Hey Hive!
Now that a lot of people here have already gotten vaccinated, I'm very happy to hear that Singapore is now allowing in-house dining again, but up to 2 people and obviously you have to be vaccinated. However, we're still trying to stay safe and limiting our time out to be safe.
So about 2 months ago, Sean and I went to get our hair cut at our usual place and then went out for a date in the city! It was a fun time and we also got to see my favourite We Bare Bears!
We had a good time and while we didn't get to enjoy the Christmas lights since it wasn't nighttime yet, we enjoyed ourselves a lot just walking around admiring the decorations.
Eventually we got hungry for a snack and we came across this cute little bakery in Takashimaya, which is a huge Japanese department store here in Singapore! They carry a wide range of products from household goods, electronics to apparel and fashion accessories. But the basement floor of the store is also known as the food hall since it's full of stalls! Some of them are little bistros with seating but most of them are takeaway only.
Just like the bakery we found called Tai Cheong Bakery!
The stall itself is actually quite small, but it's in the corner right where the entrance/exit is in the basement so you can't miss it! And if you do, the wafting aroma of pastries will attract any hungry soul that passes by.
There was quite a line at the shop so we got curious and we saw that they had egg tarts, which are definitely one of my favourite kinds of pastries!
Here's their menu! They also have a variety of different pies, buns and cakes! They also had different flavoured tarts but since we've never tried this shop before we stuck to the regular egg tart to see if it was good.
Most of their goods are presented in a display case so you can see what they look like and what you're gonna get:
We were afraid there weren't any egg tarts left though but we could smell that they were baking more as we waited in line!
About 15 minutes later, we got our 2 egg tarts and they were warm too! We were so excited to dig in and try them!
I was glad that these weren't the flaky egg tarts so the crust could support the custard pretty well, but we were still fragile with them.
And they were absolutely delicious! The egg custard was perfect in its consistency and the taste wasn't too sweet. The crust was amazing too; with its buttery and had a slight sugary crunch to it but wasn't dry at all. And I love that it was warm and freshly baked! We got really lucky on that. But even if it wasn't it was still very yummy and probably one of the best egg tarts I've ever had!
Even after 1 bite the tart was still intact and remained its shape, which is not something I can say for most other egg tarts I've eaten.
Turns out Tai Cheong Bakery is one of the most historic bakeries in Hong Kong! It started in 1954 by the uncle of an egg tart master Au Yeung who pioneered the cookie crust for egg tarts, using the techniques he learned from baking cakes in hotels. Tai Cheong soon gained popularity with locals and foreginers alike and now they have quite a few stalls in Singapore too! (Source: Tai Cheong)
I can definitely see why they say the cookie crust is a pioneer invention for egg tarts since it makes it so unique. I'm a huge fan of cookie crusts, especially on softer pastries like cream puffs or tarts to give it a contrast to the softer filling, so this was what set it apart from other bakeries for me for sure!
Since then we've actually eaten their tarts another time, when Seany bought some back. He bought 2 egg tarts and 2 pandan tarts for us to share and they were just as delicious!
He kept them in the fridge for a while so we tried air frying them for a little bit to warm them up and the crust was just as crispy as if they came out straight from the oven!
You can see that soft jelly-like texture of the custard still remains even as I cut it into quarters. The pandan tart was actually really yummy too! I think it must be unique to the Singapore branches since you hardly find pandan stuff in HK, so I like that they cater to local tastes as well. They did a great job since you can taste the pandan and it meshes perfectly with the custard.
Overall, a very perfect snack and dessert! If you're a fan of pastries like I am, definitely try out Tai Cheong Bakery!
Thanks so much for reading!
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