No need to say much, everybody loves desserts! Local desserts are no different from those elsewhere. Eaten after food, sometimes, like a pan cake, it is a meal. It's a word that makes everyone smile with a sparkle in our eyes!
Dessert
Mar 2021
Undoubtedly the best pancakes in town!
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With franchises all over, Granny’s Pancake proudly started here.
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Next question, what type of pancake? This is the traditional “mee jian kueh”, used to be a simple road side dish made with flour, butter and peanut on top heated on a pan; it is then folded over so it’s a foldover or a turnover, with peanut embedded on the softer inner fold. This is similar to Apom in Malaysia.
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Growing up eating the crispy apom made by a nearby roadside stall uncle, I never fancied the softer ones here and the apom is the first thing I head for whenever I go back home. Sadly, the uncle was forced into retirement, by his working daughters. Thankfully, the boss’s relatives stay near Ghim Moh and they introduced this as a replacement, it is a worthy replacement!
The choices here are simple, coconut, red bean, peanut, or peanut + peanut butter. If you go for the peanut, there is little reason not to go for the peanut butter, it gives the pancake a ten fold bounce. The peanut is only "nice", adding the peanut butter though, gives it a creamy rich and umami taste, the difference is a "sparkle in the eye" feel… The difference between the ones here and those in Malaysia is a nice piece of butter in it, the peanut butter here picks up the lack of butter quite well.
I could just stop here, the peanut + peanut butter is just the bombs. I don’t like the texture of coconut flakes so that doesn’t work for me, red bean is also never my favourite. Peanut always goes well with a Chinese pancake, go adding the peanut butter is just genius in simplicity.
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To say that adding peanut butter was simply genius, is just too simple a commend. I am very sure the effort that went behind the recipe to come up with the pancake had been enormous too. The pancake's texture is nice and soft, especially when it’s fresh out of the oven, it practically melts in your mouth; tastes delicious by itself too. You also get the peanut butter slightly melted, which is heavenly.
Other outlets can be found in Hong Lim, Toa Payoh Lorong 7, Bendemeer, Bedok Reservoir Blk 630 and Teban Gardens.
Granny's Pancake @ Bendemeer
@ Hong Lim
Granny’s Pancake
20 Ghim Moh Road, #01-52 Ghim Moh Road Market & Food Centre , s270020
Daily 530am – 4pm
​Desserts, Milk Pudding, Chee Cheong Fun
Dec 2020
Excellent Chinese desserts, and the best chee cheong fun in town!
Tucked away along the side of The Flow@East Coast, facing the main entrance to Indigo Hotel and Holiday Inn, this place is invisible as you go through the main East Coast Road, which is a pity as it is quite a nice place.
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Nice decorations, with a loft on top of the kitchen, this place screams cozy, furnished by old school sofas and Chinese wooden stools and table, it is nice despite the obvious replicas rather than real vintage stuff.
They serve an array of Chinese desserts like milk pudding, mango sago, herbal jelly, sagos, glass jelly, glutinous rice balls, some fruit milk teas and their signature milk + ginger dessert, and a scrumptuous chee cheong fun! The desserts come plain, or you can add some fruits or ginko nuts etc.
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The milk pudding had a nice texture, smooth and soft, very easy to like, with a bit of a mily aftertaste (duh?), which I did not really like. The mango sago was rich and sweet, flavourful, when I had that, I just continued enjoying whilst my company chatted away complementing, no time to waste on good food!
The “clash milk’, or milk plus ginger, is something I believe one must try. Ginger has never been a personal favourite of mine so it took me a few visits before I took the plunge, despite friends and family raving about it. It’s actually no surprise that I found it brilliant! The ginger taste was subtle, as well the milk taste. It felt diluted yet rich, its texture a slight curdle of milk. After a few slurps with the tiny spoon provided, I decided to drink straight off the bowl! I think they should provide the Chinese soup spoon instead of the metal teaspoon… bigger gulps...
Despite the brilliance of their dessert, the best thing on offer here is actually their chee cheong fun! You have a choice of sweet or savoury ccf, savoury would be just soy sauce, oil and sesame seeds. The sweet version comes with a very tasty sweet sauce, and subtle chilli sauce with fragrant sesame oil. Being a big ccf fan, I find this the best I’ve tasted. The fragrance of the sesame oil goes very well with the sweet sauce, it is umami to the max too. This is the item I must order whenever I visit. In fact, whenever this place is mentioned, it’s the first thing I think about! 10/10 for the ccf, 9/10 for the rest…. Maybe it’s 11/10 for the ccf….
With such a variety of desserts on offer, there is bound to be something for everyone here, if it still does not fit your taste, go for the mighty ccf!
A new outlet has opened at Maxwell, good for a stopover while visiting Chinatown! We learned from the staff at this place that when the milk pudding is ready, the spoon would float on it!
Other items available on the below, photos below.
Sago Milk with Papya
Glutinous Balls in Ginger
Double Layered Milk Pudding with Almond
Jin Yu Man Tang Dessert Shop
66 East Coast Road, #01-03 The Flow@East Coast, s428778: Daily 1130am – 1030pm
291 South Bridge Road, s058836: 12 - 10pm, closed on Mondays
​Banana Fritters
May 2021
Marvellous banana fritters plus other vegetable fritters! Excellentest!
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I remember I loved the banana fritters here, so been wanting to do a review, however, on recent visits, I haven’t seen them operating at all, and I have been here at all hours. Fortunately, I managed to catch them operating one day, found out that health issues meant that they only operate when they are feeling well; and they would update their facebook page on operating hours.
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*March 2022 update, been here twice and they are open both days. Looks like operations have normalised.
