Was going around Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre and noticed quite a lot of changes amongst the tenants in the red zone especially around the same area as where one can find notable establishments such as that of Jin Ji Teochew Braised Duck & Kway Chap 金记潮州卤鸭. Whilst most of the newer tenants seem to lack the ability to draw much attention, New Horse Noodles 新马干捞面 did manage to pique our interest — this is a fairly new stall that is situated beside the outlet of AiXin Wanton Noodle 爱心云吞面 there; located right at the corner, the stall is right behind Ding Dang Pan Mian 丁当板面 and has a facade that faces the HDB blocks at Sago Lane. Run by two (2) young hawkerpreneurs, New Horse Noodles specialises in serving up Handmade Hakka Yong Tau Foo alongside Malaysian-style dark sauce noodles that are also handmade in-house; there seems to be quite an emphasis on handmade components that suggest its sincerity to serve patrons their best and their passion for the craft that they try to serve up.

Priced at $6.50, the Handmade Hakka Yong Tau Foo Set does feature a bowl of Malaysian-style dark sauce noodles that comes with crispy pork lard and fried shallots; it also does come with a bowl of soup on the side which comes with elements such as corn on cob and carrots — Yong Tau Foo elements here will include the Tau Kee (beancurd skin), stuffed bittergourd, stuffed tofu and stuffed tofu puff. Giving the bowl of noodles a good toss before digging in, we note that there is sufficient black sauce to go around all of the noodles — considering how the noodles are handmade, we did notice how the noodles do not come with any alkaline-y notes that are typical of commercially-made yellow noodles; the noodles also do carry a springy and bouncy texture with a bit of chew whilst the dark sauce provides much of the slightly sweet and savoury notes. The addition of pork lard also gives it an extra umami note against that of the dark sauce, while the crispy pork lard adds a crunch to provide a bit of a textural variance to the bowl of noodles. The bowl of soup was pretty refreshing in contrast; there is a lingering note of natural sweetness coming from the inclusion of corn and carrots whilst it ends off with a clean finish. The handmade Yong Tau Foo pieces are said to be stuffed with a mix of pork and seafood filling — there is no undesirable porky stench that came along with them, while the proportion of pork does give the pieces a good bite. Don’t forget to dip the Yong Tau Foo pieces into their chili sauce that they provide on the side; this does come zippy and zingy with a gingery note typically found in the chili that usually accompanies Hainanese-style Chicken Rice, though we liked how it wasn’t overly infused with calamansi juice to avoid carrying that heavy tang that comes at the back that one might experience with some Hainanese-style Chicken Rice chili out there.