苋菜酿豆腐汤 ($3.80) + 通心粉 ($0.50)!
A budget hawker bowl: amaranth and yong tau foo soup with macaroni and stuffed tau pok in a milky broth. $4.30 total.
A wholesome, wallet-friendly hawker lunch: 苋菜酿豆腐汤 (amaranth and yong tau foo soup) $3.80 with 通心粉 (macaroni) $0.50 added in. 😋
What I had ($4.30 total):
- Amaranth and yong tau foo soup with macaroni mixed in
The bowl came piled with 苋菜 (amaranth / Chinese spinach), those soft, slightly sweet leafy greens that go a little jade-coloured and silky once cooked, tinting the broth a milky green. Floating among them were pieces of stuffed tau pok, puffy beancurd packed with a springy fish-and-pork paste filling, plus a bit of minced pork.
The cleverest part is the macaroni for just 50 cents, tumbled into the same soup. It is a very Singapore-meets-Hong-Kong move, those little pasta elbows soaking up the sweet, vegetal broth so the bowl eats like a light, slurpable noodle soup. Everything tasted clean and homely, the kind of broth that has been simmered with the greens until it is naturally sweet, no heaviness to it.
At $4.30 for a soup this comforting and packed, it is hard to beat for an everyday lunch.
Overall: 4.5 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Sweet amaranth broth, springy stuffed tau pok and slurpy macaroni, humble and satisfying. Would re-order.
