Went there on a Friday afternoon. The tables outside were all taken, lady suggested we go to the air-conditioned area upstairs. There was a narrow winding staircase up, and one lady in their uniform was standing halfway up the stairwell, presumably to direct people. As this was our first time going up, we were unsure of the way. On our left, a closed door, on our right an open area and we could see a washroom towards the end. We walked towards the open area, and got told off rudely by the lady at the stairwell.
When we finished eating in the air-con area, and tried to push the door out to leave, i found i could barely open it as there were pails placed behind the door, blocking it. As our hands were sticky from touching the beancurd containers, we wanted to wash our hands at the washroom we saw earlier. The moment we stepped in, this lady went rudely "Zo mo?!" ("what are you doing/want?!"). I said nicely that we wanted to wash our hands and she waved us off saying angrily "Cannot, cannot!".
The food here is alright, but the service is terrible! I also strongly believe the air-conditioned room is a fire hazard.
Next time I'll go to the stall next door, I've tried it before, food is of equal quality and I have not encountered such rude service.

I've eaten these bean curd from this particular store quite a few times and have always thought them to be pretty good, but without the wow factor that many people seem to be crediting them for. This would be however, the first time that I'm getting the fried dough fritters with them and I've just realized why there was a need to have so much of that syrup in the bowls of bean curd which I had always thought was overly excessive because it was all too sweet. Yes, it's great for dipping those fritters, to soak up those greasy strips of fried flour which makes them good in a mix of savory sweet manner. This really makes me give a second take on having bean curds here and a feeling within tells me I'll return sometime soon for more.

pics here

Pls see update below.

Old review:
SHort St dessert bean curd (tau hway) at S$1, is still the best and has proven this by surviving the tau hway WAR a few years back.

The tau hway is still silky smooth and yummy with no other artificial taste or powdery texture. However, I find that the syrup seems to be sweeter than usual , so I would recommend that the you tell the server to tone down on the syrup , only adding more if you need it.

The other thing that i don't like is that they now served dine in customers in the takeout plastic bowl, unlike in the past dine in customers have the dessert served in a porcelain bowl.

With mounting environmental issues we should all do our part in our daily lives to reduce waste and be more environmentally freindly. eg. I always reject the plastic spoon for takeouts and I am starting to use back the old metal containers when I intedn to get takeouts by reducing the used of plastics.

UPDATE 10 Oct 2008:
I went last week at about 11pm, and found the standard to have fallen. The tau Hway does not seem as soft and silky and definitely way TOO SWEET. The you tiao, was pale, and tough while the qing chao drink was light and tasteless! Yucky!! Everything seems to be pre-packed for the large night crowd.

Food/ Beverage
The is no where else in Singapore you could find such smooth beancurd. I bought 3 boxes the other day and left it in my refrigerator till the next morning and it tasted just as good. I have been going back to this bean curd place over and over again.

Ambience
Its coffee shop. Nothing much to expect. If you like sitting at the back alleys of shophouses to eat. This is the place for you. What it lack in ambience, it makes it up by serving wonder bean curd

Value
Even though it is so well known, and there is an never ending queue in the store. The prices of their bean curd matches those found at hawker centers.

Service
Self Service, tables are not really readily available, due the the extremely crowded place. They don't do bookings as they are a coffee shop. Just go there and wait. Its part of the fun. =)

This place needs no real introduction

everyone loves their bean curd / soya bean drinks / Portuguese tarts

i like to think of it as a nice dessert place, i won't call it a place to chill...but it's somewhere serene and the things they serve are so cheap...it's taken for granted sometimes.

JWNY