5 Loaves Hakka Yong Tau Foo – Homemade YTF Paste & Tasty Abacus Seeds

Five Loaves Hakka Yong Tau Foo has moved from a cafe in Bukit Timah to Bras Basah, and it welcomes long queues every afternoon.

The owner, Jan, is Hakka. Her mother had a yong tau foo stall when she was young and she recalled having to help out at the stall early in the morning before she went to school. “It was difficult then, but it brings back so much memories,” Jan shared.

Yong Tau Foo is a dish that’s deeply loved by Jan’s family. Hence, Jan decided to open Five Loaves Hakka Yong Tau Foo to honour and remember her love for her family and the family’s love for the dish. Now, Jan’s husband helps out at the stall and goes to the wet market every morning to get fresh ingredients.

It’s not just about beancurd at Five Loaves. There is a variety of stuffed beancurd products such as bittergourd, chilli and beancurd puff. The stall makes their own paste with minced meat and salted fish. It’s truly a labour of love.

Yong tau foo is one of the healthier lunch options and can be enjoyed in many ways. The Yong Tau Foo Set ($4) comes with 5 items and an option of rice or noodle. You can have your ytf ‘dry’ and drizzled with sweet sauce and chilli, or in clear soup. The soup is flavoured with yellow beans, and is light and slightly sweet. The soup did not leave me thirsty.

Here’s my favourite combination — the Chee Cheong Fun set ($4). I’ll imagine for somebody who often have chee cheong fun, this is a perfect combination. The smooth and slightly chewy rolls of thin rice noodles are coated in a generous amount of chilli, sweet sauce and sesame seeds. It amazing with your bowl of Yong Tau Foo soup.

If you wish to go for the Laksa set ($4), you can choose 4 items and a choice of rice or noodles. The gravy was thick but not too creamy, which made me feel a tad less guilty indulging in it.

For the dry version, the yong tau foo items were deep fried, and were delightfully crispy. The beancurd was springy and fresh and I enjoyed every bit of it. The fishballs were firm and bouncy, and the homemade meatball was flavourful, albeit a little dry. This plate of ‘chunky’ ingredients of different textures was quite satisfying.

Besides yong tau foo, Five Loaves is also serving abacus seeds. We all know that the preparation is tedious, hence very few eateries offer it these days.

The service here is good and very pleasant! You can even chat with the head chef who knows alot of languages!