When I come to Bukit Timah hawker centre, two stalls come to mind. One, the Teochew fish soup and second, the chai tow kueh (fried carrot cake). There's a chai tou kueh stall by a father and son team where I always ate and ta-bao (takeaway) in the 1980s.
I don't know the name of the stall - in the old days, we just know our favourite stalls by location (is it just me? 😬 ). This was "Bukit Timah chai tow kway" but their actual name is He Zhong Carrot Cake (I found out today, 40 years later 😛 ). I was thrilled that the stall is still around today 😯
Stall name: He Zhong Carrot Cake 合众菜头果
Address: 51 Upper Bukit Timah Road, stall #02-185, Singapore 588215 (Bukit Timah Market & Food Centre)
Nearest MRT: 3 minutes walk from Beauty World station
Tel: 8498 9211
Hours: 6:00am - 8:00pm
I recognised the stallholder. The stall is now run by the son Steven who is in his sixties (like me 😬 ). Steven said he has been frying chai tow kueh for 43 years.
Nothing much changed at He Zhong Carrot Cake except that stall has moved from the fringe (facing the carpark) to the inside.
They still make their own carrot cake from scratch at the stall 💪👍 Most other carrot cake hawkers today just buy their carrot cake from suppliers.
As I was on a food trail, I just ordered the smallest serving. There's quite a lot of carrot cake for $3 (not sure if Steven gave me a bit extra for old time sake). I couldn't contain my excitement when I realised Steven was the young man I met in the 1980s. He has 5 grandchildren now. I still kosong (zero) 😬Five kosong.
The large chunky cubes of carrot cake were tender firm, quite dense, mildly savoury from fish sauce and a bit (not much) of crunchy cai poh (preserved turnip), with sweetness from radish and rice flour. There was some spiciness as I opted for it to be fried with a bit of chili paste which was smeared on top of the eggy slab like a spread.
He Zhong's carrot cake weren't as light, soft and moist as the most popular ones in Singapore now. The beaten eggs, fried till crisp outside, moist inside, wrapped the cubes of carrot cake and enveloped them with a savoury eggy flavour. The fried dish wasn't overly oily at all.
If you too are a fan of Bukit Timah carrot cake, He Zhong is still here!
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