I have got to know Poh Guan Cake Shop through recommendation from my mother in law. Just recently, she had bought some Tau Sa Piah and chewy peanut texture kueh (never tried this before) for my hubby and me to try. To be honest, nowadays the younger generation will prefer western cakes over traditional Chinese pastries for tea break snacks. For us, we will not intentionally go and buy Chinese pastries for afternoon snack unless we are buying them back as souvenirs from Malaysia or Hong Kong. The only time I thought of having Chinese pastries is Moon Cake festival where I will buy Teochew moon cake for my parents. Perhaps, we had tried others Tau Sa Piah locally and the filling is quite sweet, heavy and therefore not to our liking.
My mother in law had eagerly asked us to try the Tau Sa Piah that she had bought us. Curious on how it will taste like, we had tried them after our dinner. Taking the first bite of the Tau Sa Piah, our eyes had brighten up. The filling is not too sweet and the crust is flaky and light. We were surprised at how good it taste! Next we tried the chewy peanut texture kueh. It has a strong aroma of peanut and I love the crunchy and chewy texture of the peanut kueh. Frog and I had asked her where she had bought the Chinese pastries and she mentioned around Hong Lim Complex and that pastries shop had over 80 years of history.
Hence the following Saturday, we had made our way to look for the traditional Chinese pastries shop located in Chinatown.
Poh Guan Cake House being the 3rd generation, continue to embrace the traditional recipe to make delicious Chinese pastries. The cake house is located along one of the shop houses of Hong Lim Complex.
Only not Tau Sa Piah, Poh Guan cake shop has everything from 老婆饼, Beh Teh Soh, variety of kueh (Huat kueh etc), moon cakes and sticky chewy peanut kueh. Poh Guan Cake Shop has been making traditional Chinese pastries since 1930.The bright pink coloured buns (on the left side of the above picture) are Longevity buns/Shoutao/Shou Bao in their various names. These buns are traditionally made in the shape and color of a peach which are served in Chinese celebrations. Longevity buns symbolise health and longevity, a popular traditional bun served at birthdays or other auspicious moments.
Freshly baked Beh Teh Soh just out from the oven!
The crust is flaky and the filling is not too sweet. Both frog and I love the Beh Teh Soh as well.
They have expanded the product range to include Teochew, Hainanese, Cantonese and Nyonya pastries. As you can see from the above pictures, the prices of the different flavor Tau Sa Piah and 老婆饼 are affordable.
I can still remembered on some days my Mom will steam Chinese steam egg cake or colourful steamed cakes for breakfast in our younger days. They are both my favorite Chinese kuehs! For the colourful steam cakes, I will definitely choose pink or green as they are my favorite colours. These really bring back a lot of memory. Oh gosh, am I getting older?
Are you tempted to try out these Chinese traditional cakes, kuehs or pastries?
This is neither a sponsored post nor advertorial post.This is just an article to share and reminisce traditional food or pastries in Singapore.
Poh Guan Cake House 华人传统饼家 – 宝源饼家
Blk 531 Up Cross St #01-57 Hong Lim Complex S(050531).