Dog owners will agree that there is a limited pool of dog-friendly food places in Singapore.

Apart from a few dog-friendly cafes, there are not many eateries that welcome furkids yet.

If you are looking for a place to have a hearty reunion dinner without leaving your furkids, here’s a place to consider this Chinese New Year.

Enter TOTO Seafood restaurant.

TOTO Seafood restaurant is a dog-friendly zichar restaurant located at the Fansida building, which is just a 5-minute walk from the Aljunied MRT.

Even those who claim to know all the good food in Geylang may miss this gem since it opened during the Covid-19 period.

Spacious outdoor dining area and grass patch

Behind the fences is a spacious open dining area, with a grass patch which your furkid will be pleased to roam around or roll about.

You can enjoy a short walk with your furkid on the grass patch while waiting for the piping hot dishes to be served or some fashionably late friends.

Around the grass patch you will notice some edible greens grown by the owner of the restaurant.

There are also punny cartoon placards and fairy lights added to make the outdoor dining area more cosy.

Despite being surrounded by high-rise buildings, it can be pretty breezy at night.

Having their tables well spaced out also means your conversation with your loved ones won’t get interrupted by the chatter from other tables.

What are their signature dishes?

When it comes to choosing what to eat, you are definitely spoilt for choice at TOTO Seafood restaurant.

Here are a few dishes that we tried and absolutely would come back again for more.

Satay (S$0.80 per stick,minimum 10 sticks)

Chicken, pork and mutton satays available.

Sawaskweed-ka Thai style squids (S$15 / S$22)

The sauce is similar to that of a papaya salad — sweet and sour with a tinge of spiciness — and hence it is very appetising.

Teochew Titanic (S$35 / S$45 / S$65)

One of their signature dishes is the charcoal-fired Teochew fish steamboat.

It is flavourful, as the soup is charcoal-boiled with both fish bones and pork bones overnight. .

You can choose to have it either with the fish head or the entire fish.

The staff members will help you refill the soup when it runs out.

All ‘rice buckets’ will agree that the fish soup must be accompanied with a bowl of rice. Or maybe two.

Curry Favour (S$28/ S$38/ S$48)

Another dish that goes really well with rice, or toasted bread, is their signature claypot curry fish head.

The fish head is meaty and there is a generous handful of long beans, lady fingers, brinjals and tao poks in the spice-laden gravy. The gravy’s chilli paste is blended by the owner.

Speaking of brinjal, their salted egg brinjal is definitely a must-try.

And this recommendation is made by one who is not a fan of brinjal at all.

Salted egg Egg-plant (S$10 / S$16)

The fried brinjal is moist and soft like tofu on the inside and goes really well with the salted egg sauce.

Most dishes go well with salted egg, but the flavours are enhanced with this dish.

Chilli Crab is another signature dish at TOTO Seafood restaurant.

Take Crab in Singapore (800-900g for S$78)

With their home-made sauce, you will definitely find their chilli crab finger lickin’ good.

However, the Chilli Crab is not spicy enough for me, as someone who orders Xiao La (little spicy) for Mala.

Look how huge the crab claw is:

With so many dishes that are worth trying, you have to be strategic at ordering the carbs.

We would recommend their claypot fried rice and San Lou Bee Hoon.

C.P.R. (Signature C.lay P.ot R.ice ) (S$10 / S$18)

Here you can see the generous serving of lup cheongs in their claypot rice:

The claypot rice has the crisp that is not too charred at the bottom of the claypot.

Isn’t this what any zichar fan would look for in a good claypot rice?

Wen You Want 2 B Hoon? (San Lou Bee Hoon) (S$8 / S$14)

The wok hei is there for their San Lou Bee Hoon too.

We would highly recommend this dish for those who are looking for a quick dinner after work on weekdays.

Residents living in the area can conveniently get this or other dishes via foodpanda or GrabFood.

Every customer is in for a good surprise at the end of the meal at TOTO Seafood restaurant: A TOTO ticket each. Huat ah!

If you are guessing this is why the restaurant was named TOTO, you are wrong.

This is the real TOTO behind the dog-friendly zichar restaurant:

Chinese New Year menu, open for reservations

For those who are planning to visit TOTO Seafood restaurant for Chinese New Year gatherings, they are open on the first and second day of CNY.

Here’s their CNY menu, for dine-in and takeaway:

The menu caters to different budgets and food preferences.

All four sets feature their signature dishes and include yu sheng and additional pen cai for a roaring toss to welcome the Year of Tiger.

Make your reservations soon before tables run out.

Details of TOTO restaurant

Address: Fansida Building (46 Lor 23 Geylang, Singapore 388375)

Opening hours: 11am to 10pm, daily, 11am to 11pm, Fridays and Saturdays.

Tel: 6742 3800 (open for reservations) / 9638 8335 (WhatsApp reservations)

The writer of this sponsored article is still thinking about the san lou beehoon and doggos she met at TOTO Seafood restaurant a few weeks ago.

All images by Zheng Zhangxin and TOTO