Thye Moh Chan

What the Mid Autumn Festival a.k.a. Mooncake Festival spells for food reviewers is the endless supply of mooncakes that threatens the waistline and jawline. While i enjoyed the innovative variety of snowskin creations from the various hotels, i found myself craving for something different, something savory. My cravings must have been heard by the good people at Thye Moh Chan, who sent over some salty teochew mooncakes to neutralize all that sweetness.
I wouldn’t call them mooncakes actually because they are more like the ‘piah’ (chinese pastries) that i grew up eating. I love the salty tau sar piah (mung bean paste pastries) since young and hence i really enjoyed the savory mooncakes that Thye Moh Chan offered.
TMC has been handcrafting these ethereal-​light flaky pastry skin with a selection of fillings laboriously by hand since 1943. My mama was raving about them when we walked past the store at Chinatown Point previously. Needless to say, my little old lady left the store with a huge bag of traditional biscuits. You could imagine her happiness when the mooncakes arrived. I didn’t even get a chance to get a proper picture before she dug in.
Sweet or Salty tau sar (single yolk) Medium (4pc/​box) — $ 24.80, Large (1pc/​box) — $ 22.80
The sweet and savoury mung bean filling each enveloped a single salted egg yolk. The sweet rendition is topped with white sesame, while the savoury encompasses a blend of salty mung bean paste with fried shallots, white sesame and is seasoned with white pepper. They crumbled very easily and i found that it is easier to scoop each slice up with a spoon so that you can taste all the filling.
My favorite flavor was the Yuan Yang! Medium (4pc/​box) — $ 24.80, Large (1pc/​box) — $ 22.80
It is similar to the Salty tau sar but on top of that, there’s spicy pork floss in them! ZOMG. I guess that’s also some of the Breadtalk influence as they have been running under the Breadtalk brand for a while now. Not that i’m complaining. The pork floss adds on that tinge of sweetness which gives this mooncake a more complex flavor. Super yums!
There’s also the rare Durian flavored one during this MAF period. Limited quantities of this smooth D24 durian-​infused bean paste and crispy pastry could be purchased only at Thye Moh Chan outlets for $ 35.20 for 4 medium sized mooncakes.

Though this is the first time I am trying Thye Moh Guan’s Tau Sar Piah since it became a part of Breadtalk Group, they are still as delicious and no wonder it has been so popular over the years =D There are a total of five flavours, in addition to the traditional teochew mooncake.
The classic versions are of course their sweet and savoury piah. The mung bean filling which was made from scratch is so aromatic and smooth. I was surprised to find salted egg yolks in both flavours!
Another interesting flavour is the Double Delight: red bean paste and a sticky winter melon filling with melon seeds & dried orange peel. The white sesame seeds added a nice crunch to this mild-​savoury piah that reminded me of lao po bing (wife’s biscuit).
But my favourite was the Spicy Pork Floss (aka Yuan Yang)! Paired together with the savoury mung bean and salted egg yolk, this novel invention is also highly suitable for those who can’t take spicy food because the spice level has been balanced out by the tau sar.
I am a Teochew but this is my first time having this Traditional Teochew Mooncake. Made with white sesame, dried kumquat, five-​spice powder, this has a light citrusy taste with quite firm, chewy texture due to the maltose. Not everyone may like this old school sweet so perhaps it’s an acquired taste.
Luckily the tau sar piah is available in regular size all-​year round at their outlets and in various flavours such as cranberry, etc (the mooncakes are medium size) It’s time for me to make a trip down again and stock up supplies at home!

It was my last day in Singapore, and I was trying to hit the mall for local shops to kill time. Passed by the Toast Box out on the perimeter and then a store with the cutest display. Cute enough for a detour. I decided to go in.
The ladies at the counter were really persistent and I guess persuasive. I had just gotten a glimpse of what they were selling.
Round, hand-​made pastries in the shape of a bun — they all looked alike but the tops had different markings to differentiate the flavors.
These they called tau sar piah (dow sa bau in Cantonese) and while I was snapping photos on my iphone like an idiot tourist, the ladies started to speak but I didn’t understand. I wanted just one but then one of them then squawked, «$ 10 for 8» — which would have been a deal by volume because these averaged S$ 1.20 each. I thought, hey these might make a good something-​something for my mom.
I had the ladies pack me a variety — and not a surprise in this efficient city — the box already had a map inside to tell which was what flavor.
When I bought the set, I was told to eat one of the pastries right away and the rest were OK to keep around for a week. Since the ladies pull these little round nuggets from drawers
I guess they sorta keep well.
The box comes with a logo paper bag with drawstrings, presentable as a small token of appreciation or when visiting someone’s home.
Next stop, Din Tai Fung to refuel and then out of the mall onward to Lim Chee Guan!