About Sum Yi Tai - Tapas
Sum Yi Tai’s effortless homage to the moody glamour of 1980s Hong Kong begins with the tapas bar, on the ground floor of their four-storeyed Boon Tat Street shophouse, a rare remnant of old Singapore amid the central business district’s towering skyscrapers that loom over Telok Ayer. Sum Yi Tai means ‘third wife’ in Cantonese, and this gangland-themed watering hole and temple to tapas is sure to lure many a dragon away from the comforts of home. Lunch and dinner tapas menus offer Chinese-style small plates alongside Sum Yi Tai’s fearsome selection of beer, wine, spirits and esoteric tipples.
Opening Times
- Friday
- 11:30 am - 3:00 pm
- 5:00 pm - 1:00 am
- Saturday
- 5:00 pm - 1:00 am
- Sunday
- Closed
- Monday
- 11:30 am - 3:00 pm
- 5:00 pm - 1:00 am
- Tuesday
- 11:30 am - 3:00 pm
- 5:00 pm - 1:00 am
- Wednesday
- 11:30 am - 3:00 pm
- 5:00 pm - 1:00 am
- Thursday
- 11:30 am - 3:00 pm
- 5:00 pm - 1:00 am
More about Sum Yi Tai - Tapas, Singapore
Lunch or a midday tipple at Sum Yi Tai’s downstairs tapas bar are popular options for the workers in and around Telok Ayer and Singapore’s CBD. All rice and noodle dishes come with a complimentary traditional Chinese soup de jour, with signature options including crispy roast Kurobuta pork belly, Cantonese-style pork chop and maple honey-glazed char siew. Brought your gang with you? Why not go for a mixture of Sum Yi Tai’s irresistible share plates, like fiery curry fishballs, wok-fried carrot cake or squid tentacles, to accompany a few selections from the amazing menu of vintage Scotches and rare Japanese whiskies?
Come the evening, when Sum Yi Tai’s classic Hong Kong-esque neon sign sputters into life above Boon Tat Street and the lights are laid low, the tapas bar really comes into its own. The drinks begin to flow, and you can start to really explore Sum Yi Tai’s unique menu of great cocktails, boasting exotic mixes with creative names like the Date a Gangster or My Mistress’ Cherry. From the Chinese tapas dinner menu try some tasty, spicy white-cut chicken with Szechuan peppercorn, or plump for crispy salmon skin with salted egg yolk and lime zest. Certainly one of Singapore’s most thoroughly themed venues for fantastic eating and drinking, reservations for this hidden Telok Ayer den are a must.
20 Sum Yi Tai - Tapas Reviews
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- Most recent
Both service and food was great. The ambience at the rooftop bar was fantastic. The menu was creative. A really very good concept as well.
Great ambience love the concept. Their roasted pork belly is amazing and it’s my favourite bar now 😊
The Seanad fish ramen is special, spicy and delicious. Very unique dish indeed, have not seen else where. The white bait appetiser is also yummy and crispy.
The food was good especially the angus beef cube! Will come back again!
Interesting concept with attentive service - they serve you a bowl of Chicken soup as beverage. Some dishes worked better than others: the maple honey glazed char siew was divine, so was the crispy sticky kung pao mushroom and Signature XO sauce carrot cake. The siew yoke had crackling skin but the salted egg dip was bland and watery, The curry sauce for the HK fish balls was watery with little curry flavour, and the fish ball texture was more like the local ones rather than the HK style, which is less bouncy. The fried toufu with Szechuan Ma Po dipping sauce was a creative concept, but the sauce was lacklustre, not enough "ma la" and Umami. We end up dipping the crispy tofu in the kung pao sauce from the mushroom...overall a good experience, nice place to hang out for drinks and tapas.
Limited seating and not even the rain can stop the place buzzing on a Thursday night, probably due to the good food, or the happy hour pricing. Honey char siew was great, so was the XO carrot cake. Potato strips (fries) is worth a try too. Service was prompt but not always accurate; needs reminding at from time to time.
Food (lunch menu @ the tapas bar on the 1st floor) was excellent, the serving of food & overall service was prompt and servers were attentive, ensuring the soup bowls were constantly filled. Would definitely visit them again!
Service can be improved but as we were a large group, it is in line with our expectations. The creativeness and quality of food and beverage is rather good. The ambience and decor is quite intricate and unique, making this a good value dining experience.
Fantastic! still my fav place to drink at. Nothing but good things to say about the service and the food is fantastic, very few bars that serve chinese food this good!
Food was great and we got happy hour buckets at $40! I love the 90s canto music in the background too and sitting outside was perfect as the noise levels were a little unbearable inside.