofu with fish paste inside, my least favourite piece due to the chewy nature of it

The kang kong was a refreshing dish to end the meal with. The dish was enhanced by the sauce of fermented tofu and sesame flavours. Hard to eat cleanly for a man with a beard like myself, a decent amount of the sauce ended up in my chin.

The accompanying chilli and hoisin style sauces were ok but nothing memorable.

Overall I was impressed and will come back to eat again. There are few of these style yong tau foo soup stalls around the area and it makes for a nice light meal.

Price: $5.20

Coffee shop: Kim San Leng
Address: 324 Changi Road, 419799
Hours: TBD