I was curious about SanDai Yong Tau Foo, as I fondly remember their SanDai Fishball 三代鱼圆 (now defunct) at Amoy Street Food Centre.
San Dai Yong Tau Foo has a new basement outlet at Anchorpoint, while its original outlet is at myVillage in Serangoon Garden.
The current 3rd gen owner, Delonix Tan, reportedly brings fresh stock from the Toa Payoh stall every morning to avoid the starchy, mass-produced textures.
SanDai Fishball has been around since the 1960s, with roots in a family fishball business started by Delonix’s grandfather, Tan Kok Heng, and later based at Toa Payoh Lorong 7.
The ordering process follows the usual drill of picking your items before heading to the cashier.
A standard bowl starts with six pieces plus one carb for $7, or you can opt for seven pieces without noodles for the same price. You can choose between Yellow Mee, Bee Hoon, Kuay Tiao, Maggi, or Rice.
Extra items will cost you a fixed rate ($1), while the premium selections sit at a slightly higher bracket ($1.20 to $1.50).
I should mention that you should not come here if you are in any sort of hurry.
Despite visiting slightly off-peak hours, I waited over 30 minutes for my bowl.
Part of the bottleneck is at the cashier station.
Since these items are not clearly labelled in the display, the server has to explain the cost to every individual customer before manually counting each piece in the bowl.
When the food finally appeared, I found the clear soup version to be the better choice.
The broth was light but still flavourful, which allowed the fishballs and other ingredients to take centre stage.
The fishballs were undeniably the highlight because they were larger than the average, and had a genuine, springy resistance that you only get from pure 100% yellowtail fish meat.
The Teochew meatball was worth an order as well due to the bouncy yet supple texture.
There were other items such as taopok, fishcake, tau kee and eggplant, which felt more standard, though still better than average.
If you prefer something richer, you can opt for a curry base at an extra $1.50 to douse your ingredients in gravy.
However, I thought the gravy could have more of an aromatic punch or coconutty depth to make it more memorable.
San Dai Yong Tau Foo offers a product that is clearly superior to the average food court stall, provided you have the time to wait for it.
If they can figure out how to label their food more clearly and speed up the queue, this would be an easy recommendation for a weekday lunch in air-conditioned comfort.
SanDai Yong Tau Foo (By SanDai Fishball) – Anchorpoint
Anchorpoint B1-58, 370 Alexandra Road, Singapore 159953
Opening Hours: 10am – 8:30pm (Mon – Sun)
SanDai Yong Tau Foo – myVillage
myVillage B1-23/24, 1 Maju Avenue, Serangoon Garden Way, Singapore 556679
Opening Hours: 10am – 8:30pm (Mon – Sun)
Other Related Entries
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Rong Xing Yong Tau Fu (Tanjong Pagar Food Centre)
Xi Xiang Feng Yong Tau Foo 喜相逢 (Ang Mo Kio)
Loong Kee Yong Tau Fu (Jurong West 505)
Xiu Ji Ikan Bilis Yong Tau Fu (Chinatown Complex Food Centre)
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