Bukit Merah View Carrot Cake is a legendary 70-year-old stall
“My grandparents started selling carrot cake some 70 years ago, and were later succeeded by my parents,” said Mr Ng. “I’m the third generation of this carrot cake tradition.” Since his family’s business stretched back to before hawker centres were a thing, I was curious to learn how the dish had changed and developed over the years.
“Back in the day, the popular carrot cake looked very different from how it looks now,” Mr Ng explained. “The black and white styles we know today didn’t exist. Carrot cake was deep-fried and sold in triangular pieces for about two cents. Two cents!” A few stalls, such as Chai Chee Cai Tou Guo, still offer such old-school chai tow kway. But they’re no longer widespread, and that’s down to the carrot cake revolution that culminated in the 1980s. “Somewhere along the line, the idea of adding dark soy sauce to cut up pieces of carrot cake caught on. So, white carrot cake was created to provide a healthier, less sweet alternative. By the 80s, most stalls were selling both options.”
Another major change is how the “carrot” component is made. For those who don’t know, fried carrot cake has no carrot at all—it usually consists of shredded radish and rice flour. In the past, hawkers had to mill the rice grains themselves, so for the sake of convenience, most have switched to exclusively using rice flour instead. Not Mr Ng, though.
Fried Carrot Cake
Contrary to its name, there's nary a tinge of orange in the local fried carrot cake, a flavourful dish that comes in the monochrome colours of black or white. Do not confuse this with the dessert carrot cake, a moist cake made with carrot and spices; covered with cream cheese frosting.
This savoury carrot cake has no carrot, at least not of the orange variety. Instead, the core ingredients of the cake are rice flour and white radish, which some call white carrot. The mixture is steamed, then cut into cubes and fried with garlic, eggs and preserved radish called 'chai poh'. Commonly referred to as 'chai tow kway' in the Teochew dialect, these smooth and soft fried rice cakes can be found in almost every hawker centre. It is served black (fried with sweet dark soya sauce) or white (original).
The simple dish has its origins in Southern China’s Chaoshan province. There, it is known as 'chao gao guo' (fried starch cake) which is made mainly with rice flour. Fish sauce and black sweetened soya sauce are used to marinate the rice cake before it is cut and fried with eggs, oysters and prawns. Brought over to Singapore by Teochew immigrants, it was known as 'char kway' (fried rice cake), which was simply cubes of rice cakes fried with dark soya sauce. Teochew hawker Ng Soik Theng claims to be the first to have called this dish 'chai tow kway' in the 1960s when she added white radish to it. Another hawker, Lau Goh, is said to have popularised the white version.
5 Best Fried Carrot Cake in Singapore
and Redhill.
After seeking out some of the best fried carrot cake or chai tow kway around the island, we’ve narrowed down our favourite stalls. For us, a satisfying carrot cake should be well-fried, soft and smooth, but still with a good bite. It should have a balance of flavour, with a touch of ‘wok hei’ alongside welcome crispiness. We also love those versions with a generous portion of egg (fried so well that it forms a golden crust) and a sprinkling of crunchy chai poh or preserved radish.
Most of these stalls are open only in the morning, so make your way there early to avoid disappointment:
- Bee Bee Carrot Cake, 50A Marine Terrace, #01-275
- Good Luck BBQ, Toa Payoh Lorong 8, Block 210, #01-13
- Bee Kee Fried Carrot Cake, Geylang Bahru Food Centre, Block 69, #01-2759
- Ghim Moh Carrot Cake, ABC Brickworks Food Centre Stall 140
- Fu Ming Carrot Cake, Redhill Food Centre, Redhill Lane Block 85, #01-49
Unforgettable Carrot Cake 忘 不 了 萝卜 糕 Chai Tow Kway Stall At Bt Merah View
If you are a regular to Bukit Merah View Food Centre, you should be familiar with Bukit Merah View Carrot Cake, one of the most popular stalls there. The interesting thing about this stall is it has been around for more than 50 years (previously from Clementi).
Two brothers previously took up rotating shifts – one usually in the morning shift, one at night. The morning shift uncle – My Ng Hock Chye who is the young brother, had decided to open his own Carrot Cake stall. Unforgettable Carrot Cake 忘 不 了 萝卜 糕 is located at the back of the food centre at #01-30. It has earned rave reviews among customers, with a 5.0 rating on Google.
