Monday, August 16, 2021

Ji Xiang Confectionery - Traditional Ang Ku Kueh @ Everton Park (Near Outram MRT Station) [Singapore]

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon and while I would be better off staying put in the air-conditioned environment at home; I made the decision to venture downtown just to satisfy a craving.

Here we are; the old, quiet estate that's right across the award winning Pinnacle@Duxton. While this area, known as Everton Park, is considered as Singapore's downtown, its vibe was noticeably different, with a slower pace in life.

My craving that day; the ang ku kueh from Ji Xiang Confectionery! 

A good explanation of what ang ku kueh means and don't you find it old school to have a handwritten notice?! People like me with terrible handwriting have to make do with computer fonts and a printer! 

Taking up about two shopfronts on the ground floor of public housing block, Ji Xiang Confectionery's modus operandi towards customers is concentrated right in front. You order, they pick up what you want, you pay (using cash / via PayNow etc) and off you go.

Sadly, sale was limited to just two flavours; sweet bean paste and peanuts. The saving grace is that both are traditional flavours that I have always enjoyed since young. According to the staff on duty, other flavours are available on weekdays. 

My box of six ang ku kuehs; three pieces with sweet bean paste filling and two pieces with peanut filling! p.s. the flavours are synonymous with the fillings as the latter provides much of the taste. 

Though both were red, it's not difficult to pick out the flavours since the peanut filling had a mucher darker shade as compared to the sweet bean paste. 

Let's start with my favourite; sweet bean paste filling! It's interesting to note that in my younger days, I would only go for peanuts and couldn't why the adults mostly prefer bean paste! 

Look at how flexible the dough was! 

This was delicious and definitely worthy of the title as the best ang ku kueh in Singapore; the dough was obviously a winner for its thin, soft yet stretchy touch that amazingly didn't stick to my teeth! Filling was smooth and mushy with a sweetness that wasn't excessive! For me, this is better than Poh Cheu Ang Ku Kueh.

Peanut was drier and again, it wasn't overly sweet. While the dough was the same kind used for bean paste, my personal preference would still go with the sweet bean paste filling. 

Done! Wait, while I was done with the current batch, the post hasn't ended yet. A week after my hot and sweaty afternoon expedition, I was at Ji Xiang again! Excuse was that I am closer given my staycation at Marina Bay Sands and my mum requested for ang ku kuehs for her prayers. 

Being a good son, I  agreed and took the opportunity to have a morning jog from Marina Bay Sands to Ji Xiang! I arrived earlier at about 10.45 am and was shocked to find a pretty long queue! This was on a Monday morning, by the way.

An unused stainless steel pot for sale; actually quite a good deal for S$30.00! Frankly, I do bake occasionally but I have never attempted local kuehs which are generally steamed and the pot would have been handy.

Managed to secure all the flavours; aside from sweet bean paste and peanuts, the box contained salted bean, corn, coconut and yam ang ku kuehs, although they are not "ang" (which means red)! I actually requested for rainbow ang ku kueh but it turned out that's only available in their affiliated store.

Since I had already written about the sweet bean paste and peanut filling, let's now focus on the rest; salted bean (light brown), corn (yellow), coconut (green) and yam (light purple).

Out of the four, salted bean was the least liked. Corn was interesting although it tasted a bit strange in ang ku kuehs. Coconut was not bad whereas yam would count as my favourite among the lot; yam had a soft texture like orh nee, flavourful and not sweet. 

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Address 
Block 1, Everton Park, 
#01-33, Singapore 081001

Map
As above.

Operating Hours
8.00 am to 5.00 pm
(Closed on Sundays & Public Holidays)

Menu
As above.

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