Serangoon Gardens Bakery and Confectionary: Good old Curry Buns!
Luncheon Meat Buns
As with many things in life, the simple things are often the best. When it comes to soft buns, we Singaporeans have been spoilt for choice since Breadtalk started the trend of the fancy soft buns years ago. Before that, we were all quite happy with our curry buns, hot dog buns, coconut buns and luncheon meat buns. Since then, we now have buns with seaweed, pork floss, walnuts and all sorts of exotic ingredients, a lot of which you will never come across in your friendly neighbourhood Aunty Lucy supermarket.(NTUC)
But you know, often I buy these fancy buns only to find that it looked better than it actually tastes. Just last week I discovered that my favourite Japanese Bakery chain, Yamazaki has now opened a store in Tampines One. I used to buy my breads from Yamazaki when I was living in Thailand and they have a big round soft bun which they slice up which was fantastic. Unfortunately they don't have this in Singapore. So I ended up buying some fancy apple and custard bun that cost $2. I brought it home and prepared my Teh Si Siu Dai with much anticipation only to find that the out of the $2 spent, $1.50 accounted for visual appeal. After discounting 30 cents for satiety, I think I only derived 20 cents of gustatory satisfaction. Aiyah, KFC -- Thailand better, Yamazaki -- Thailand also better. What is wrong with our franchise managers here?
Ham and Cheese Buns
Anyway, back to the simple soft bun. There is no secret to a satisfying soft bun experience. The buns have to be warm, velvety soft and sweet. When that is the case, a simple slice of Luncheon meat is all you need to put you into bread heaven. OK, that is a little too simple. You also need a cup of hot Teh Si or Kopi Si depending on your preference.
Curry Buns
There is no fancy stuff here at this traditional bakery which has been around for the last 30 years. You are still going to find your classic curry buns, red bean buns and sausage buns, not to mention custard puffs. Of special mention are the curry buns which are really quite generously packed with potato curry. They are all satisfyingly good and the continuous queue of people ensures that the buns are always fresh out of the oven and warm! The ham and cheese is another hot favourite here, but for me I can just buy a couple of luncheon meat buns and be really happy. Best of all they are all less than a dollar each. 4.25/5
Conclusion
At the end of the day, you don't really need some fancy name and ingredients to have a great bun experience. Give me a luncheon meat bun anyday but make sure its hot out of the oven! Agree?
Serangoon Garden Bakery & Confectionary
Serangoon Garden Way FC
Stall 45
Opened for breakfast till evenings or until sold out
34 comments:
an alternative perhaps to that would be singapura bakery next to sembawang hills estate hawker centre. they open in the evening around 5 and many people queue before that to lay their hands on freshly baked old school buns @ only around 50cents a piece!!
Oh, I know this one! I used to send my kids for tuition nearby and I used to roam around that area while waiting for tuition to finish. The buns move so quickly, you're assured of freshly-baked ones all day long. Yummy!
I also like the buns here, especially the tau sar and sausage buns. Best when just out of the ovens. Soft and hot.
i bought some KFC couple days back... the original recipe.
it came out soggy, greasy, insipid looking. it was really really shocking, the poor quality. plain bad.
i have sworn of KFC for sure.
And they (the marketing people) tell me that they have quality control processes in place that ensures that Singapore's KFC is the same as anywhere around the world!
I totally agree with you regarding
Breadtalk, which although revolutionised the bread scene in the provision of a larger variety of bread, created a fad in which much of the price of the bread went into invigorating the sense of sight instead of taste. This resulted in neighbourhood bakeries trying to imitate the success of Breadtalk, and as observed subsequently, the "extinction" of many old favourites in favour of new ones.
My personal favourite is Sambal (hei bi hiam). And it is saddening to say that it is hard to find bakeries whom really bake quality buns of the past.
ieat, why no comparison with the barcook bakery that you rave about? Just read a comment entry there and you did reply about the freshness of the buns.
If I recall correctly, the Ah Seng braised duck stall is next to it. Did you try it, by any chance?
Well yes, Barcook Bakery buns are really soft and I think even better than this traditional bun. That is because they use the sponge and dough method to make their buns. So I appreciate the extra effort they put into their craft. Unlike Breadtalk, their buns actually taste good! I would love to just have their buns with simple stuff like luncheon meat, but their cheese and raisin is quite good.
But I guess this place has that romance of yesteryear tagged to it and you can buy a few buns and sit down with a bowl of Tau Huay or Teh Si or both (like what I did yesterday morning). It was such a satisfying breakfast and cheap too!
I love old school breads!
