Yassin Kampung – a MUIS-Halal certified eatery in Singapore with more than 15 years of experience – has just upped the spice game in Singapore, with the introduction of their first-ever Mala themed creations.

These new items – which are great news for fans of the tongue-searing and numbing spices which have taken Singapore by storm – have been specially concocted by the restaurant founder and head chef, Muhammad Yassin Ng.

Invited To A Food Tasting

I was recently invited to a food tasting session at Yassin Kampung to try out their new Mala creations, in addition to some of their other specialities.

Stepping into the restaurant premises for the first time, I thought that the eatery had a very homely feel to it. 

At the same time, their decorations and setting felt quite rustic and idyllic, bringing me back in time to the 1960s and 1970s Singapore – an era where people still lived in kampungs.

This is definitely what Yassin Kampung hopes to achieve, too, with their emphasis on “gotong royong”, a phrase that translates into “kampung spirit.”

Their Mala Creations

There are four different Mala creations at the eatery and these are the Sichuan Mala Fried Crab (S$40), Sichuan Mala Crispy Prawn (S$22), Sicuhan Mala Diced Chicken (S$15) and the Sichuan Mala Fragrant Fish (S$38).

The restaurant’s Mala creations come in both Medium and Large sizes. For all of these dishes, I had the Medium sized portions.

And according to Yassin Kampung, all of these Mala dishes are coupled with the addictive mouth numbing sensation of Sichuan peppercorn and fiery heat from the dried chilli that will sear, numb and tantalise the taste buds.

So this means that whether you are a poultry or seafood lover, you will definitely be spoilt for choice with Yassin Kampung’s first-ever Mala creations.

And after tasting them for myself, I have to say that the Mala recipes were quite spicy.

In fact, out of a scale of 5 with 5 being the most spicy, I would rate Yassin Kampung’s Mala creations as being a 4.

Sichuan Mala Diced Chicken

The mouth-numbing Mala sensation had hit me immediately after putting my first piece of the Sichuan Mala Diced Chicken into my mouth. Straight after that, I found myself downing my drink a bit too eagerly, in an attempt to neutralise the spicy sensation.

In fact, because of the sheer spiciness of the meal, I had downed three different iced drinks throughout the meal – iced water, Milo and lime juice.

Lime juice

And this had been despite the fact that occasionally, I do enjoy eating some spicy foods from time to time.

I was not the only one who found the food too hot. I had noted that some of the other influencers who were present at the food tasting session were also struggling with the spice level of the Mala items during the meal.

 So it would be great if the eatery could give diners, options for us to nominate the spice level that we would like in our dishes, rather than just having a single standard spice level. 

The reason is because every individual has different tolerance and preference when it comes to spicy foods.

But the spice level aside, my favourite Mala creation had to be the Sichuan Mala Diced Chicken. This is because the Chicken, which was battered and deep-fried, had been crunchy on the outside and warm and tender on the inside. 

As well, besides the Mala spiciness absorbed by the chicken, I was able to pick up a subtle salty and fragrant peppery flavour in the chicken batter too, and all of these elements combined to make it rather addictive and quite yummy at the same time.

Sichuan Mala Fragrant Fish

The Sichuan Mala Fragrant Fish, which was also deep-fried before the Mala sauce was poured over it, turned out to be the most spicy of the Mala items, and had resulted in me gulping down at least half a glass of water afterwards. 

But that aside, the fish was definitely fresh and the meat was quite soft, but unfortunately the meat was also a tad dry probably a result of the frying process.

Sichuan Mala Crispy Prawn

I thought the Sichuan Mala Crispy Prawn was the least spicy of the Mala dishes but that was because I had peeled off the prawn shell before taking a bite of the prawn, making the spiciness a lot more palatable. 

And texture wise, the prawn was firm and fragrant, with a bit of seafood flavour to it, once I had gotten over the Mala spiciness.

Sichuan Mala Fried Crab

The Sichuan Mala Fried Crab was also fresh, and with the crab meat having a strong Mala kick. The texture of the crab meat was quite soft, with a subtle natural sweetness to it, at the same time.

Other Signature Dishes

Apart from the Mala items, I also had a few of the restaurant’s signature dishes.

Kampung Durian Chicken

I particularly enjoyed the Kampung Durian Chicken (S$20), to my surprise. As the name suggests, this is Chicken deep-fried and then cooked with Durian sauce. 

When I first heard that this dish was available, I must admit my first thought had been that it would taste quite weird.

Surprisingly though, when I took a bite of this dish, I found the Durian flavour to be very subtle. The first flavour that I could detect was actually the distinctive fried chicken taste, somewhat reminding me of eating chicken nuggets.

However, shortly after that I was able to pick up a subtle hint of Durian, which gave the chicken a slightly sweet note, which had complemented, rather than overwhelming the taste of the fried chicken. 

Thought the flavour profiles coming from this dish are pretty rich, it was definitely not nearly as rich as I had expected it to be, so as a result, this dish did not come across as being jelak. This had surprised me somewhat – it appeared that Yassin Kampung had definitely got this unique recipe down pat.

