Hearing-Impaired Uncle, 87, Sells Tasty & Affordable Canto-Style Yusheng From Home, Retiring After CNY

Traditional Cantonese-style yusheng 

What is special about Uncle Tan’s yusheng is that it’s prepared Cantonese-style. Save for a portion of pickled ginger and pearl onions, most of the ingredients are fresh with no artificially lurid hues. 

Instead, you get a no-frills, homely pile of delicately julienned carrots, radishes, limes, coarsely ground peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, pok chui crackers and — uncommonly for yusheng — ribbons of kaffir lime leaves and fresh coriander sprigs. The dressing is a simple pairing of plum sauce and peanut oil.

Large Abalone Yusheng, $55 

We ordered a large abalone yusheng from Uncle Tan for our own reunion dinner. Compared to restaurant-bought yusheng, his packaging and presentation isn’t as fancy. And there’s no delivery; you have to WhatsApp Uncle Tan’s son Ben at 9322-3271 to order and pick up the platter yourself at their flat.

Our yusheng was placed in a transparent plastic box along with separately packed little bags of wet ingredients. It’s not a massive portion, but enough to feed our merry clan of 20 people (each one gets a few mouthfuls as a token, with no wastage).

While it’s not the prettiest yusheng on the market, with its muted colours, Uncle Tan’s yusheng is one of the best we have tried.

The sliced kaffir lime leaves give an appetising citrusy whiff, and we personally love the robust aroma of coriander in our tossed mélange of crunchy, crispy ingredients. It feels like eating a very good Chinese salad, expertly flavoured with crunchy jellyfish, a hint of tart ginger, sweet onions, fragrant sesame seeds and toasty peanuts and crackers.

The rather wet abalone given is not a lot, but we topped up with our own for extra huat.

Former restaurant chef 

It is perhaps unsurprising that Uncle Tan was formerly a chef, and the owner of a Chinese restaurant called Red Horse in Tiong Bahru in the ’70s.

Four years after opening, he closed his business due to an economic recession and his back surgery. He and his wife later shifted their operations to a stall at Chinatown Complex Food Centre, where braised duck rice hawker Melvin Chew also runs his stall and grew up eating Uncle Tan’s yusheng.

Yusheng available through CNY for the last time

These days, Uncle Tan makes a modest living from selling his yusheng through the 15 days of Chinese New Year. He deftly assembles an order only at the time of collection, so be prepared to wait five to 10 minutes after your arrival for Uncle Tan to work his magic.

Speaking to 8days.sg, his son Ben — who declines to give his father’s full name to “maintain privacy” — jokes that he “hasn’t celebrated Chinese New Year since I was 15”.

Now 50 years old, he has been helping his father with the laborious task of preparing yusheng for the past 35 years. They usually take orders from CNY eve till the last day of the festive period. “Nobody eats yusheng after that, so we might as well sell it for all 15 days,” Ben explains.

But this is the last year that father-and-son are offering yusheng. Ben says: “I asked my father to retire, as he is getting older and I don’t want him to risk falling when he goes to the market to buy ingredients.”

Another reason is that Uncle Tan’s wife, who used to help him, had passed away last year after an unexpected health emergency. The widower now lives alone with the company of two pet turtles. Being hearing-impaired and technologically unsavvy, Uncle Tan — who wears a hearing aid — is also unable to take phone orders from customers.

Ben comes by to help his father with the intensive prep work of grating carrots and radishes, and manages orders and collections. “My mum asked me before she passed on to continue helping my father. Usually our parents don’t make specific requests like that, so I felt it was my duty to honour what she asked me to do,” he shares.

He currently works as a chiropractor at his own clinic, which was passed down by his grandmother to his mother, before he took over. Every year during CNY, Ben takes advantage of the lull period at his clinic to help his dad sell yusheng (incidentally, his uncle runs the popular 115 Tang Shui dessert stall at Chinatown Complex).

But he observes that Uncle Tan’s customers have dwindled over the years. “Most of them are from his generation, and when they are no longer around, their children don’t continue [the tradition of ordering his yusheng],” Ben says.

After this year, he plans to keep his father active by bringing him to see the world. He explains: “My dad doesn’t like butter so maybe we won’t go to Europe, but we’ll go to China. He has only been to Hainan Island once!”

To order Uncle Tan’s yusheng, WhatsApp Ben Tan at 9322-3271. Strictly self-collection only before 6pm daily. Last day of collection on Feb 20, 2024.

Photos: Yip Jieying

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