Yuen Kee Dumpling (Funan)

Yuen Kee Dumpling 袁记云饺 is an establishment that most would probably know that we would end up visiting whenever they open up a new outlet around the island — whilst their past couple of openings have been within a stall at the food court, their latest outlet at the second floor of Funan is one that is run as an independent store much to the likes of their very first location at Fortune Centre here. The brand hails from China as Yuan Ji Yun Jiao, with a majority of its stores being situated in Guangzhou; the Funan outlet being their sixth in Singapore after Fortune Centre, NEX, VivoCity, Lot One and 313@Somerset. Taking over the former premises of the now-defunct outlet of Smile Desserts at Funan, the outlet of Yuen Kee Dumpling is located along the same stretch where dining establishment such as the outlet of Yan Ji Gourmet Seafood Soup By GoodEarth there and the outlet of Seoul Bunsik 서울분식 there. There has been quite a bit of works done to the space by the folks of Yuen Kee Dumpling; they have ditched that look that they previously carried at their Fortune Centre and went with one that looks a little bit more retro and rustic with the use of darker wooden elements in its furniture and fittings that matches the dark terrazzo-esque vinyl flooring and white walls within the space. There are also a number of ornaments that fills up the shelving spaces within the establishment, while the marketing collaterals featuring the various items that they have to offer also differs from that which can be found at the Fortune Centre outlet. What remains the same at the Funan outlet in comparison to their other locations in Singapore would be the open concept kitchen where patrons can get to see the whole process of the dumplings / wantons being prepared; all that whilst the display shelf containing the various dumplings / wantons that they have to offer is being located right beside it in one corner of the shop. Considering how the mode of operations at its Funan outlet aligns closely with their Fortune Centre location, the food menu offered at Yuen Kee Dumpling at is Funan outlet follows much of the same as it is at their Fortune Centre outpost — the food menu is being split across sections dedicated to Dumplings, Wanton, Noodles, Side Dish and Desserts; Yuen Kee Dumpling has also included the Shrimp Series Dumpling / Wanton Set Meal and Noodles Set Meal for individually diners who wants to try a little bit of everything in a single visit.

Just like how our previous visits to Yuen Kee Dumpling’s other outlets has been, we did find ourselves ending up with the Family Feast Assorted Pork Dumpling — this comes in a portion size of ten (10) pieces of dumplings comprising of a mix of all five (5) types of dumpling variants which they have to offer; this are notably the Shrimp and Vegetables Pork Dumpling, Chives and Pork Dumpling, Cabbage and Pork Dumpling, Corn and Pork Dumpling, and the Shepherd’s Purse Vegetables and Pork Dumpling. Patrons can opt between the various types of soups / sauces that Yuen Kee Dumpling has to offer — these being the Cantonese Style Soup, Viral Mixed Sauce with Chili Oil, Fiery Spicy & Tangy Soup, Peanut Sauce, Garlic Sauce, Hot Boiled and Chili Oil. There is also a choice that one can opt to add Ramen / Egg Noodles. For our order of the Family Feast Assorted Pork Dumpling, we had went for the Viral Mixed Sauce with Chili Oil, and added Ramen Noodles. All of the dumplings were pretty well-filled with filling with the minced pork filling being well-marinated to eliminate any undesirable porky stench that it may carry; the Viral Mixed Sauce with Chili Oil being a mix of what seems to be peanut sauce and Chinese-style chili oil that typically comes alongside Sichuan Spicy Wonton in Chili Oil (i.e. 红油抄手) — this provides a creamy and nutty fragrance whilst also carrying a hint of smoky savouriness with a slight crisp for an extra texture from the Lao Gan Ma-esque chili, with the spiciness coming at a level that should work well for those tolerable to moderate levels of spiciness. The Ramen Noodles at their Funan outlet does come at a consistency that is softer than the same which we had experienced at their other locations; we also felt that the noodles can be better drained off since this does seem to affect the ability of the Viral Mixed Sauce with Chili Oil to cling onto the noodles to provide the dish with a flavour distinctly different from the usual wanton noodles / dumpling noodles.

During the same visit to Yuen Kee Dumpling at their Funan location, we had also decided to give their Curry Fishball from the Side Dishes section of the menu a go; an item that can only be found at their individually-run locations such as the one at Fortune Centre — the Curry Fishball does come in a standard portion of eight (8) fishballs that are swimming in a curry gravy. Despite coming in a portion size of eight (8) fishballs, it is worth noting that the fishballs do come in a size of which that is half of the standard size of fishballs that we would expect to see at a stall specialising in Teochew-style fishball noodles that is typically found in a food court / coffeeshop / hawker centre setting. The fishballs here do come with a soft texture, though they do definitely come less bouncy but slightly more chewy than what we have been more exposed to in our own local context. We did like the curry gravy that came along with the Curry Fishball here; the curry gravy coming quite close to the Chinese-style fish curries that we are more used to with a distinct hint of curry spices being pretty rich and also carried quite a good kick of spiciness to go along — something that should be pretty much manageable for those whom are tolerable to moderate levels of spiciness.

We ended our meal with the Peach Gum Sweet Soup from the Desserts section of the menu a go. Similar to the Curry Fishball, the Peach Gum Sweet Soup is also an item that is exclusively available at Yuen Kee Dumpling’s individually-run locations — the Peach Gum Sweet Soup being available in Hot / Cold variants; our order was for the Cold variant of the dish. This does turn out to be fairly similar to our Chng Tng where the sweet soup does carry a very light tinge of sweetness that is refreshing after a heavy meal, while other elements like the addition of dried longans and dried red date creates a variance of textures to the chewy and soft peach gum — itself being an anti-oxidant with “cooling” properties. We do note that Yuen Kee Dumpling does serve up quite a generous portion of peach gum in their Peach Gum Sweet Soup that does make this quite good value for money at $5.80. Yuen Kee Dumpling does present itself very differently from other stores specialising in dumplings and wantons elsewhere where they do allow for patrons to opt for their desired sauces to go along with their dumplings and wantons offerings — the Viral Mixed Sauce with Chili Oil being almost essential to the entire experience whenever one visits Yuen Kee Dumpling. We did feel that the Funan outlet is a little inconsistent to the experience that we have had at their Fortune Centre location though not too big of a concern in general; the ramen noodles do feel like it could be better executed to better retain the flavours of the Viral Mixed Sauce with Chili Oil. Apart from this, the dining environment at their Funan outlet does come at a bigger level of comfort as compared to the Fortune Centre location that is slightly more claustrophobic. Prices of most of its dishes do not pass the $10 mark; the only items priced beyond $10 and $10.80 would be the Shrimp & Vegetables Pork Dumpling (12 pieces), and Shrimp and Crab Roe Pork Wanton (10 pieces). The Shrimp Series Dumpling/Wanton Set Meal and Noodles Set Meal are priced at $12.80 and $11.80 respectively. Given how the outlet of Yuen Kee Dumpling at Funan had just opened their doors when we had made our visit, queues have yet to form when we dropped by for a visit on a weekend during dinner service, though we do expect a short queue like how their other outlets are in time to come — yet another location that one can conveniently give Yuen Kee Dumpling a try whilst in town!