While it is unclear exactly why he decided to do so, part of the reason is because the two brothers have different styles of frying, and having his own stall would mean more regular hours and no shift work – better for the health. The friendly uncle and auntie helm the stall, while their sons would help out during peak hours and the weekends. The Carrot Cake comes in $3, $4, or $5, with black and white versions.
BUKIT MERAH VIEW CARROT CAKE: 60-YEAR OLD STALL OPENS TILL 1:30AM
Bukit Merah View Carrot Cake is an esteemed gem in the Bukit Merah neighbourhood that boasts bona fide, delicious fried carrot cake and >60 years of family heritage. It is owned and run by three brothers; two wok masters and one who handles the prep work. Many residents swear by their carrot cake, claiming it to be the best around. Eager to demystify those bold claims, we paid a visit (disclaimer: way before Circuit Breaker) to uncover the hype behind their version of the quintessentially Singaporean snack.
Perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper, these folks operate two shifts a day from as early as 7:30 AM till as late as 1:30 AM daily. At the height of their business, the three brothers would take turns milling the rice by hand. They used a mill made out of granite, transforming the course grounds of rice into a silky smooth liquid which would then be steamed along with diced carrots to form the finished, firm yet pudding-like carrot cake. But as age has caught up, the brothers have turned to other less strenuous means of production. The upside is that the factory that supplies them their carrot cakes still resorts to traditional milling techniques rather than using rice flour.
There’s often debate surrounding fried carrot cake. Is the sweetish black version better or the plain white version? While we generally lean towards the former, we must acknowledge that both versions have their merits and their inferiorities. Eager to unveil the notion that both can be enjoyable despite being drastically different in taste, we ordered both the Black version (S$3) and White (S$3) version. Like any good black carrot cake, theirs comes loaded with generous amounts of fried egg, chopped scallions, chye poh (preserved radish), garlic and copious amounts of sweet black sauce. The carrot cake cubes were nice and soft, bruised and mushy around the edges. But still retained its structure—a clear indication of carrot cake prepared right. Taste-wise, it was impressive. The sweet caramelised exterior possessed a deep charred aroma and the overall mouthfeel, a butt-kicking combo of savouriness and sweetness. The juxtaposition of the white version alongside its sweeter, darker-hued counterpart may seem as though it’s lacking in certain areas. But we assure you it’s just as enticing, if not more! While the sweetness of the black version provided a nice balance to the savoury dish, it tends to overshadow everything else. If fried carrot cake were a pop song, the white version would be the stripped-down, acoustic version of it.
Bukit Merah View Carrot Cake – Carrot Cake Still Made With Freshly Milled Rice!
I’m a big fan of carrot cake, so when I found out that there’s a stall that makes and steams their own radish cakes, I couldn’t be more excited. I mean after all, how many places still mill and make their own carrot cake right! I expectantly headed down to Bukit Merah View Carrot Cake to try it for myself.
When I arrived, I saw the old-school machine used to make the radish cake sitting at the back of the stall. Strangely though, it looked as if it hadn’t been touched in a while (more on that at the end). The stall used to be run by three brothers, now left with two, as one has since left to pursue another career. I met Mr Ng Hock Chye, who mans the stall in the mornings(his brother takes over in the evenings). Each brother has a different style of cooking, so there will also be some differences in the taste of the carrot cake that they whip up. I decided to get both black and white versions ($3, $4, or $5). My first impression was that the carrot cake cubes here are larger than usual, and the serving of egg is more generous. I took a nice big piece for my first bite and was pleasantly surprised by the texture! It was soft, but still slightly firm, and I could actually taste some of the radish flavour when I ate the white version.
I normally go for black carrot cake but, in this case, I think I might prefer the white just a little bit more! The black was slightly sweeter than I’m used to, and I enjoyed tasting the natural flavour of the radish cake in the white version. My favourite part was pairing the cubes that had a more caramelised exterior with the egg! After I finished my meal, I asked Mr Ng about the machine, and if they really make everything in-house. Unfortunately, he told me that they used to do that, but have actually switched over to factory-made carrot cakes recently (which explained why the machine looked untouched). I was slightly disappointed after hearing that, but the owner did mention that unlike many factories that use rice flour, the factory they use mills the rice themselves as well. The texture and flavour is definitely different, and even though there could have been more wok hei, it’s still a pretty good plate of carrot cake. I’ll have it again if I’m in Bukit Merah!
