You know it's often been said that there're some foods at Geylang which you won't get to find (so easily) at anywhere else?
It's true, I tell you.
I've written about 126 Dim Sum, which, whilst technically is on 126 Sims Avenue, is in the vicinity of Geylang, and best you describe it that way.
This hotspot of an area tends to be known for heavy (and shiok) foods like frog leg porridge, Klang-style bak kut teh, Chinese-style BBQ skewers, roti pratas, and durian.
But if you look hard enough, it's got lighter, and more comfortable foods too.
We'd originally planned to go Novena and get something done.
But by the time my friend turned up at the MRT station, it had gotten to an hour where neither of us felt like making an extra bus trip down, and so I suggested heading up to Yong He instead.
It wasn't anything impromptu.
I'd been wanting to eat there some time ago.
See, Yong He is the only place I know that has savory soy bean curd, and it is for this very dish that I wanted to go.
It's a big thing for me that I want a bowl of soy bean curd- because I'm not a very big fan of one.
I mean, it's not a dish I mind, but it's also not a dish that I will particularly want.
That is, except for this one.
Maybe because it's savory, not sweet, and that makes me feel like I'm having a main meal instead of a dessert (I can do without)
The bowl at Yong He here is not small, by the way.
Neither is the youtiao.
You can't really see it, but it was the thickest piece of youtiao I had ever seen.
Seriously.
It was fat, and long, and crisp, and warm.
We had a fine time dipping it into the bowl of silky savory tofu.
We also had a fine time dipping it into the century egg porridge.
I liked the porridge.
Some might say that it's ordinary, it's commonplace, you can find it anywhere, not so big of a deal.
But they had all the trimmings.
Chopped spring onions, fried garlic, century egg, pork, and lots and lots of youtiao all cut up into cute little rounds.
The size of the century egg was what did it for me.
You know how some places give you such finely chopped egg that you can barely taste it at all?
Not here.
Theirs was solid.
Medium-sized chunks that you could cut and roll all over your tongue even as you spooned the soft, tasty, boiled rice grains into your mouth.
It was good.
The whole meal was good.
Filling, satisfying, heartwarming, in a casual, street-side kind of place, with a decor like most old-school coffee shops have except that they've got the entire menu printed up on a brightly-lit signboard mounted solidly on the wall.
