Not gonna deny that finding the right spot to actually settle for Nyonya Kueh with a sit-down setting is really difficult — an especially so for a casual joint with dine-in seats serving up artisanal Kuehs that aren’t made in a mass-produced setting; quite glad that these days we do have establishments like Ollella, Chalk Farm and Sinpopo Brand that can somehow cater to these cravings but it has been a long while since we had wanted to give HariAnns Nonya Table a go. Whilst being a time-honoured and respectable brand name that takes the effort to stay true to their roots and serve up a slice of Peranakan heritage through their offerings, HariAnns Nonya Table has also been one brand that is rather inventive with their Nonya Kueh offerings — apart from the usual Kueh Salat, Kueh Lapis, Ang Ku Kueh etc., they do also offer quite a colourful line-up of Nonya Kueh inspired from local-style desserts that sees these desserts being served up in the style of Nonya Kueh as well.
We were having hard cravings for Nonya Kueh whilst passing their Bugis Junction outlet; while it wasn’t our intention to go for more than one of their Kueh offerings, we did find ourselves going for both the Kueh Burbur ChaCha and the Kueh Taro (Yam) — both flavours being their inventive take on Nonya Kueh with a bit of a touch replicating that of other local-style desserts. The Kueh Burbur ChaCha is the more colourful one of the two — replicates the standard Burbur ChaCha with a layer of coconut mousse that comes embedded with purple and orange sweet potato chunks and taro chunks. To achieve a more colourful presentation of the Kueh Burbur ChaCha, they have also added two layers of blue above the layer of coconut mousse. While the coconut mousse itself provided a soft, springy chew without sticking to the teeth, the chunks of sweet potato and taro added an earthy note to the Kueh. The layers of blue in the meanwhile seemed to add a slight hint of sweetness; pretty much the same as what one would expect out of the usual Kueh Lapis elsewhere. The Kueh Taro (Yam) does seem to be one that replicates the Teochew Yam Paste — the format of which the Kueh is being served in is almost akin to that of Kueh Talam that comes with a coconut mousse layer and a Pandan mousse layer; the only difference here being the Pandan mousse have been replaced with a mousse layer featuring Taro instead. The Kueh Taro (Yam) wasn’t particularly sweet, but does carry that earthy fragrance with a slight hint of shallot oil — all that with a slightly saltishness from the coconut mousse below. Both Kuehs do come at a reduced level of sweetness that is still pretty reassemble for our tastebuds; all without being too sticky that it gets all over the teeth — something that is worth a try for the curious.