Poh Cheu Ang Ku Kueh - A Michelin Plate Eatery @ Bukit Merah Lane 1 (Next to Alexandra Village Hawker Centre) #michelin

Ang Ku Kueh is a traditional Chinese cake made to look like a tortoise shell; hence the name that translates to red tortoise cake, although it can appear in colors other than the customary red regarded as auspicious by Chinese. 

I used to have neutral feeling towards it when I was a child but now that I am older, it's a snack I have grown to enjoy, to the extent of going the extra distance to get my hands on delicious ang ku kueh; as I did last week to Poh Cheu at a coffee shop next to Alexandra Village Hawker Centre. 

It's a fact that Poh Cheu commands a loyal following but this was 3.00 pm during phase 2 (heightened alert); totally didn't expect a queue of almost ten persons in front of me! Well, the draw of a Michelin Plate eatery. 

Fortunately, the order taker was a veteran and the queue cleared pretty quickly. The ball was then thrown to me and it's a dilemma deciding what to have, with 11 flavours (1 was already out) of  ang ku kueh to choose from! 

The above was one of FOUR boxes of ang ku kueh. Although Poh Cheu also offers other old-school food like soon kueh, ku cai kueh, glutinuous rice, rice cake and abacus seeds, I think I am good with just ang ku kueh. The rest, if purchaed, would burst my carbohydrate intake for the next few days. 

Compared to its competitors, the ang ku kuehs from Poh Cheu were renowned from being bite-sized yet contained a generous amount of filling; it's satisfaction max when you pop one into your mouth! 

Traditional ang ku kueh came in just peanut or green bean paste and the two were the kind I enjoyed the most, with the latter be a favourite on a higher rung. To cater to the younger generation, more flavours were introduced over the years with the current 12 for visitors to choose from. 

I got a few to try and as you can see, they were a visual feast with the different colors. What I ordered, in addition to peanuts and green bean paste, were coconut, mango, yam, black sesame, green tea, salted tau sar, and durian. 

Cutting them into halves as I absolutely can't stomach a whole ang ku kueh so many times! In a nutshell, peanut was solidly delicious, the coconut wasn't too sweet, mango was interesting as I thought I was biting into a mochi, yam was good (didn't feel too cloying), black sesame was alright, salted tar sar would be better in pastry form, green tea had that bitter aftertaste I don't like and durian was surprisingly not bad (stank my fridge though).

Too much dough and I had to stop. Some of the flavours did taste a bit like mochi given the stretchy dough; it didn't stick to the teeth too which was a great thing but was a bit too thick for me. Nevertheless, I am going to stick to my traditional green bean paste and peanuts for future purchases.

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Address

127 Bukit Merah Lane 1, 

#01-222, Singapore 150127

Map

As above.

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Ang Ku Kueh (Assorted) - S$1.20 apiece.