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| Xiu Ji Ikan Bilis Yong Tau Fu 秀记江鱼仔酿豆腐 | 335 Smith St, stall #02-88, Singapore 050335 (Chinatown Complex Food Centre Green Zone) 🚅 5 minutes walk from Maxwell station and Chinatown station ⏰ 5am - 1pm (Monday off) |
✍️ 21 Aug 2025. Passed by Xiu Ji Ikan Bilis Yong Tau Foo 秀记江鱼仔釀豆腐. Saw that there was no queue, so I quickly got in line. I haven't had Xiu Ji YTF for a long time because the queue was always too long for me 🤣
For the carb, I chose kway teow today (other options are yellow noodles and bee hoon).
The noodles came with some grease and a sprinkle of fried dried ikan bilis (anchovies).
At Xiu Ji, their ikan bilis are freshly fried, perfuming the air around the stall with toasty aroma. The smell of wiry chewy fried ikan bilis is familiar and comforting. It's one of the smells of evening time in Singapore public housing as families prepare their dinner.
To keep to tradition, preparing food the old way, the stall owners of Xiu Ji start work at 2am (in the wee morning hours) every work day.
I like it that Xiu Ji use broad and thick rice noodles. Just a bit of grease and a subtle savoury flavour to complement the mild rice sweetness. The fried anchovies added their umami savoury flavour to the kway teow too.
Four-piece set of fixed yong tau foo items in soup. All four are natural choices for me i.e. these are my favourites, which I will choose even if the items are presented as a full range buffet.
Other add-on items at Xiu Ji were stuffed bitter gourd, eggplant, etc., but I just wanted a light breakfast today.
The soup was delicious with pronounced taste of soy bean and anchovies. The soup base was pure anchovy with soy bean taste from the tofu. (I wonder if I can have the option of soupy noodle for my carb as this soup tastes so good. Shall try next time.)
Tofu cube with fish paste.
I appreciate it that Xiu Ji still make their yong tau foo fresh at the stall. (The norm in Singapore today is factory made.)
The difference was obvious as every bite released the subtle taste of soy bean and fresh fish. The tofu and fish textures were also more soft tender and subtly bouncy (compared to factory made YTF).
Fried tofu provided variation of texture to the soupy bowl.
Fried tofu puff with fish paste inside. The crisp fried tofu softened to a soft slightly chewy "sponge" after simmering in the soup.
One good size fish ball.
The spongy springy fish ball was subtly sweet savoury. It was comparable to fish balls from the best fish ball specialists in Singapore.
Add on stall handmade ikan parang fish cake. Will Must try it next time.
Really satisfying, delicious breakfast for S$4. Established in 1953, Xiu Ji 秀记 is one of the stalwarts, originals of Singapore Chinatown. Hope we can enjoy this for many more years to come.
One of Singapore's last independent hawkers, a true gem.
Stall name: Xiu Ji Ikan Bilis Yong Tau Fu 秀记江鱼仔酿豆腐
Address: 335 Smith St, stall #02-88, Singapore 050335 (Chinatown Complex Food Centre Green Zone)
Nearest MRT: 5 minutes walk from Maxwell station and Chinatown station
Hours: 5am - 1pm (Monday off)
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Chinatown has at least another two famous yong tau foo stalls with long history
Poy Kee Yong Tau Foo People's Park Food Centre 培记酿豆腐
Yong Xiang Xing Dou Fu Yong Tau Foo Singapore People's Park 驰名永祥興豆腐
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Written by Tony Boey on 21 Aug 2025
Who is Tony Johor Kaki?
While surveying the blind corners of Chinatown Complex Food Centre, I stumbled upon bamboo trays of these steaming hot stuffed yong tau fu. Any freshly made food, especially by hand catches my attention. When I stopped and stepped closer, I could smell the warm aroma of fresh tofu.
I quickly got in line. It was quite long 😱
Xiu Ji Ikan Bilis Yong Tau Fu 秀记江鱼仔酿豆腐 is in the "green zone" of Chinatown Food Complex. The queue snakes around the corner of the stall during lunch time but it clears quickly.
I got all these for SGD4 (2015 price); it's truly good value by Singapore standards. The standard serving of bee hoon/ yellow noodles/ kway teow, anchovies and 6 pieces of yong taufu for SGD3.
I got extra ingredients (the fried stuffed eggplant and bitter gourd) for additional 50 cents each, hence SGD4.
The clear savoury broth made mainly with ikan bilis (dried anchovies) and fish bones, lacked layers in flavour, so it tasted a little flat.
The fish based pieces had subtle fish and tofu flavours. It lacked the layers and dimensions of those yong taufu stuffed with fish, minced pork and tee po. Nevertheless, I do appreciate this light tasting cheng cheng 清清 option. There are times when I am in the mood for something calming and comforting like this.
There were also a couple of fish stuffed tau pok and tau pueh (fried tofu skin) pieces.
I opted for bee hoon (rice vermicelli) which were buried under the fried stuffed bitter gourd, egg plant and a heap of fried ikan bilis. The fried stuffed bitter gourd and egg plant added deeper savoury flavour to the mildly flavoured boiled yong tau fu pieces.
The bee hoon was simply given a dash of shallot oil and customers add chili sauce to their own taste or heart's content. The watery chili sauce was spicy and sourish similar to those found in average chicken rice stalls. I saw some customers pour in enough chili sauce to fill a small cup, though I didn't use it much - I don't like sourish things. (There is no sweet sauce provided here.)
The fried ikan bilis, which the stall is named after, were quite stiff but not overly salty.
They indeed added an interesting savoury and crispy dimension to the bland and soft yong tau fu.
Xiu Ji Ikan Bilis Yong Tau Fu 秀记江鱼仔酿豆腐 is a family run business. The clan starts work at the stall at 2:00am so that they are ready to serve customers by 6:00am. The family is originally from Ipoh, Malaysia and the founders started the stall more than 30 years ago. The family matriarch is still at the stall during my visit.
Ms Lee, the founder's daughter does most of the cooking at the stall now.
Ms Lee's husband 有福 making yong taufu. He told me that the fish fillings are made with 100% yellowtail or ikan parang (wolf herring fish). I appreciate it that everything is made fresh right here at the stall.
I would eat this yong taufu again when I am in Chinatown Complex Food Centre and in the mood for a healthful comfort meal.
Guide to Heritage Hawker stalls in Chinatown Complex 👈 click
Restaurant name: Xiu Ji Ikan Bilis Yong Tau Fu 秀记江鱼仔酿豆腐
Address: #02-88, Chinatown Complex Market, 335 Smith Street, Singapore
GPS: 1.282645, 103.842876
Hours: 6:00am to 2:00pm
Tel: 91914889
Non Halal
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Good and reasonable price. Now mother and daughter run the show.....
ReplyDeleteMy fave stall! Love their fish cake 😍 Always take away min 10 pcs whenever I'm there (need not join main Q)
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