JOHOR BARU, July 1 — The neon sign is a beacon in the darkness. This is a secret enclave for night owls. You can easily imagine Maggie Cheung walking up a narrow flight of stairs in her impossibly fitting cheongsam to get here, where aching bones and empty bellies are comforted.

No, this isn’t a dessert shop in Kowloon (though the wild boys of the Young and Dangerous series wouldn’t feel out of place here). Instead, this is Johor Baru. This is SYST, an 80s-themed café specialising in traditional Hong Kong tong sui, where locals looking for such bowls of sweetness have been congregating since its opening in April.

SYST stands for Shen Ye Shi Tang, which translates roughly as "Late Night Desserts” in Chinese. The late night portion of its name is the shop’s unique selling point (the other might be the retro décor, evidenced by vintage posters doubling as wallpaper).

The interior of SYST is narrow, like many a Hong Kong tong sui shop.

Many of us hanker for something sweet and soothing rather than greasy and deep-fried in the wee hours after a night of drinking.

Good tong sui (literally "sugar water” in Cantonese) can be hard to find, regardless of the hour of day or night. The owners of SYST have done their research apparently, making trips to Hong Kong to study and sample the best tong sui in town.

To pay homage to the origins of their concept shop, the menu at SYST is divided into four different personality types of contemporary Hong Kong. All fictional, but it isn’t difficult to recognise someone we know — including ourselves — in each of them! Be it age range or preference for sweetness, there’s a tong sui for everyone.

For the youngsters, the 17-year-old Ho Lai Lai represents a young woman in the 1980s embarking on school life. This is a nod to the then Hong Kong government’s white paper in 1978 guaranteeing higher education for all students, including young girls. Ms Ho enjoys tong sui such as steamed egg with milk (sin nai tan dan) and the honeyed taste of rock melon sago (ha mat gua sai mai lo). Ah, the sweetness of youth!

A neon sign announces the whereabouts of SYST (Shen Ye Shi Tang), an 80s-themed tong sui shop (left). As Ken can only handle one customer at a time, some waiting time is necessary on a busy night (right).

The 28-year-old workaholic Chin Man Kit, on the other hand, prefers bowls that have more sustenance for the successful person on the go. Ginger milk pudding (giong chap jong nai) and orange peel-infused red bean soup with glutinous balls (chan pei tong yuen hong dao sa) fit the bill.

The busy worker bee has a sweet tooth for mango pomelo sago (yeung ji kam lo) too: thick chunks of fresh mango and sacs of citrusy pomelo in a chilled soup of mango purée and sago beads — that will help anyone cool off after a long day at the office for sure.

Well-to-do tai-tais like 40-year-old Yew Suet aren’t left out. Together with other ladies who lunch (or sup on tong sui as it were), she prefers desserts that can rejuvenate her beauty. Her favourite bowl has to be the simple water chestnut soup (ma tai lo) as the crunchy water chestnuts, besides replenishing her loveliness, has anti-bacterial properties.

Charcoal-hued black sesame soup (ji ma woo) (left). The rather unusual green bean soup with kelp (hoi tai mou lok dao tong) (right).

Creamy and nutty sweet walnut soup (hup tol woo) (left). Sweet potato and ginger soup with glutinous rice balls (giong jap fan shu tong yuen) will warm you up on rainy days (right).

More unusual is the hoi tai mou lok dao tong or green bean soup with nutritious and mineral-rich kelp; the gelatin-like texture of the strands of seaweed add a lovely bite. And what could be more luxurious than snow pear soup with peach gum and ginseng (pao sam tou gao dan shuet lei). The peach gum, referred to by the Cantonese as "the tears of peach blossom”, is full of collagen for wrinkle-free skin.

Lovers of old-fashioned tong sui such as 56-year-old Fan Yat Gong retire early, such as those during the flush decade of 1980s Hong Kong. Sipping fine teas in teahouses and fanning themselves while their cages of songbirds ring with avian melody, theirs is a life of leisure.

Vintage posters doubling as wallpaper.

Be it an unctuous, charcoal-hued bowl of black sesame soup (ji ma woo) or a creamy and nutty sweet walnut soup (hup tol woo), a tong sui ought to be smooth and rich. And as one ages, what’s better than warming sweet potato and ginger soup with glutinous rice balls (giong jap fan shu tong yuen), especially when the weather gets chilly or when one is down with a cold?

Who knew tong sui could track one’s journey through life, from the blooms of youth to the wisdom of the experienced? There’s a bowl for every palate and one for every life.

深夜食糖 SYST Shop 25, 1st Floor, Holiday Villa, 260 Jalan Dato’ Sulaiman, Taman Abad, Johor Baru Open daily 6pm - 2am www.facebook.com/systhv