The dish reminded me of the classic combination of savoury and sweet flavours in a single dish… but taken to a brand new level. 

As a whole, I had felt the combination had been rather creative and interesting, and shortly after tasting this, I admit I soon found myself reaching for a second helping of the chicken.

After previously having eaten the spicy Mala dishes, I must say that it was also refreshing that this dish was not spicy. 

Kampung Satay Platter

Another dish that I tried too, had been the Kampung Satay Platter (S$9). This had comprised of a mixture of Chicken and Beef Satay, served with salad, ketupat and peanut sauce.

And I would say that this Satay was amongst the better versions of Satay that I have had. 

I managed to try both the Chicken and Beef versions, and a slight char-grilled taste was there, with the meat being soft enough, sliding from the satay stick and into my mouth at the same time. 

However I had thought that the Beef Satay had been a tad more firm than the Chicken version, nonetheless, both versions were still good.

From the Vegetable selection available, we had two different types.

Kang Kong Belacan

The first vegetable was the Kang Kong Belacan (S$9), which is basically a type of water spinach prepared with chilli and shrimp paste. And I think that Yassin Kampung serves one of the better versions of this. 

This was spicy and crunchy and definitely packed a punch in terms of flavour. The shrimp taste was fragrant and pronounced, and it was immediately apparent the moment that I took a mouthful of this.

Unfortunately though, with all the Mala dishes too, the savoury-spicy note coming out from this, had proved to be a tad too overwhelming for me, which had been a pity, as this vegetable was really quite good otherwise. So perhaps if you are ordering this, choose something plainer to complement it with.

Baby KaiLan With Salted Fish

The second vegetable was a Baby KaiLan With Salted Fish (S$10), which I had specifically requested for about halfway through the meal, mainly because I had wanted something more plainer and non-spicy to balance out the spiciness coming from the meal so far.

And I really enjoyed this vegetable. The KaiLan was crunchy and was prepared with garlic, which had made it very fragrant. And the addition of the Salted Fish also gave the vegetable a slightly salty note, which complemented it very well and balanced out the taste profiles nicely. Overall it definitely did not disappoint.

Soup Ekor

We also tried the Soup Ekor (S$15) which is Ox-Tail Soup. I really enjoyed this, too. The soup had been tasty and full of flavour which came not only from the Ox-Tail, but from the assortment of vegetables, herbs and spices that had been boiled in the soup stock. 

And when I bit into the Ox-Tail meat, too, it was very soft, falling off the bones easily and almost melted in the mouth. This had been a really nice complement to the Mala meal.

Keropok

As well, we had a Keropok (S$3) to munch on too, and this was quite addictive, for sure. The Keropok had been crunchy and very fragrant and it was a good addition to the meal. 

However, I simply could not stop munching on these throughout the evening even when I was feeling quite full towards the end of the meal. In fact I may have finished off most of the basket myself.

Desserts

To end off the meal on a sweet note, we tried two items and these were the Chendol (S$4.50) and the Ice Milo Kepal (S$6.90).

Chendol

Both desserts did not disappoint. The Chendol was flavoursome and the Gula Melaka flavour coming from it was pleasant. The green jelly noodles were quite soft and melted in the mouth without much chewing, and the sweetened red beans in the dish also complemented the other ingredients very well. As well, this chendol was sweet, but had not been overpoweringly sweet, which suited me well.

Ice Milo Kepal

The Ice Milo Kepal, which is probably something like Milo flavoured Ice Kachang, was served with biscuit crumble, chocolate chips as well as an Oreo cookie as decoration, and as expected, this had a very strong Milo taste, which had suited me very well because I have always loved my Milo since I was a little girl. 

In this dessert, I had really liked the crunch that the biscuits and the chocolate chips gave to the dessert as this helped to add another layer to it, in terms of the texture.

However, that said, I had felt that the frozen ice was a bit on the hard side, and as such, it had been quite difficult to scrape it off from the large block at the centre to eat. 

So I found myself waiting for the “ice block” to slowly melt, while sipping the melted Milo flavoured liquid at the bottom of the bowl, in the meantime. But I felt that this had been the only drawback of this dessert.

Their Locations

Yassin Kampung currently has three existing locations in the Northern part of Singapore and these are at:

ADMIRALTY: 676 Woodlands Drive 71 #01-03, Singapore 730676 

CLEMENTI: 06 Clementi St 12, #01-56, Singapore 120106 

MARSILING: Blk 210 Marsiling Crescent #01-01/03, Woodlands, Singapore 730210 

However sometime next month, they will be opening up their first outlet in the Eastern part of Singapore, at BEDOK (215 Bedok North Street 1 #01-83 Singapore 460215). 

This outlet will be located within five minutes’ walk from Bedok MRT Station, so keep your eyes opened for some promotions and discounts from the company at www.Yassin.com.sg once this outlet opens its doors to the public.