Tai Cheong Bakery opens Cha Chaan Teng in Holland Village

Oh how I miss Hong Kong so so so much! It's always so exciting to go to Hong Kong as there's just an endless supply of good food. It's pretty much Singapore's version in the Northern part of Asia.

One thing though that I never really got around to doing when in Hong Kong is to have breakfast at a cha chaan teng. This is because of two things: Paul and I rarely get to wake up really early to make it to breakfast or if ever we're up and ready for breakfast, we would always go for congee instead -- one thing that the both of us grew up having during our respective trips to Hong Kong when we were kids.

So, when I heard the great news that Tai Cheong Bakery finally opened a full-serviced cha chaan teng restaurant in Holland Village, I didn't missed the opportunity to check it out. By the way, cha chaan teng means Hong Kong-style teahouse and it's known to served buttered toasts and the very traditional macaroni with luncheon meat soup. Remember how much I loved their egg tarts? Well, it's just such happy news to know that there's more dishes to try and hopefully rave about. In fact, there are three egg tarts flavors available here! More about that later.



For starters, we had a bowl of Three Egg Macaroni Soup with Luncheon Meat (S$8.50), a cha chaan teng classic and now I know why it's so popular! I love the comforting feel of enjoying spoonfuls of elbow macaroni, fried luncheon meat strips, tomato-based soup and three (yes, three) sunny-side-up eggs. It's interesting how the tomato soup could perk up the taste of this dish complementing the egg and luncheon meat too. It's a very simple dish but definitely one that I will go back to Tai Cheong Bakeryfor.

Next, we had the Three Coloured Silky Eggs with Rice (S$9.90), it's a huge plate of three-egg omelette topped with roasted pork and crispy pork belly. If you want a different combination, there's also one with Roasted Pork & Prawns and Roasted Pork & Beef. I'll most likely get the one with pork and prawns on my next visit. If you notice, Hong Kong cha chaan teng dishes are very simple but being simple doesn't mean the taste is mediocre. In fact, this is the second dish that got us raving about Tai Cheong Bakery. After all, you'll never go wrong with eggs (lots of it), rice and pork. Not to mention that it's so reasonably priced too!

Now this is one dish that I love about Hong Kong cafe food -- curry! While we get a lot of curry dishes here in Singapore, Hong Kong style curry is definitely less spicy and more creamy...just the way I love it. We tried the Beef Brisket Curry Rice (S$10.90) which is 120g of fork-tender beef brisket and potatoes cooked in a creamy curry sauce and served with rice. While the serving was quite generous, I think I can easily consume this all on my own as it's just so yummy! There's also a chicken version but I think I'm sticking to beef for this one. I love this so much that my stomach is literally growling as I type this definitely not a good idea to be blogging and imagining it at this hour. :-/

If you're at Tai Cheong Bakery for brunch or afternoon tea and would like something lighter, then you have to try the Scrambled Egg Toast Stack with Chicken Chop (S$9.50) it's a sandwich-like masterpiece with a thick piece of juicy chicken chop in between two slices of buttered toast, three-egg scrambled and drizzled with mushroom sauce. I loved the sauce! In fact, I found myself mopping up the sauce with my toast as I didn't want any of it to go to waste. It's amazing how the bread was crustless and it's just so soft and fluffy!

We also tried the French Toast (S$6.50) which is a thick slice of bread drizzled with your choice of maple syrup or dulce de leche. I recommend that you eat this quick as it's best enjoyed hot.

For dessert, of course we had Tai Cheong Signature Egg Tarts! Hooray! Aside from the Original (S$1.90) flavored one, we had the Coconut Tart (S$2.50) and the localized Durian & Cheese Tart (S$3.60). I'm a durian fan so I might sound biased but the Durian & Cheese was my favorite among the three. It's unique and the sweet durian flavor went very well with the slightly salty kick from the cheese filling. This flavor is unique only to the Holland Village outlet so it's one thing you shouldn't miss when you're here. Be sure to grab a box on your way out to enjoy at home! Do note though that there's a limit of 16 pieces per customer as they can only bake a limited amount of tarts per day.

I really had a great time visiting Tai Cheong Bakery's Cha Chaan Teng for the first time and I'll surely be back for more! I just love that the dishes were priced so reasonably and guess what, it's free of service charge too.

Check out Tai Cheong Bakery at 31 Lorong Liput, Singapore 277742. Unfortunately, reservations are not allowed so be sure to head there early as seating will be on a first-come-first serve basis.