Bedok Chwee Kueh: Consistently good for over two decades!
Established in 1996 at Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre and now with seven branches across Singapore, this stall really needs no introduction as it is easily the most recognisable name when it comes to chwee kueh in Singapore.
That said, we decided that it deserved a re-review because the business recently made a big change to the size of its chwee kueh in the last six months or so. This is the first change it’s done in its two decades of operation.
Instead of the steel mould being smaller and deeper, they’ve made the mould much wider and a little shallower. The end result is a chwee kueh that is impressively large and results in a snack that is even better than it already is.
If you don’t know by now, Chwee kueh is a Teochew rice cake that is steamed and topped off with fried diced chye poh (Chinese preserved radish).
The change in the shape means that the cake is more evenly steamed throughout and there is none of that thick and dry texture that you sometimes get in the middle.
There’s also more flat surface area on the top so you can spread out the fried chye poh topping for more even eating.
Unfortunately, it has resulted in a change in its pricing. Instead of four chwee kuehs, $1 now only gets you two pieces but it’s a big two pieces.
Talking about the general quality of Bedok Chwee Kueh, it may not have had the excellent quality that Tiong Bahru’s Jian Bo Shui Kueh had in its early days (the quality has gone down since) but the quality has been generally high.
Everything is made in a central kitchen and the kueh itself comes nicely steamed with a soft, wobbly texture, firmer than that of soft egg custard.
It melts in your mouth and it is very slightly salted to bring out the flavour of the rice.
We have had it too soft and watery before but that’s on the very rare occasion.
As for the chye poh topping, it has a nice mix of sweet and salty flavours — likely a mix of the salty and sweet varieties — slight hints of garlic and nice toasted sesame seeds mixed in. The chye poh is very generously oil-rich and the texture a nice firm/soft in-between.
Bedok Chwee Kueh doesn’t add dried shrimps into their toppings, so the flavour isn’t unnecessarily complicated.
Unfortunately, they do not use pork lard like how they used to in the old days. We feel the addition of it would upp the general flavour of the dish.
The sambal chilli on the side is not the spiciest in the world but it has a nice grittiness backed by a bit of savouriness. It does well in complementing — and not over-dominating — the kueh and the topping.
The more impressive feat is that it manages to achieve this consistent standard throughout all of its many outlets across Singapore — Clementi 448, Chong Boon Food Centre, Chong Pang Food Centre, Lorong Ah Soo, Chinatown Food Centre, Ang Mo Kio Ave 4.
