Yuen Yeung

From Yuen Yeung
纯.牛乳双皮奶
Printed $4.20 for a chilled bowl of milk pudding.
Look simple yet flavourful.

It does seem that Chinese-style Tang Shui is pretty much a rising trend in Singapore recently — there has been quite a number of such establishments that had opened up across the island of the late; we had covered on shops / stalls such as that of Yut Yun Tong Sui, LANTINE, Yun Ji and DuoDuo Dou of the late, though there seems to have been yet another one that had opened in the Neil Road area within walking distance away from Maxwell MRT Station along the Thomson-East Coast Line. Yuen Yeung is the newest addition to the neighbourhood; these folks should be fairly easy to spot with how it is situated along the same stretch of shophouses where notable cafes such as fieldnotes., Acoustics Coffee Bar, The Coffee Code etc. can all be found. There seems to be quite a fair bit of work done by the folks behind Yuen Yeung here; it has adopted a design scheme that features earth colour tones with a minimalistic vibe with a touch of oriental flavour — a move that is perhaps to make the establishment look the part of what it has to offer. That being said, we did feel that the designer of the space does make Yuen Yeung blend in to the aesthetics that is already adopted by fieldnotes. and The Coffee Code. Most of the seatings within the indoor dining area at Yuen Yang are catered to pax in groups of four (4) or larger — the tables catering to larger groups being the circular tables, though one can still find tables catering to groups of two (2) pax situated towards the end of the entire shop. The menu at Yuen Yeung is split into “Hot” and “Cold” desserts similar to what other establishments serving up Chinese-style Tang Shui would typically do, though the Chinese-style Tang Shui offerings at Yuen Yeung can be described to come with a little bit of a modern twist. It is noted that no beverages are being listed on the menu of Yuen Yeung.

The Handcrafted Rice Mochi with Red Bean Paste was one of the few items that caught our attention likely due to the mention of mochi in the namesake — unlike most renditions of Red Bean Paste served elsewhere where the Red Bean Paste is being served as-is or with tangerine peel, the folks at Yuen Yeung had added handcrafted rice mochi and Osmanthus to the dessert; at least these were the elements that we had observed being served up in their Handcrafted Rice Mochi with Red Bean Paste, though the menu does not describe on the elements that comes with each item. It is pretty interesting to note how the addition of Osmanthus helps add a rather complimenting floral note that is a little bit of a twist to the usual addition of tangerine peel that usually would add a more tangier note to give the Red Bean Paste a bit of a flavour contrast; the floral aroma of the Osmanthus definitely made things pretty refreshing amidst the sweetness of the Red Bean Paste that was suitably dense and sweet on its own — all that whilst featuring red bean that is cooked to a soft consistency. The handcrafted rice mochi does seem to comprise of grains similar to the texture of cooked barley that is laced with a runny mochi element that helped to bridge those grains with the red bean paste altogether.

We also managed to try the Classic Grand Slam Brown Sugar Milk Snow during a separate visit to Yuen Yeung. It can be observed from our order that the Classic Grand Slam Brown Sugar Milk Snow is a cold dessert that is served with elements such as tapioca pearls, sweet potato balls, taro cubes, red bean, grass jelly and vanilla ice-cream; there is also a syrup and milk that is drenched over the ice as well. To be honest, we do feel that Yuen Yeung seems to do better in their hot desserts than their cold desserts. The shaved ice used for the Milk Snow felt a little bit on the coarser side, and we weren’t quite a fan of the type of red beans that they used for the Classic Grand Slam Brown Sugar Milk Snow. Otherwise, the classic combination of syrup and milk was difficult to go wrong, while the tapioca pearls and sweet potato balls provided an element of chew to the dessert with the former enhancing the dessert with yet another dimension of sweetness at the same time. The grass jelly adds a soft texture amidst all of the elements that is included, while the taro cubes does come with a bit of bite — we did feel that these could also be cooked a little softer for a texture that is more consistent with the elements within the same bowl. It is interesting to note that the red beans do come with a bit of a floral note here much like how the Red Bean Paste was; traces of Osmanthus can be found atop the red bean as well. The Vanilla Ice-Cream that came atop the was smooth and creamy and wasn’t overly sweet whilst carrying a lingering note of vanilla that paired well with the Milk Snow.

Given our experience with both the Handcrafted Rice Mochi with Red Bean Paste and the Classic Grand Slam Brown Sugar Milk Snow, we would feel that Yuen Yeung’s hot desserts are more of a catch as compared to the their cold ones. With that being said, these folks do seem to frequently run out of items early on in the day given its current level of popularity — many of its signature items such as the Pistachio Paste and Double Layer Milk Pudding items are sold out in the early afternoon, while the lack of indication that several of its cold dessert items are available only during the evening onwards would leave a lot of patrons with very few options remaining if they were to drop by Yuen Yeung for post-lunch desserts; something that doesn’t do well in Yuen Yeung’s favour since a lot of its patrons would likely not be able to experience the full Yuen Yeung experience anyway. Would probably help if they can look into ramping up production in the long run. Otherwise, the desserts served up at Yuen Yeung are actually pretty reasonably priced; the lowest priced being at $4.30 for the Freshly Cooked Tangyuan with Green Bean Soup, while the priciest is the Fresh Strawberry Coconut Snow at $9.80. Yuen Yeung is certainly a spot with potential, though there is some work needed in addressing its shortcomings in operations that would hamper on the experience that they intend to bring to their patrons; still hoping that we would get to try the Pistachio Paste and Double Layer Milk Pudding once the dust settles and that these items would hopefully be available for longer hours during its operations.