Fu Lin @ Telok Ayer

Where do you go when you are in the CBD area and craving for some yong tau foo for lunch? Head down to Fu Lin. Looking for a drink after work but you do not want the usual bar crap? Fu Lin got you covered as well.

Located opposite Thiam Hock Keng, Fu Lin Bar & Kitchen serves yong tau foo in the morning – you can pick your yong tau foo the usual way from the counter at the bar. After the lunch service, the place is transformed to a bar with some good and atypical food compared to bars around Telok Ayer.

The place is decorated with memorabilia of a controversial period of China’s recent history – the Cultural Revolution. It was as if the owners were trying to reveal a culinary revolution of their own, combining a traditional hawker trade with modern izakaya/cocktail bar in a restored pre-war conservation shophouse.

Fried Yong Tofu

With signature minced chicken & mushrooms gravy

There’s a reason why Fu Lin’s fried yong tau foo has captured the hearts of many over the years. Every piece is fried until it’s perfectly golden so that even when covered in delicious gravy, it remains crispy until the last bite. And then there’s the sauce made from minced chicken and mushroom, the gravy is full of umami and deliciousness.

Lok Lok Mala Pot

Fried lok lok dip in Mala chilli broth

I used to eat lok lok at the Gay World Stadium in the evenings with the family after our trip to cinema. There were many choice of skewers – cockles, liver, pork, tofu, etc – you dipped the ones you like into a boiling pot of stock and then eat it with a satay peanut and curry dipping sauce. Here the skewers consisted of the cocktail sausages, fish cakes and other bites, and cooked them in a Sichuan mala sauce. In China, this is known as 麻辣串 or mala skewers. Very delicious and authentic mala stock.

Grilled Asparagus

Sherry vinegar glazed, flower of salt, extra virgin oil

Seemingly simple, but grilled perfectly with a nice flavour.

Truffle Tofu

Fried tofu, truffle oil, spring onion, sea salt, cut chilli padis

Deep fried cubes of tofu, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. The tofu were sprayed with truffle oil before serving, so the tofu remained crispy. Came with a nice mala chilli dip, I started to wonder if the new chef de cuisine at this place is from Sichuan.

Shanghai Dumplings

Minced pork and chives, thin sliced ginger & vinegar dip

These are slightly smaller than Northeastern dumplings 东北饺子, but have the same filling and dumpling skin. I enjoyed them boiled, and they were delicious with a Zhejiang vinegar dip.

Fu Lin Noodles

White noodles, minced chicken & mushroom gravy, silver fish

Their signature Fu Lin noodles consisted of white beehoon noodles, minced chicken, mushroom gravy and ikan bilis mixed in with the noodles.

The result was very similar to the Hainanese beef noodles except there’s no beef in this one. The gravy clang to every strand of noodles, very flavourful and satisfying.

XO Carrot Cake

Wok fry Carrot cake, egg, XO sauce, spices

Tasted like the carrot cake that you get from the hawker centre, no carrot in the cake. And there’s no XO sauce as well. Not recommended as it did not have wokhei and the overall result was just blah.

Mala Mid-Wings

Mid chicken wings marinated mala & peppercorns

These turned out to be outstanding and an excellent bar food to replace the buffalo wings. They did not have the messiness of buffalo wings, but packed more spiciness and flavours in each wing.

Xiao Long Bao

Minced pork dumplings, thin sliced ginger & vinegar dip

Definitely not DTF, but not too bad either. Hard to keep them warm, but the air-conditioning in the place was rather warm, so they did not turn cold too quickly.

Seafood White Beehoon

Wok fry thin noodles, seafood

A very wet white bee hoon inspired by the one from Sembawang, but it turned out to be bee hoon soup. Great after drinks, but too messy for an izakaya.

Firecracker Chicken – La Zi Ji

Fried chicken cuts embed on dried chilli flakes

Are you sure the chef is not from Sichua? This is a delicious la zi ji 辣子鸡, and easy eats in an izakaya setting.

Akaiwa Seven 赤磐セブン – Hourai Junmai Daiginjo Akaiwa 7

The 7th generation Kyu’s last unpublished posthumous work!! 7代目久衛最後の未発表遺作!!

Afterthoughts

Finally, a drinking place with proper food that I can associate with. As one gets older, one do not want to eat the food that are not familiar or agreeable to the body. Spam fries and buffalo wings just could not do it anymore. Luckily there’s Fu Lin, so we can get out hawker fix while sipping sake.

Fu Lin Bar & Kitchen
127 Telok Ayer St, Singapore 068596
Tel : +65 6423 0311

Visited Apr 2023

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