Bukit Merah View Carrot Cake 红 山 景 菜 头 粿
Some dishes can be rather impactful especially when you do not even foresee yourself to be a huge fan, or very much to the extent of going the extra mile just for it. I am definitely a sucker for sweet treats but it is because of health reasons that I try to abstain myself for as much as possible. One of the most recent encounters that I had would be thinking madly & “chasing” after this amazing dish ever since I had it for the very first time. Just a disclaimer, I don’t usually find myself reacting in this manner especially when I have something for the very first time!
It was by chance through an informal gathering with my fellow friends when they ordered it based on some online recommendations. Bukit Merah View Carrot Cake is this exemplary stall that will questions your tastebuds if this is by far the best Carrot cake dish that you have ever tasted? At least for me, this is my latest “addiction” for a local side dish that has surprisingly impacted me as a new fan to be part of the Chai tow kway’s experience!
Not to be regarded as your any other Carrot cake stalls, Bukit Merah View Carrot Cake is probably the last few in Singapore that still maintains the artisanal way of making its ingredients from scratch. With a family’s history of close to 70 years, the current stall owner is one of the three brothers who painstakingly follows according to tradition in adopting the milling technique to mill the key ingredients of broken rice and adding it with hot water to form a starchy mixture. Subsequently, White radish is being added and then steamed, before it is ready for the actual frying. These days, most hawker stalls would skip directly into sourcing for ready-made carrot cake to bypass the labour-intensive process. Indeed, there’s a contrastively difference between handmade and ready-made which is evident by the popularity of this stall for serving up one of the best Carrot cakes.
Bukit Merah View Carrot Cake: The Last Bastion of Tradition!
I never thought I would still be able to eat a REAL Chai Tau Kway (Carrot Cake) in our day and age. There are of course more and more hawkers who are trying to differentiate themselves by steaming their own carrot cakes instead of buying them from the suppliers. But most of these hawkers make their carrot cake from rice flour. What I mean by REAL Chai Tau Kway is when they actually mill the rice themselves to make the Chai Tau Kway.
This 60 year old stall in Bukit Merah View Food Centre is probably the last of its kind in Singapore. In the good old days (I am told, ‘cos the good old days was before I was born), stone mills were a commoner sight. They were used for milling all types of grains from soybeans to make soybean milk, to peanuts to make peanut paste and of course broken rice to make carrot cake. Then of course the factories came into the scene and most of the work of milling was subsequently outsourced. While we were filming for Buzzing Cashier last year for the episode on Carrot Cake, I had the chance to chat with Chef William Soh of Copthorne King’s Hotel. Chef William was the principal chef resposible for helping transform the Carrot Cake stall in Pasir Ris. He taught the stall holders how to steam their own carrot cake. It turns out that he was the ideal man for the job because his family were carrot cake sellers. Chef William was telling me all about how they used to mill broken rice to make carrot cake. I never thought that I would ever get the chance to eat this type of carrot cake at the time!
This stall is run by three brothers. One brother takes the morning shift, one takes the evening shift and the youngest one makes the carrot cake. What they do is to mill the broken rice down to a watery solution. Then hot water is added which cooks the starch, turning it into a paste. Carrots and radishes are then added, poured into a round tray and steamed for four hours! That is quite a lot of work and I am amazed that the brothers are still doing it! Best of all one plate of Chai Tau Kway is still only $2.50!
The Legendary Chai Tow Kway Stall Around Since The 1950s
Bukit Merah View Carrot Cake is a legendary 70-year-old stall
When I first saw Ng Kim Poh on the day of our interview, he was seated idly beside his carrot cake stall, his tired eyes gazing out at nothing in particular. Weariness seemed to lay heavy on the 66-year-old, so I was a little hesitant to approach him, lest I deprive him of a moment of rest.
I did eventually introduce myself, and almost instantaneously, Mr Ng’s eyes took on an alert, steely look. “You’re here for the interview?” he asked in Chinese. Yes, I said, but we would like to have some carrot cake first. He made two plates for my colleague and I, one black and one white. We began snapping pictures of them at our table—but not for long, for as soon as Mr Ng realised what was going on, he stopped us. “You didn’t tell me you were taking pictures. Come, I’ll make even nicer-looking ones for you,” he said, his hands already busy preparing his ideal plate of chai tow kway.
