Chey Sua Carrot Cake @ Toa Payoh Lorong 1 Blk 127

One of my favourite hawker dishes is Carrot Cake. In fact when I used to live in Sydney I missed Carrot Cake so much I called long distance to get the recipe from my mother, and made it from scratch. I grated radish, squeezed it dry, then mixed in rice flour, water and steamed it. I made a pan of the Carrot Cake, cut it up and then fried it up with the thick caramelly dark sauce, light soy sauce and chilli. It was the perfect comfort food for two Singapore Girls (My cousin J and I) missing home in the midst of winter.

So besides trying to find the best bak chor mee, my other culinary mission is to find the best Carrot Cake in Singapore. Since this particular dish is high in carbs and fat, and has no real nutritional value, I wanted to start at the top and work my way down the list. Chey Sua Carrot Cake had been rated 3 pairs of chopsticks by Makansutra and when we got to the market, the auntie told me that there was a 30 min wait. Naturally, we agreed to the wait and I did my usual walkabout to see what else delicious was to be eaten at the market.

There was a long queue in front a stall which had two shopfronts, Teochew Handmade Bao. From what I could see, the baos were being made and steamed on the spot. I got a selection of Tau Sar Bao, Lianrong Bao, and of course Char Siu Bao for my darling pork star BH. I also got the Char Siu Rice.

I made it back to the table just in time for the arrival of the Carrot Cake, so that meant the Carrot Cake got my full attention and I didn't try any of the Baos. BH sampled all three and said that they weren't all that. The lianrong bao was not very good and tasted more of green bean. And the skin wasn't that thin. I tried the Char Siu rice and I found it way too sweet. I was puzzled as there was a really long queue for these baos......can anyone enlighten me as to why? My theory is that it's cos the baos only cost 50 cents. What was worse was that BH got really sick in the afternoon. And the only difference was that BH ate the baos and I didn't, which means that one of the baos were contaminated. I would rate it a very dismal 4/10.

By the time I attacked the Carrot Cake, I was really hungry. And I am not sure if it's a case of expectations that were too high due to the Makansutra rating or if I am really a Food Nazi (BH's pet name for me). The carrot cake was crispy and eggy, and the auntie had really made the effort to coat each segment of the carrot cake in this crispy eggy mixture and fried it at a high enough heat to create a batter-like coating that kept the carrot cake moist. However, besides this feature, the carrot cake was quite pedestrian. I suspect that the chilli is not made by the auntie and bought wholesale from some supplier as it was very bland and had only one flavour profile - sweet. It was spread over the fried carrot cake in a random haphazard pattern which resulted in bits of the carrot cake being sweet and others being completely tasteless. There was no savoury element to the carrot cake and no other flavour besides the sweetness from the chilli. I was sorely disappointed with this carrot cake and can only give it a 6/10. I will not be returning for anymore of this carrot cake.