The batter here is exceptional, very crispy and flaky, it makes an very nice crunchy sound when eaten. This texture I have been able to find elsewhere, but its flavour is something else. It has a very unique cereal flavour, goes very well with the texture, and feels like it is connected to the texture as it comes out with each crunch. The experience can be unique and the reason I love this so much.
The banana fritters here remain my favourite, they use ripened banana that is soft and sweet. They have bananas of 3-4 sizes to choose from most days.
Banana split....
Same batter is used on various other vegetables like sweet potato, tapioca, enoki mushrooms, green bean paste, rice cake, jack fruits and even cheese toasts.
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I have not been able to choose one that I don’t really like, except for those where the basic fruit is not what I fancy like the jack fruit, or green bean. Somehow, I still like the ones here!
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The wonderful taste of the batter being the common denominator, we can say that anything here is nice. Indeed, this batter mixes well with every item here.
Clockwise from left: sweet potato, enoki mushroom banana and banana
Kee’s Crispy Goreng Pisang
505 Beach Road, #B1-36 Golden Mile Food Centre, s199583
11am – 330pm, closed on Tues. For operating hours, please check FB
https://www.facebook.com/Kees-Crispy-Goreng-Pisang-2381809832045003/
​Dessert
Aug 2020
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Chendol specialist, sells just 4 different types of chendol. Seldom has a q but this stall moves its chendol! You can have plain chendol, or have it with red bean, sweet corn or durian.
The basic chendol has 4 ingredients, the coconut milk would not differ much amongst the various proprietors; this stall gives you the tastiest gula Melaka black coconut sugar), the softest shaved ice, and absolutely delicious chendol (green strips of flour jelly). You can feel the full bodied taste of the gula Melaka with the coconut milk, as you gently scoop spoonfuls out of the finely shaved ice, then you choose how much chendol you want with which spoonful of shaved ice….
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The gula Melaka and chendol here are not easy to beat, so far they are heads above the rest.
Has another outlet at Redhill Market, and various other hawker centres (please refer to their FB for outlet details), please don’t be like my Malaysian cousin who loves this so much she travelled from Jurong, going past Redhill, to have her chendol fix at Old Airport…. And they ran out of gula Melaka earlier than usual that evening….
Nyonya Chendol
- 51 Old Airport Road, #01-115 Old Airport Road Hawker Centre
- 51 Upper Bukit Timah Road, #02-147 Bukit Timah Market & Hawker Centre, s588215
- 91 Whampoa Drive, #01-17 Whampoa Food Centre, s320091
- 85 Redhill Lane, #01-57 Redhill Food Centre, s150085 (closed at 730pm)
- 105 Yishun Ring Road, #01-162 Chong Pang Food Centre, s760105
10am – 10pm Closed on Thu (or when sold out, more reliable to refer to their timings below)
https://www.facebook.com/nonyachendol/
Branch and Opening Hours details: https://www.facebook.com/nonyachendol/posts/our-outlet-locations01-115-old-airport-road-food-centre1030am-10pm02-147-bukit-t/164274267559430/
​Dessert/Muffin
​Aug 2020
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Uggli but delicious!
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Anton, the owner of the stall, is a friendly and cheerful guy, offering Muffins to queuing customers while we wait; and if he noticed that you have to give up, he’d offer you one too, one for each in the group if not alone! At least on the day I was there he did... Cheerful and talkative, he liked a banter or two, threatened to scald me with his fresh from oven hot tray, then said my reaction was fast, I told him the way he moved my pet turtle Freeze could have avoided it….
Some of his muffins are indeed ugly. Not saying dark is ugly (I personally prefer things of a darker shade, I’d stamp on my new shoes to add a bit of “age”, or edge, to it…), especially the Oreo muffin. With Oreos sticking out, it’s like it has teeth sticking out at the sides.
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The muffins go in looking cheesy and buttery, but they all leave the oven dark. Initially I thought he made only chocolate muffins! This is his style, burnt just nice, the crust and top is crunchy but the inside is soft and buttery. Hence the joy of this uggli buggers!
Banana Walnut
I have not found a particular flavour that I like best, as his muffins are basically tastefully buttery… each flavour adds just the subtle difference and they are all good compliments to the muffin.
The Oreo
There can be a q waiting for your turn and it all depends on how much each one in the q orders. Each load into the Oven is about 100 muffins, and takes about 10 mins to bake.
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Please pardon the pictures of him as he was not prepared, telling me he was not properly dressed. I promised to bring along a tie for him the next time I visit…
Left: Chocolate; Right: Free bite sample
Uggli Muffins
#02-34, 10am – 6pm, closed on Mon
Indian Dessert
Nov 2022
Appam is basically an Indian crepe… there are savoury or sweet options too, just like the crepe.
First… Mr Appam is quite a misleading name, nothing here is as it seems. The owner is actually a lady of Vietnamese heritage, without any Indian relatives or connections!
Legend has it that she mistakenly bid for this stall to sell Vietnamnese food without realising it was demarcated for Indian Muslim food. With not much options and the help of friends, she studied the art of making appams. Well, she learnt well!
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The appams here are beautifully and perfectly made, and quite a sight too! Crispy thin with a good bite, it is very easy to like its texture. This is not soft like the crepe. However, besides texture, the appam is essentially not the tastiest. Just a little bit sour probably from the flour used as per tradition. This reminds me why I don’t really like the Indian appam.
Even when I ordered the ham and cheese appam, the savoury from the ham and cheese could not complement the appam. In terms of a pancake, I still would prefer the Chinese type.
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Despite this, I will somehow come back for a bite! It has some kind of attraction, and you might appreciate it a lot more than me. I’m sure many out there do not think like me and Madam Appam has a thriving business, as there is sometimes a Q for her appams!
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Mr Appam
1 Kadayanallur St, #01-99 Maxwell Food Centre, S069184
8am – 8pm, closed on Tue