Tai Er 太二酸菜鱼 is a popular restaurant from China known for their Chinese Sauerkraut Fish (also known as ‘suan cai yu’). As someone who loves spicy fish dishes like Tan Yu, I was curious to try Tai Er’s famed Sauerkraut Fish.
I visited their outlet at Somerset 313 and took a walk-in queue number on a weekday night. We had to wait around 1 hour.
If you’re planning to go in advance and want to be guaranteed a seat without waiting, I highly recommend making a reservation through their reservations portal.
What We Ordered
Steamed Chicken with Chili Sauce (SGD$11)
We started off with 口水鸡 also known as ‘saliva chicken’ which is a cold dish consisting of steamed chicken and spicy oil-based sauce. It was not bad, but I wished the chicken slices were bigger.
Suancai & Fish for 1-2 People (SGD$49)
For their 酸菜鱼, they offer 2 portion sizes, 1-2 pax and 3-4 pax.
Although we got the 酸菜鱼 dish for 2 pax, I felt like it was enough for 3 or even 4 people if you intend to try several other dishes as well.
If you’re someone who hates fish bones, this dish is perfect as they use boneless sliced fish. The fish was smooth, soft and tender and I really enjoyed the slight tangy sourness of the chinese sauerkraut broth!
I highly recommend getting a bowl of rice to go with the broth as it can get a bit salty if you do not pair it with any carbs etc.
Steamed Rice (SGD$2)
As someone who loves rice, I was really impressed by their fragrant Chinese Wu Chang rice. It seems like they cook the rice fresh as it comes out in batches. The server came out with a tray full of rice bowls and every other table was served their rice at the same time.
Unfortunately, the trade off of having fresh rice is that the other dishes arrived before the rice came so I had to wait awhile since I’m someone who prefers to pair my dishes with rice.
Even if you don’t usually eat rice, I really recommend getting a bowl of rice to try! Something about it is just different and so good. No dedicated rice photo because once it finally came I just ate it oops.
Amenities Provided
Free-flow Water & DIY Roselle Orange Peel Tea
They had a complimentary DIY free flow tea station. You can choose to add however much dried roselle and tangerine peel to make your perfect cup of tea. They did have a recommended ‘recipe’ if you’re unsure of how much dried roselle and orange peel to add.
The tea didn’t really suit my taste buds so I appreciated free flow water instead 🙂 But apparently, the tea is helpful in helping you cleanse your palate.
Fortune Sticks
Each table also had a fun fortune stick box. I think this is quite a fun ice breaker if you’re on one of the first few dates with someone.
Charging Cables, Tissues
Each table also had a drawer with useful items containing:
- Charging cable to charge your mobile phone
- Tissues
- Toothpicks
Service Level at Tai Er
I was really impressed by the team at Tai Er. They cleared the tables really quickly and seated customers very promptly.
It also seems like there is a system in place whereby after a table is cleared, they would leave the fortune stick box on its side in the middle of the table. Perhaps to indicate the table is wiped clean and ready for new customers. Once customers were assigned, another staff would come to put the box upright and to the side. Or maybe I’m just thinking too much.
The staff also gave us an introduction to everything since it was our first time visiting Tai Er. Overall, they all seem to have really good synergy with one another and were proactively putting in effort in what they were doing. Quite refreshing to see as we don’t get this level of enthusiasm and service in many other places.
Outlet Details
Outlet I visited:
TAI ER 太二酸菜鱼 (313@somerset)
Address: 313 Orchard Rd, #B3-39/40 313@somerset, Singapore 238895
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Other Outlets:
TAI ER 太二酸菜鱼 (SUNTEC)
Address: Suntec City, 3 Temasek Blvd, #B1-108, Singapore 038983
TAI ER 太二酸菜鱼 (JEWEL)
Address: 80 Airport Boulevard #03-208 Jewel Changi Airport 3F208, 819666
TAI ER 太二酸菜鱼 (PASIR RIS)
Address: Pasir Ris Mall, 7 Pasir Ris Central, #02-66, Singapore 519612
TAI ER 太二酸菜鱼 (JEM)
Address: 50 Jurong Gateway Rd, #B1-04 Jem, Singapore 608549
