Yong He Eating House

Changi Airport. 7:45am. We just found out that panda's flight has been delayed for 2 hours and she's growlingly grouchy, as in "grrrr... i'm gonna bite somebody!" I had to find something for her to bite on other than one of my appendages - my finger (what were you thinking?) So, we went to Geylang.

The natural place to look when driving down Geylang Road is towards the even-numbered lorongs (side-streets) on your left, but decent drivers and those who pretend to be will invariably turn towards the odd-numbered ones on the right, and that's not a bad choice after all. Lorong 9 is the most common alibi used by guys who have been seen cruising along the infamous road at suspicious hours. "Oh I was just going to Lor. 9 to get a night snack", without specifying which kind. When pressed why it was in Lor. 18 that the car was sighted? "Just looking for parking, lah..." True enough, parking right outside Yong He is almost impossible since the big bowls of 豆浆 (soy bean milk) that are served here is reason enough to risk your reputation.

In any case, panda and I were there at 8:30am, too late for anything salacious to be going on. We ordered two 甜豆浆 (the sweet one, they also have a salty version that is commonplace in Taiwan), another bowl of 豆花 (bean curd), 油炸鬼 (fried dough) to go with the soy bean milk, and 黏饭 (rolled sticky rice with pork floss and 油炸鬼 fillings). We also ordered a 烧饼 (crispy puff bread sandwiching some egg and pork floss). Service is fast and the soy bean milk is piping hot when it arrives. The bean curd has some sweet peanuts on top and is soaked in sinful syrup. The bean curd is not as smooth as those found in Rochor, and leaves a bit of a “siap-siap” feeling in your mouth (the closest English word I can think of is “astringent”). The 烧饼 is excellent and is a great breakfast combination, kinda like McMuffins Geylang-style. The 黏饭, for those who like sticky rice, it is something you just have to try. More popular in Hong Kong, this mixture of textures and tastes rolled into one is sure to delight the first time you bite into it. Finally, the 豆浆 – you can slurp it solo or dip the 油炸鬼 into the hot stuff, this is the main reason why Yong He is famous and it does not disappoint. Just make sure you stir before you slurp as the sugar is at the bottom.

With panda’s nibbling habit satisfied, we returned to the airport and she marched past immigration and towards her gate without so much as a second glance. As for me, I’ve already started wondering when would be my next chance to return for more sinfully sweet “night snacks”.

Dedicated to cloudgal & MN,

Those whom have patronised this place know that in the past, a major hindrance of coming here is probably...the vice.

Stuck in the heart of the red-light district, many may have been turned off to pay a visit.

Fast forward to 2008, they have a new location in Geylang abit further from the "action" ~ the crowd was pretty much the same.

Silky bean curd and Taiwan snacks to keep our tummies happy at supper time

* updated second trip with onion cake photo

JWNY

previously located at geylang lor9, was 1 of my fav supper haunts after late night movies, and or post clubbing recovery joints from alcohol intoxication. was taken a-back by its disappearence after not patronizing for a long long while. only learnt recently that they've relocated to lor27a.

was out w a buddy witnessing liverpool's lucky 1-0 victory over chelsea on sunday. while the night was still young, decided to hunt for the famous soy bean & fritters combo.

my fren ordered his usual; tau huay + peanut, while i took my usual; tau huay + tau nee. fitters was a must, and we topped it off with their famous taiwanese pastry.... gave the oyster mee suah a miss, considering we had quite a late dinner.

was a pleasent long wkend i might add