Hey Hive!
Now that it's been quite a while since Singapore has has been out of lockdown, or what our government has termed "circuit breaker", restaurants have been operating pretty much as usual aside from implementing safe distancing measures. We've also been eating out more and trying new places!
And one of these new places is Joy Luck Teahouse!
Sean and I went out on a date the other day and wanted to get a snack for brunch so we decided to try this new stall in the mall!
Joy Luck Teahouse specialises in Hong Kong delicacies and drinks such as their famous egg tarts, Hong Kong Milk Tea and fragrant Pineapple Buns - all of which are part of the UNESCO Hong Kong Cultural Heritage List!
It was founded by Singapore-born TV producer, Robert Chua, who is known for creating Hong Kong's popular TVB variety show "Enjoy Yourself Tonight". Since then he's ventured into the F&B industry to share his love for HK foods, introducing the world to HK dim sum and roast foods, bringing the Michelin-starred dim sum brand Tim Ho Wan and Kam's Roast Goose to Singapore.
The branches of Joy Luck Teahouse are just standalone stores, so all orders are to-go only and they don't have any seating areas. Their kitchen is also entirely open-concept so you can actually see the pastries getting made on the spot, and you can smell the heavenly aroma of freshly baked goods every time a new batch is ready.
Here's the snack menu! It's a little pricier than other bakeries' egg tarts, but since this was supposed to be authentic HK egg tarts I guess it's reasonable.
Apparently there was also a new product that was just released - chee cheong fun with dried scallop! For those unfamiliar, chee cheong fun is a Cantonese rice noodle roll that is commonly a variety of dim sum. It's typically filled with shrimp, beef, pork, vegetables or some other ingredient, and is accompanied by some sweet sauce.
Seeing all those egg tarts made me hungry so we decided to get a box of 4 and mixed the pastry and cookie types together and ordered 2 of each. And after about 10 minutes or so, our order was ready - hot and oven fresh!
Here's the box!
And here are the delicious tarts we ordered - just waiting to be eaten!
They looked so goood! And perfectly golden-yellow!
I might've gotten too excited and hungry to take a picture of the pastry egg tart, but it was really good! The crust was the perfect balance of crisp and soft; it held pretty well even after taking a bite and didn't crumble like some other tarts I've tried. The egg custard was also excellent; just the right amount of sweetness with that nice jelly-like texture. It definitely live up to the HK tradition imo.
And this was the cookie egg tart! The crust was definitely a lot thicker than the pastry one, and I think this is more similar to the famous Portugese egg tart, but without the creme brulee-like top on the egg custard.
This crust was definitely drier than the pastry tart, and it was still alright, but I felt like the crust kinda overpowered the egg custard a little bit. The ratio of crust to egg custard might've been a little too much for me. But if you're a fan of thick crust you'd probably enjoy this more than me.
Sean was also curious about the chee cheong fun that was promoted, so we decided to try that too! I think it provided a nice balance of sweet to savoury as well. And this also came to us hot and fresh!
Now chee cheong fun isn't usually cut up like this; it's typically served as a long thin roll but since this is a takeaway order, I'm glad they thought to cut it up to make it easier to eat, especially since there were no seats nearby and we had to eat standing up.
The chee cheong fun was quite nice, but I would say nothing much to brag about. I mean it's a pretty simple snack, and there's not much you can change about it. Plus it was a little plain without filling, but the sauce was good though! It was a little bit more on the spicy side rather than sweet, which I actually prefer, but with the high temperature it made it a little too hot. But it was still a nice snack nonetheless.
Overall, I'd say the pastry egg tarts were definitely the best! I have yet to try their buns though, but I'm not too big a fan of those anyway so I'm not sure if I will. But if you're ever in the mood for some authentic HK snacks and are looking for a fix, Joy Luck Teahouse has got your back! They currently have five outlets in Singapore in the East, Central and North so go check them out!
Thanks so much for reading!
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And you are teasing me again with these delicious looking tarts ๐
haha they are really yummy tho! ๐
Egg tarts are like heaven! One of my fav tarts!
same here! I love egg tarts!
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The teahouse look like a nice place, good luck that in Singapore it's out of the lockdown. Here in Tuscany we are in a high lockdown since the middle of February, I miss eating on a restaurant ๐ญ
oh man sorry to hear that! Hope the situation improves soon! ๐