Loong Fatt Tau Sar Piah

Located at the corner of the whole row of shophouses in balestier, Loong Fatt Tau Sar Piah sure sells great, flaky and tasty tau sar piahs. This shop has an open concept kitchen, thus you can see the bakers hand-​making those fresh pastries and be greeted with the delicious smell of them. The filling is not too sweet nor salty, hence appealing to the tastebuds of everyone in the family.
The ventilation is better than other old, traditional shops and the fans are quite strong, so the place is not very stuffy. Although the queue took about an hour or so, the wait was definitely worthwhile. Plus, there are many seats in the shop, so if you patronize the shop in a group, you may take turns to queue up and sit down to take a sip of coffee.
The price of each tau sar piah is reasonable, at 70 cents each. If you buy 5 to 6 tau sar piahs, you will get a small box. The bigger box holds up to 10. If you buy less than 5, they will put them in a plastic bag. Both sweet and salty are good, but the pastry is what makes it excellent. Thumbs up for their effort!

When my friends brought in a box of these, the first thing someone commented, «Wah! You braved the queue ah?!» Apparently infamous for their tau sar piah is this traditional old school shop at balestier!
Even though they were 4 hours old, they were still flaky, as you can see all the flaky bits at the bottom of the box. I have never been a fan of these sweet snacks but now I am!
As you bite in, you feel like you are biting into a char Siew soh! It is so flaky yet crispy! And inside is the sweet paste! And it is not too sweet that would make you feel heaty either! It is perfect! I will need to get my hands on another dozen of these sweet treat! Anyone young or old would love these!

My grandmother has a soft spot for these little flaky pastries so I would always traipse my way down to grab a couple of boxes once in a while. You probably wouldn’t have any difficulty spotting this shop from afar — the shopfront has two signboards stacked upon each other screaming the exact same message, seemingly afraid nobody would see that there is some seriously good piah up for grabs.
There are two standard flavours: salty and sweet. I must admit that I always return to the store a tad confused about my preference — probably because both are pretty similar. You can differentiate visually between the two by the sesame seeds sprinkled atop the sweet piahs that distinguish them from the salty ones. Perhaps my taste-​buds have not made much of a progression since I was younger, but I am still insistent that the salty piahs taste pretty much the same as the sweet piahs with the identical flavour differing only by a slight hint of saltiness coming through. Whatever it is, light feathery layers of pastry encasing slightly chewy bean paste makes the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea in the afternoon. The Singaporean version of scones, perhaps?

This row of shophouses is balestier is pretty well-​known for being home to the various «best tau sar piahs» in Singapore. I have tried all the tau sar piahs in this row of shophouses and have concluded that Loong Fatt Tau Sar Piah is my favourite.
The tau sar piahs they sell are made fresh in house everyday. One is greeted with the amazing smell of freshly baked pastries upon entering the shop and i often catch a glimpse of the family in the back, rolling out the pastry dough. I like the way the shop takes you back in time with its traditional ways.
The tau sar piah from this stall is extremely aromatic. The smell of the tau sar is simply alluring. The pastry has a nice bite, yet it crumbles and seems to melt away in my mouth. It is pretty cheap at 60cents a piece too.