This attention to detail, even for a dish as messily put together as carrot cake, is a large part of why Bukit Merah View Carrot Cake has become such a legendary and long-lived stall—it’s been around since the 1950s, making it one of the oldest of its kind. Mr Ng’s craft stems from traditional techniques that have been passed down from generation to generation, including milling the rice flour for their kway.
Fried Radish Cake 菜头粿
There are two versions of Chai Tow Kway – white and black. I am featuring both, although I personally live for the black version.
I really enjoyed doing up this post because it brought back many happy childhood memories (hence the “old school” feel of my photos). I grew up eating the Chai Tow Kway at Siglap wet market. Those were days when people would BYOE (Bring Your Own Eggs!) for the hawker to fry their Chai Tow Kway with and ate this dish with toothpicks instead of chopsticks or forks.
If you are a child of the 1970s living in eastern Singapore, you will remember this. Ah, nostalgia!
Chai tow kway
Chai tow kway is a common dish or dim sum of Teochew cuisine in Chaoshan, China. It is also popular in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam, consisting of stir-fried cubes of radish cake. It is made with radish cake (steamed rice flour, water, and shredded white daikon), which is then stir-fried with eggs, preserved radish, and other seasonings. The radish cake is often served in large rectangular slabs which are steamed and then later fried whole. Alternatives to chai tow kway include those made of taro or solely of rice flour.
The radish cake can also be eaten on its own, either just steamed, or steamed and then pan-fried, as opposed to the steamed then wok-fried with other ingredients in chai tow kway. Both the steamed and pan-fried varieties are commonly served topped with spring onions. The versions served by hawkers in Johor and Singapore, where Teochew people live, are typically prepared by frying the daikon cake with chopped preserved turnip, diced garlic, eggs, and Chinese fish sauce in place of soya sauce. Chopped spring onion is added just before serving. Northwards (e.g. in Kuala Lumpur), the same dish is darker due to the use of dark soya sauce, and bean sprouts are added. In Singapore, however, it is more commonly cut into pieces and stir fried with eggs, garlic, spring onion and occasionally shrimp (both dried and fresh). There are two variants: the "white" version does not use sweet soy sauce, and the radish cake is fried on top of a beaten egg to form a crust; the "black" version uses sweet sauce (molasses), and the egg is simply mixed in with the radish cake.
The dish is very popular particularly in Singapore and Malaysia, where it is enjoyed by people of different dialect groups and races, not just the Teochews, and is served in a range of establishments ranging from the simplest hawkers to the most expensive Chinese restaurants. It is a much-loved local comfort food in the region, and can be consumed at various times of the day; it goes from being a breakfast dish, to a main lunch dish, to a late-night supper dish. Many public figures are also known to have a fondness for the dish. Notably, the Singapore politician Chan Chun Sing declared his love for the dish in one of his speeches, specifying a preference of a particular variant of the dish (the "S$10 XO sauce chye tow kuay"), as opposed to the one commonly found in hawker centres and coffee shops, thus illustrating the many variations of the dish available in the region.
Fried Carrot Cake 菜头粿 but there's No Carrots
Singaporeans are all too familiar with the savoury carrot cake, which can easily be found in pretty much any hawker centre across our little red dot. But the dish's name has proven to be a little misleading to those unfamiliar with it, including travel vlogger Ken. The German national recently visited Singapore and has been documenting his experiences here on YouTube and his social media platforms.
Upon receiving their food, Ken and his friend were still a little confused by the dish. "What actually is it? I'm still not sure what it is," he asked, adding that it looks like an omelette. And they also couldn't see a sliver of carrot in their food. "So, carrot. Just to get it right, it's this orange vegetable, right? But I don't see anything that looks like the carrot that I know," Ken said. But while they both really enjoyed the dish, they had yet to discover any carrots. A few more Google searches later and Ken realised that carrot cake in Singapore is also known as "chai tow kway" and originated from China. He also learned that the dish is not made of carrots, but rather radish. "So there's no carrot inside. This is a radish. But why is the name carrot cake, then? There's nothing to do with actual carrots," he questioned.
According to Visit Singapore, carrot cake indeed does not have any carrots in it and the core ingredients are rice flour and white radish, which some also call white carrot. The dish also does originate from China and was brought to Singapore by Teochew immigrants. "There, it is known as 'chao gao guo' (fried starch cake) which is made mainly with rice flour," explained Visit Singapore. In the comments, helpful netizens said the same thing and explained to Ken that the dish includes radish, which is also known as white carrot.
