Loong Fatt Tau Sar Piah 龍發豆沙饼 [Sweet or Salty] @ Loong Fatt Eating House & Confectionery along Balestier Road

Balestier Road, known as Whampoa for many of the older generation, is well known for one snack - Tau Sar Piah (豆沙饼); translated literally as Bean Paste Biscuit.

Within a short stretch of a few hundred meters, you can find no less than five shops selling this popular Chinese snack. Despite the stiff competition, one shop especially stands out from the others. 

It has a queue!

Established since 1948, Loong Fatt (龍發) has maintained in having only one shop to control the quality in baking this hand-made Teochew biscuit.

Mom is a sucker for tau sar piah and would always buy a few boxes from Balestier where she prays at the ancient Goh Chor Tua Pek Kong. She tried enough to eventually narrow her selection to only 639 [due to the fame of tau sar piah in the area, the unit number is commonly used to differentiate shops like 611, 633 etc].

Loong Fatt does sell other food items but i guess it is more appropriate to touch on their signature tau sar piah in this post. Depending on individuals, you can choose from two basic types of tau sar piah; salty (咸) or sweet (甜).

Salty (咸)

The traditional and easily the favourite type of my mom's generation.

Besides the savoury bean paste that continually persuades you to give it another bite, the key feature that sets Loong Fatt apart from the others is the flaky pastry skin; it is of the right thickness and commands a fluffiness that you could almost miss its existence.

Sweet (甜)

The one popular with the young; with the exception of me (who happens to be the eldest), the rest of the Gang of Four totally preferred the sweet tau sar piah.

It's not difficult to separate the sweet from the salty - the sweet tau sar piah has the obvious sesame seeds outside and the paste also looks darker! And as the name suggests, the taste is almost like the salty tau sar piah, albeit with a sweeter aftertaste.

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Kon and I had a discussion on whether there is any difference in the dough used to make the pastry of the sweet and salty. And there's no better person than to ask the staff themselves!

Answer: The dough for both types of tau sar piah is the same! Even though sesame seeds appeared on the outside of the "sweet", they were also included in the making of the "salty" bean paste.

Location

639 Balestier Road

Price

Salty Tau Sar Piah - S$0.60 each

Sweet Tau Sar Piah - S$0.60 each

[Boxes charged separately for takeaway]

Additional Information

No operation on Sunday but do note the shop might also close early on really good days when the tau sar piah is sold out. And from experience, it can close as early as 3pm.

Call 6253-4584 to avoid disappointment!