HK milk tea brand Silk now open in Singapore, at Orchard Gateway

If you’re a bubble tea lover, chances are you would’ve already heard of Silk, a bubble tea brand hailing from Hong Kong. 

Despite being a relatively new brand —  it was founded in September 2022 — Silk has opened its first overseas outpost in Singapore last Friday (October 25) — at Orchard Gateway. We hear more outlets are set to launch before the year ends.

For those unfamiliar with Silk, the brand began with the aim to revitalise Hong Kong milk tea — to make it more modern, accessible and inviting. 

Its name “Silk” is derived from the silk stocking that is used to make traditional Hong Kong milk tea and the brand’s teas are made from a 50-year-old time-tested recipe. 

Walking into its small, yet flashy Orchard Gateway outlet, you’ll be forgiven for mistaking it as a modern brand, with its black and white minimalist interior, dotted with iridescent embellishments.

Not sure what to get?

Trying Silk Singapore’s menu

You won’t go wrong with Silk’s signature, the Smooth King (S$7.50), which comes with its signature tea blend, cheese Cloud, honeycomb and black boba. 

The honeycomb and black boba combined can get pretty sweet, so we’d opt for no sugar or a low-sugar level (30%), if we were you.

When it comes to taste, let’s just say — the “smooth” is in the drink’s name for good reason. Everything in the Smooth King — the cheese, milk, tea and boba — gel together incredibly well, and while it tastes so indulgent and rich, it is anything but cloying.

It was so good that I’d be willing to risk my lactose intolerance for a whole cup. The only downside is that it just comes in one size — large — so it might be wise to share if you’re counting calories, or um, lactose-intolerant. 

The good thing, too, is that Silk prides itself on offering free cheese foam top-ups for 30 minutes after you first buy your milk tea. Yes, free. No strings attached. (And yes, we’ve asked — it’s checked against your time of purchase.) 

Judging by how yummy its savoury, slightly sweet cheese foam topping was, we can just see Singaporeans snapping up this too-good-to-be-true-but-is-actually-true deal in no time. 

Another drink worth your time (and is especially photogenic) is its special Yuen-Yeung Reimagined (S$8.90), or yuan-yang as we call it locally. It features Silk’s classic Hong Kong-style milk tea, black coffee, cheese Cloud, and a toasted creme brulee.

The Yuen-Yueng Reimagined is one of the few drinks that comes in a smaller cup size (yay, portion control!), and, yes, you can also get unlimited cheese foam top-ups for 30 minutes for this. 

At close to S$10, we get that it’s a tad pricey, so we’d really load up on those cheese top-ups if we were you.

The other drinks that come in a smaller cup is its Milky series (from S$6), which comprises pure milk and a series of flavours such as boba, melon, mango, and matcha.

The Smooth Queen (S$6.80) is a Singapore-only outlet-exclusive made with Hong Kong-style lemon tea, pandan, calamansi, and mint leaves. It’s a cooling refresher, perfect for those times you need something to quench your thirst in the middle of a sweltering day. 

But if I’m being really honest, the Hong Kong favourite, the Starburst (S$7) with Four Seasons tea, grapefruit, apple, orange, passion fruit sherbet and agar crystals, made for a more refreshing quencher.

While you’re there, you might also notice its cute merchandise range, which include bucket hats, teddy bears, tote bags, and even pickleball equipment — it’s not on sale yet, but do keep an eye out, because these will be available for purchase soon enough.

This was an invited tasting.

For the latest eats, read about Odem, a new Korean restaurant-bar at the vibey New Bahru, and our compilation of the latest eats around town. 

Enjoy up to 50% off when you dine with GrabFood Dine Out.

You can also book a ride to Silk’s Singapore outlet at Orchard Gateway.