Sure enough, there was a queue outside the stall of more than 10 persons who have very obediently picked their Yong Tau Foo and are now waiting patiently in line for their lunch to be cooked. While Soundman was lining up for our food, I took the opportunity to speak with the Lao Ban Niang who tells me that they have been at the food centre since it first opened more than 30 years ago. She tells me that Yong Tau Foo is all about freshness of ingredients and here at the stall, they use fresh tau foo which are specially made without preservatives so that they last only a day before going sour. The bee hoon here is also specially delivered fresh everyday as opposed to the dehydrated ones in packets.
Aside from the bee hoon, this stall also sells chee cheong fun to go with your bowl of Yong Tau Foo soup. This is the first time I have seen any stall do this and when I asked the Lao Ban Niang why they serve Chee Cheong Fun with their Yong Tau Foo, she simply said that Chee Cheong Fun is nice to eat!
Now this Yong Tau Foo is filled with fish paste only but they do have a few items with minced pork, notably the minced pork balls. Personally, the YTF was good but the difference in quality of the usual items as compared with your normal food court stall is not as stark as the bee hoon and sweet sauce.
Conclusion
So the bottomline is: Would I queue for 20 minutes to get my Yong Tau Foo fix here? Oh yes! But it has to come with a bowl of bee hoon bathed in sweet sauce.
In a nutshell:
I ordered from this Ang Mo Kio’s Yong Tau Foo stall two weeks ago, getting myself a 6-items bowl, consisting of seaweed chicken, tau pok, bean curd, cutter fish and kang kong and bee hoon, and I was charged $3.70.
Last week, I bought the same 6-items bowl and was charged $3.80. I politely questioned the male hawker about the price increase, to which he resorted, “There is no increase leh.” And I kept quiet.
Today (31st March 2018), I purposely selected the same 6 items and to my nasty surprise, I was charged $4. I requested him to calculate again, informing him that I had been wrongly charged because in the past the prices were $3.70 and $3,80 respectively for the same items. Upon hearing that, the two male hawkers manning the stall turned nasty and hysterious, scolding me for making an enquiry and rudely told me not to patronise their stall again.
I ended up paying $4 for the bowl of Yong Tau Foo, wondering if there is an organisation which controls price discrepancies especially for food items that do not come with price tags.
Thanks for your feedback. I am not so sure about which organization actually controls price discrepancies, but hawker stalls are rented from AVA, so you may want to take it up with them.
Thank you, Leslie. I have lodged a complaint with NEA.
Yes, its NEA, my mistake.
The horror of their attitude is… Off the charts. Be prepared.
For anyone ordering from their stall for the first time:
1.) Do not join the queue, get to the food display, get a bowl and select your ingredients.
2.) Pass the bowl to the man/woman in front and tell them what you’d like (dry/soup, noodles/beehoon/chee cheong fun). Don’t expect them to acknowledge you or respond in any way.
3.) Join the queue.
4.) It isn’t a uncommon sight seeing them telling people off or even telling customers to get lost – most probably first timers – while you’re in the queue.
5.) When you’re first in the queue, remember to not stand too near to their stall entrance, as you may obstruct them arranging the bowls etc. What comes next if that happens… Muahaha.
And on a side-note, I’m shocked to see them smiling like little kids towards customers on food shows on TV. Faaaake.
I better visit them again soon.
Notice they dont change oil, all their fried stuff got old oil smell… Last tims i always eat fried one n dry type, but now only soup n fried food ask them dun fried..
Thanks for your feedback. Its been some time since I was last there.