Saturday, July 14, 2012

The Famous Tau Kwa Pau [豆干包] @ Mary's Corner, Ali Baba Eating House (Joo Chiat)

"Famous Tau Kwa Pau" - this tagline had always attracted my attention whenever i passed by the corner coffee shop located opposite the old Katong Mall. 

However, i never did have the chance to try this unique fare despite knowing its existence for more than six years! For one, tau kwa (dry bean curd) has never been one of the things i enjoyed eating before i turned 30!

There was a change in the name of the coffee shop after a recent renovation and it is now known strangely as Ali Baba Coffee Shop; none of the stalls offers any Middle Eastern or Arabian cuisine! 

Not that it mattered since our main purpose was to review the only dish sold at Mary's Corner. Yes, you read it right; Mary's Corner sells only Tau Kwa Pau and nothing else.

Put it this way; i was anticipating something.... more glamourous with a bit more vibrancy and come in a bun (pau means bun in Mandarin). But tradition remains.

What makes this dish visually different from a normal deep fried tau kwa are the toppings like diced cucumbers, bits of fish fillets, pieces of hard boiled eggs etc and a lightly flavoured braised sauce. 

Taste wise, it could hardly make a good impression. 

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Location
125 East Coast Road 
[Corner of the busy cross junction intersecting East Coast Road and Joo Chiat Road]

Price
S$5 a plate [with two tau kwas]

2 comments:

  1. Hi everybody. This is not the famous one, the famous one was diagonally opposite it. The owner of this shop is a fraud. And he went as bad as taking over the original one (diagonally opposite) for the last few months posing as the original with the orignal sign. Original one is located at a student hostel now, and its honestly 10000000 times better than that one you posted. Sorry you got cheated.

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    1. Woah!!! that's some serious claim!! Nevertheless, thank you for your clarification! Shall check out the original store and see if it was as good as you have mentioned.

      Once again, thanks!

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