Another bakery which sells old-school breads is Mirana at OUB centre. They have an outlet just below Simei MRT too. The luncheon meat, hotdog, curry and old fashioned vanilla buns are really good, buns are soft and fillings very generous. Can give a try and see if it's blogworthy.
The other two places that come to mind for me are Chin Mee Chin and Gideon 300 at Toa Payoh Hub.
I have managed to teach my maid to make it at home as well. I like to use quality sausages. When they come out of the oven, they are ooooh la la. But of course it is much more convenient to just drive down to Serangoon way FC to buy some when you really have the craving.
I agree with the first poster. The bread at Sembawang Hill hawker centre hill there is better. Its called Singapura Bakery if i am not wrong. V old school. Not your usual bakery and they have otah buns, coconut buns, really alot of variety fresh from the oven, more than the sgoon gardens one. They have the old school type of bread as well. And the unusual thing is, they only open in the evening from 5-6pm.
Oh ya..i also notice that there are no recommendations from Sembawang Hills hawker centre...I recommend the pasta, kway chap and the fish soup there. To me, these three are one of the best for their respective food categories in Singapore.
OK Sembawang Hills FC is on the radar.
Could you provide a little more info at our forum? We will try to collect as much info as we can before visiting. Even better if you could join me and be my guide.
this bakery at serangoon gardens also sells hot cross buns a week or 2 before easter :)
don't think the singapura bakery at sembawang hills is thta great though.. heh
Hey doc, you have got quite a spelling errors in your watermark : " ieatshootipost "
i love curry buns!
I love Singapura Bakery! I love the cheesy, loud music they blast while customers pick and choose their buns. The uncle also gives out sugary, buttery bread bits for free! And my favourites are the otah and hae bee buns ;) Ieat, you must check them out - such a character that place has.
As for other restaurants at Sembawang Hills, you might want to check out the Taiwanese porridge restaurant and the other Chinese one - think its called Plum village. Makansutra's reviewed them before. I've only tried the porridge place and it was pretty good if a little pricey.
i simply love serangoon garden market's freshly baked red bean bun..last time, the bakery used to sell square loaf of bread with hard brown edges and i love to eat their edges..sadly, it has stopped making this loaf.
Aw shucks no one told me about the watermark error till now! Thanks!
yeah, whatisee etcetc. i love hae bee hiam buns. its my all time favorite.
Mirana at OUB centre, as mentioned by ice above still sells that. it really brings back memories of the 80s whenever i bite into one..
i think a number of the old school bakeries in the HDB estates do still bake them. the one at Marine parade central, next to Yamaha music school also sells them.
I miss out so many nicetuff when I was there!!! Oh gosh! I'll have to open my eyes big big the next time!
Pong
I think I remember seeing the Hae Bee Hiam buns here too!
yess i can live on the luncheon meat buns omg
Hey ieat I have just started the thread on the forums.
Yes I saw your thread. Welcome to our community!
HALT! Ieat.... I want to recommend this bread stall named GU LING JING GUAI, the old uncle sells very nice luncheon meat bun and their sambal bun are nice too! erm... i think it's situated in a hawker ctr in bendemeer/kallang....anyone knows the location? I forgot liao!
Wah, you policeman or what?
anon - are you refering to the bread stall at geylang bahru food center (69 Geylang Bahru). love his bread - unfortunately, buying his bread is like playing tikum, i usually have to settle for whatever is available when i get there coz everything is Always sold out !
the bread is quite good here. but the old man always stresses you indirectly by asking "LAI~ ... ZAI LAI~... ZAI LAI~" whenever you order something! I think he says those words several hundred times a day. -.-
Yeah, you always feel you need to quickly buy something. I think it is a good tactic to get you to buy more, more quickly.
There's a bakery at the food centre behind Chinatown point. I have no idea what it is but it's bread with raisins and this cream. My mum says it's cheese, but it doesn't taste like cheese. It's not fresh cream either. Well I've no idea what the cream's made of but the bread is oh so soft and it's simply yummy.
That's Barcook Bakery you are talking about. Yes the dough is very nice and soft. I wrote about them in my previous post:
Barcook Bakery
this bread shop is the reason why im late for my secondary school days! love its soft ham n cheese bun which is still very warm. its superb! =)
You are spot on man - I like the buns here too.
yes leaf! spot on! haha, yeah lost...that old uncle must depend on his mood wan~not everytime in good mood. Last time we always eyeing at that stall during our lunchtime around 12pm, once theuncle put the 1st batch of bread in oven I will rush to the stall to take order, but hor, the uncle will say:"i will start to take order when the bread is out".... =_=||| then....i will wait for another 20mins for the bread to cook and "run" to the stall to take order again...woah....thinking of the process oreadi makes me tired liao =_=
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