PUBLISHED ONJanuary 30, 2020 9:10 AMByMelissa Goh
Get Out!! is a bi-weekly video series where our hosts go out and discover new things around Singapore.
This week, Le En and Walter visit Uncle Dough to try out youtiaos that are topped with interesting ingredients and flavours.
When youtiao is mentioned, my mind automatically thinks of crispy fried dough fritters paired with silky beancurd. But all that's about to change after trying the ones at Uncle Dough.
Founded by Noorman Mubarak and his business partners, the stall located within Yishun Park Hawker Centre has been the talk of the town since its opening in Oct 2019, and for good reasons.
Unlike regular youtiaos that are served plain, Uncle Dough's fritters are decorated with an assortment of toppings and sauces, making them oh-so delightful to dig into.
"I saw a gap in the halal and snack market in Singapore, that's why we wanted to open up a youtiao stall," Noorman, 41, said.
When asked about the inspiration behind putting toppings on youtiaos, he replied frankly: "It's not an original idea, it's been done before in Singapore at some pop-up stalls, and also in Malaysia and Indonesia — it's been around for the last few years".
To get you drooling, there are four original sweet and savoury flavours on the menu, including Cheesy You Tiao, Takomayo You Tiao, and Nutella + Nuts You Tiao.
Noorman shared that they have since revamped the menu, adding on another seven new flavours, and have started experimenting the flavours on salted buns (ham chim peng), which will be available soon.
"We thought that it'll be a good offering, to serve upgraded snacks with premium toppings like Nutella and crushed Oreos," he added.
Customers can also look forward to trying toppings such as peanut butter and jelly, marshmallows with rainbow sprinkles, Milo Dinosaur, as well as butter with kaya and sugar.
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Noorman said he has yet to receive interesting orders to customise flavours and toppings, but "one customer has asked us to put sambal chilli and ikan bilis on the youtiao", which he agreed is quite a good idea.
QUIT HIS FULL-TIME JOB TO BE A HAWKER
Noorman shared how his family has always been in the food and beverage (F&B) industry: "When I was younger, we had a few stalls selling nasi lemak, roti prata and chicken rice."
It took him a long while before deciding to be a hawker himself — he was a flight attendant for seven years, and an offshore engineer for another seven.
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"I was working offshore in the oil rigs, which required a lot of travelling, so after seven years, I felt it was time to go back to my roots and open up my own F&B outlet," he said.
The only struggle he faces now is finding a full-timer to help man Uncle Dough; he finds that younger people aren't too keen to work in a hawker centre.
Check out the latest episode of our original series "Get Out!!" to see what hosts Le En and Walter's youtiao recommendations are.
melissagoh@asiaone.com