Those whom know us or have been following us for quite a while would know how much of a fan of Yat Ka Yan 一家人 we have been ever since their inception — we had visited these folks when they had first opened their doors at their Fortune Centre location, and had been following the brand ever since. We were actually pretty surprised to have learnt that these folks had since opened a second outlet at Tan Quee Lan Street recently — the location of their second outlet being previously a bridal boutique, which one can also find other dining establishments such as Sawadee Thai Cuisine being at the same stretch of shophouses as well. Given the space that Yat Ka Yan occupies at Tan Quee Lan Street, it is needless to say that this second outlet comes with a larger seating area than the original location — that being said, we do note that the Tan Quee Lan Street outlet is being decked a little more simpler than their original space at Fortune Centre. While the Fortune Centre location is decorated in a way that incorporates nostalgic elements into the space, the Tan Quee Lan Street space comes with largely white walls and floors that is paired with metallic dining tables and chairs — much more functional than being decked in a particular theme. The menu offered at Yat Ka Yan at Tan Quee Lan Street is fairly similar to the items that are available at their Fortune Centre outlet; the items offered have been split into categories dedicated to Hot Desserts, Mains / Snacks and Cold Desserts — the list of beverages available at Yat Ka Yan at Tan Quee Lan Street being limited to water, Coke Float and a Root Beet Float.
We have tried quite a number of Yat Ka Yan’s offerings over the years throughout the various visits that we had made to their Fortune Centre location; this would include several of their paste / cream items (i.e. Sesame Paste, Almond Cream and Walnut Paste), Yam Paste, Yammy Chendol etc. just to name a few. With that being said, we did notice the availability of the Avocado Sago and Avocado Purple Rice — the Avocado series of desserts at Yat Ka Yan was formerly available only as a limited time only run that was offered only for a short period of time; definitely glad to see how they have expanded their offerings in the menu at Tan Quee Lan Street to include these items on the menu. Yat Ka Yan’s menu does not describe on the elements that are being served with the Avocado Sago, though one can observe from our order of the same that the dish includes components like vanilla ice-cream, avocado mousse, sago, mini taro balls and shaved ice; hidden beneath all of the above-mentioned components would be a layer of jelly. Digging into the dessert, the avocado mousse here is really the star of the show; the avocado mousse carrying a creamy and buttery note that was pretty refreshing with the vanilla ice-cream contributing a hint of sweetness to the entire dessert here. The pearly sago provided a bit of a bouncy texture, and the mini taro ball brings things further by introducing some form of chewiness to the dessert. The layer of jelly that comes beneath everything is unsweetened; adds a bit of a slurpiness for yet another dimension of texture for the Avocado Sago. During our visit to Yat Ka Yan’s location at Tan Quee Lan Street, we had also given their Mini Soup Set of Three a go — Yat Ka Yan does allow for some flexibility in allowing patrons to choose the items that makes up the three mini bowls of soup if they choose to go for this item; all items marked with a star on the “Hot Desserts” section of the menu are items available to be opted for as part of the Mini Soup Set of Three.
For our order of the Mini Soup Set of Three, we went for the Sesame Paste, Almond Cream and Walnut Paste — between the three, the most impressive was perhaps the Walnut Paste; it is sufficiently rich and creamy but not too dense or starchy, yet coming with a really nutty, roasty and earthy note of flavours that made it so good. The Sesame Paste was next in line to the Walnut Paste, with the paste being smooth and reasonably creamy (considering how there would be some graininess that is inherent from the black sesame) that is roasty and earthy; the Almond Cream was a little bit lighter in its flavour profile in comparison to the other two, though still matched up to our experience with the same that we have had previously at the Fortune Centre location. Yat Ka Yan has been pretty much noted for their Chinese-style Tang Shui — all of which being painstakingly prepared from scratch; their Chinese-style Tang Shui having been executed with skill and finesse ever since their early days which also helped them garner a strong and loyal following since. We are glad to note that the quality of their desserts at their Tan Quee Lan location does seem to match up against that of their Fortune Centre outlet; definitely a more convenient location to hit especially for those looking for a post-dinner dessert option closer to the area nearer to Bugis Junction / Bugis MRT Station in general!