LOL. I couldn’t believe it was my friend’s first time eating ondeh ondeh and that her first time just had to be at HarriAnns.
Being a gentle lady, she delicately bit the ondeh ondeh into half and got a shock of her life!
The liquid gula melaka inside the sweet potato ball sprayed all over her dress, bag and table. HAHAHA
Way before the Western lava cake arrived on our sunny shores, ondeh ondeh must be the original lava dessert in Singapore.
HarriAnns‘ ondeh ondeh, ($3.20 for 6 pcs) really explodes and splashes out a thin, sweet, brown sugar syrup once you sink your teeth into them. This makes it very fun to eat and this is perhaps what many people look for when they eat ondeh ondeh. Personally though, I prefer a thicker syrup that oozes.
Anyway, it was lunchtime and my friend and I were at HarriAnns‘ Bugis outlet where the cozy eatery was full house!
The wind blew us here because my aunt recently shared a video about HarriAnns on Facebook and the boss appeared so passionate about his kuehs that I couldn’t stop thinking about trying them, so I pulled my innocent friend in joining me to satiate my random craving.
HarriAnns sells proper meals too like curry chicken rice and laksa but when I saw their interesting range of kuehs, I spontaneously decided to order a feast of kuehs to indulge in.
After trying their famous ondeh ondeh, we tried the Glutinous Rice Set (choice of Ondeh or Kueh), $4.80 which seemed like the most value-for-money set on the menu.
The Glutinous Rice Set, $4.80 comes with a hot drink and your choice of ondeh ondeh or a taster set of kueh (very cute!).
The adorable platter of kueh has bite-sized HarriAnns‘ Signature Rainbow Lapis, Pink Fairy, Signature Kueh Salat and Kueh Talam Gula Melaka! This is perfect if you greedily want to try everything, yet you know you can’t finish 4 of these original-sized kuehs!
The problem is that eating one piece of kueh after another blends all the tastes together and you end up feeling like you’re eating all the same thing, just that they are in different colours.
The glutinous rice is rather unique. It is served with both savoury and sweet glutinous rice. The savoury glutinous rice tastes bland on its own but when eaten with its sweet counterpart, it magically becomes another dish! Very interesting. The spicy and fragrant sambal chili deserves a photoshoot of its own. My friend and I thought that it was the best thing on the plate.
Next, we tried the Ang Ku Kueh, $1.20 each which the staff told me is one of their bestsellers.
I think most people prefer Peanut Ang Ku Kueh to Mung Bean Ang Ku Kueh, amirite?
However, HarriAnns‘ Peanut Ang Ku Kueh, $1.20 was surprisingly mediocre. Its peanut filling felt like it couldn’t decide whether to be mushy or crunchy. The bigger pieces of nuts found in the peanut mixture also tasted stale. Overall, the peanut filling was too sweet for our fancy.
The Mung Bean Ang Ku Kueh, $1.20 fared better as the mung bean filling was fragrant and smooth. However, the overall thicker skin of HarriAnns‘ Ang Ku Kueh won’t make us want to purchase it again.
The next 3 kuehs we ate were interesting because from their colours, you know that they are flavours you probably can’t find anywhere else. In fact, HarriAnns is intriguing to me because all their kuehs have innovative flavours and very beautiful colours.
So, after cleaning up the disaster my friend made from her virgin Ondeh Ondeh experience, my friend and I were faced with these 3 kuehs and we realised that we had forgotten what we had exactly ordered. We were also too tired to get up from our seats to go to the counter and check their names out again (partly because there was a never-ending crowd at the counter too).
We ate these kuehs as though we were doing a blind test. Just to see how right or how off our guesses were, we double-checked their names at the counter before we went off.
Test subject 1:
Me: What is this huh? I guess this top thing is custard.
My friend: Hmm….
Me: What is this!!!!
My friend: Wait…I’m thinking…this tastes so familiar. You know, like this Chinese dessert where everything is black black one?
Me: What? Sesame paste ah?
My friend: No la! This black rice is the exact rice used in the dessert!
Me: Ohhhh!!!! I know already I know already! What is its name? Pulut Hitam!
Test subject 2:
Test subject 2
Me: This kueh so pretty. So many colours! But I have no idea what this is!
My friend: I also don’t know….what is this?!?! But there are many sago-like thing inside…
Me: Texture very interesting but the taste…what is this? It just tastes like coconut milk!
Test subject 3:
Me: This one I think is confirmed some Chendol kueh. The colours very obvious!
My friend: Ya got the Chendol jelly inside. Not bad eh this one!
Me: Ya really taste like Chendol.
Overall, the kuehs at HarriAnns are all of a high standard and sold at reasonable prices. However, too much of something always turns a good thing…not so good. I regret caving into my cravings by ordering such a big feast of sweet kuehs. It did get overwhelming after awhile.
On a personal note, I think HarriAnns is just not the place to get your Ang Ku Kuehs. My favourite Ang Ku Kueh place is still Ji Xiang Confectionary. Where is yours?
What’s special:
- Innovative kueh flavours rarely seen in other kueh shops
- Adorable bite-sized kueh taster sets available
- Ondeh Ondeh that bursts liquid gula melaka in your mouth
What to Order:
- Glutinous Rice Set, $4.80 – This unique combination is hardly found in Singapore anymore. Give it a try! You can choose to have ondeh ondeh or a kueh taster to accompany your rice in this set meal. You really get to try all the good things in this set. Recommended!
- Ondeh Ondeh, $3.20 – Fun to eat! I would choose to buy this for my child than buying a lava cake.
What to Skip:
- ANG KU KUEH!!!, $1.20 – Just…no.
HarriAnns Nonya Table, Bugis Junction
Address: #01-01A, 230 Victoria Street, Bugis Junction Towers, Singapore 188024
Telephone Number: 6273 0852 / 6238 1200
Nearest MRT Station: Bugis
Opening hours:
7am to 9pm, daily