Mei Yuen at East Coast Road has closed down? Opening in Brunners Coffee Shop soon?

Yes it’s true, Mei Yuen the coffeeshop that specialises in roast meats and wanton noodles has closed down quietly at its original premises! It has been located at 233 East Coast Road for decades (opposite Chin Mee Chin), I recall I would see it daily on my way home after Secondary school as my bus trundled down the road.

Old picture of Mei Yuen back in 2019

From what I hear from several sources, Mei Yuen will be reopening again opposite its old premises at Brunners Coffeeshop at 228 East Coast Road (same side as Chin Mee Chin). Where is Mei Yuen and where is Brunners Coffeeshop are trending searches on Google now so you know how worried Mei Yuen fans are!

Instead of a spacious coffeeshop of their own, it looks like they will now be renting just a stall. But the big question is, is it going to be the chicken rice stall that opens? Or the wanton mee and roast meats stall which is the one I very much prefer? The people helming the Wanton noodle/Roast Meats stall are old and of retirement age whereas the chicken rice stall owner is much younger!

The original Mei Yuen specialises in Roast Meats and Wanton Noodles. Strangely it never occured to me to visit it in my younger days, probably because such eateries were far more common then. The first time I visited was back in 2019. I had the char siew and roast pork rice but I thought the meats to be slightly on the dry side. I was quite disappointed then and wondered what was the hype about Mei Yuen, only to be told that their Wanton Noodles are better.

So gooood these wanton noodles!

So I knew I had to give Mei Yuen a second chance, but took my time about it since I wasn’t expecting it to close down anytime soon. Lo and behold Covid19 happened and it was only in 2021 that I managed to try the highly popular wanton noodles from Mei Yuen. I tabao-ed the wanton noodles and it was still so good. Huge voluptuous wantons, a generous amount of char siew and noodles that were still very QQ. It totally hit the spot and finally I understood the reason why Mei Yuen has so many fans.

I also dabaoed the roast meats and they gave me such a huge portion that I actually wondered if they gave me the wrong packet! I’m not sure how the portion size is lately, especially after inflation, but back in 2021 it was really value-for-money to eat at Mei Yuen.

The chicken rice is not bad too

Hopefully Mei Yuen maintains the quality and quantity of its great tasting wanton noodles and roast meats when they move t0 Brunners Coffeeshop soon (should they be the ones opening). No more spacious old-school coffeeshop to sit in, but at least we can be grateful that Mei Yuen will still be around, for the near future at least. You know what that means, better get your fill of Mei Yuen before they close down forever.