Yong Tai Seafood – Zi Char Supper Spot With The Best Salted Egg Yolk Pork Ribs

Tucked away in D E Eating House along Sims Avenue, literally a few metres away from popular late-night dim sum eatery, 126 Dim Sum Wen Dao Shi, lies Yong Tai Seafood.

Serving up a surprisingly wide variety of dishes from humble rice and noodle one-dish-wonders to other seafood and meat dishes, what you can expect from this shabby looking corner coffee shop is local zi char comfort food done right and at a reasonable price point.

The next time you find yourself hankering for zi char at as late (or as early) as 3am in the morning, Yong Tai Seafood is one spot that will stay open to satisfy your craving with the likes of their stellar salted egg dishes, finger-licking prawn paste chicken and more.

Judging by the look of this small stall, you probably would not expect such a huge range of menu offerings but lo and behold, these folks really don’t mess around. Here at Yong Tai Seafood, you can expect over a hundred dishes ranging from meats to vegetables to seafood as well as noodle and rice dishes.

Famous for their Salted Egg Yolk Pork Rib Rice (S$6), we made it a point to order one up for ourselves. We were not disappointed, in fact, given its price point—and how fast it took from wok to table—we were rather impressed.

The pieces of pork rib were lightly fried till crispy and the salted egg yolk sauce ladled over top was creamy, silky and brimming with subtle nuances of curry leaves. Featuring a mixture of sweet and savoury, this is a great dish to have with rice. You also have the option to add a fried egg at just S$0.50—which in our opinion makes all the difference.

Fans of spice should definitely opt for the Sambal Fried Rice (S$5). Fried with generous amounts of garlic, dried shrimp and birds eye chilli, this humble rice dish packed major attitude and flavour.

Expertly prepared, the fried rice was neither oily nor mushy. The rice was fluffy and each individual grain retained its integrity pretty well, making the dish lighter. Simply fried with a mixture of char siew, their homemade sambal sauce and a beaten egg, this simple yet satisfying one-dish-wonder is something that warrants a return visit.

However, delicious as it is, it can get rather stale after a while so adding a fried egg (S$0.50) comes highly recommended.

If you would rather noodles as opposed to rice, then you will be spoiled for choice with their 17 different varieties. Their Fried Mee Sua (S$5.50) comes with slices of fish, lean pork, egg as well as one piece of prawn. Tasty, generous and a notch higher than your average fried noodle dish, we must say that this was pretty good for something so simple.

Our only gripe with this was that it was a tad too oily for our liking—but then again what can you expect from zi char, let alone fried noodles of this calibre.

Suppering in a group of 4 or more? Then make it a point to order up their Prawn Paste Chicken (S$10). Brimming with a subtle umami prawn aroma, this chicken dish was both crispy and succulent. What we particularly loved about it was that it wasn’t coated too heavily in batter, making it a lot easier to knock back 3 or 4 pieces without feeling sick of it.

Some might argue that the prawn flavour here is not prominent enough but we prefer it that way. Love it or hate it, at S$10 for 10 pieces, we must say that this is pretty darn worth it.

Yong Tai Seafood
130 Sims Avenue
Singapore 387453
Tel: +65 9612 1912
Mon to Sat: 5pm – 4am
Nearest Station: Aljunied