Tiong Bahru Galicier Pastry

An old school local bakery that is all jazzed up for CNY.
There is a wide selection of local goodies to choose from. A true cookie paradise!
I have found myself addicted to the Pineapple Tarts! If Pineapple Tarts Anonymous existed I would probably be taken there by friends during an intervention :)
Located about 5 – 7 minute walk from Tiong Bahru MRT station. Worth the walk.

FIVE stars! One for each of the things that do it for me, Service, cleanliness, food, price and «Will I come back?»
This is a bakery, chock full of freshly baked goodness and a counter where you line up and pay for the treasures you grabbed greedily while walking around. The ladies behind the counter were friendly and efficient. When I got to the front of the line, I was not rushed and in fact, was given a choice to order 2 cupcakes instead of the pre-​packed 3! How nice, and how thoughtful!
The shop is very old, but very well-​kept. The shelves were clean and everything was pre-​packed. I like this, I hate thinking that everyone else had the chance to poke and squeeze my baked goods before me. (Haha, my baked goods). Cakes and kuihs were kept behind a glass shelf, picked up by the counter ladies when you order. No need to mess around with tongs and such.
The cupcakes were light and buttery, not heavily iced with frosting. The ondeh-​ondeh (their specialty) was soft and burst with a satisfying pop in your mouth, filling it with sugary gula-​melacca goodness. I also had a buttery flaky butterfly pastry, it was so flaky and light, with a slight crunch of sugar. So many other goodies, I tried. All very good, all very fresh. All very unpretentious. Unlike the over commercial ones. Yes, I’m looking at you, Bengawan Solo.
Price. Low to reasonable. Ondeh ondeh was $ 0.60 each, cupcakes were $ 2 each.
Will I come back? Yes, and I have. Many times. ^^

Oh my goodness.
Oh my damn.
I used to work in Tiong Bahru, and every now and then my colleagues would bring their egg tarts to the office. They was aiights.
I was doing some research on the neighbourhood and this place came up on my radar. The Unilocal reviews piqued my interest, so when I visited the area recently I decided to stop by and pick up some pastries.
I sampled them when I got home and it hit me: thank goodness I never went to this place in the 8 months I worked there because I’d weigh 500 pounds by now! That, and… where have these pastries been all my life?!
I thought I wrote down some notes for these but I can’t find them for the life of me so this review might be borderline useless. I tried this cake-​like pastry that was coconut-​y and let’s just say I almost cried when I finished it. Did I have to finish it? Because I’ll never see it again and that makes me sad!
Then there’s the putu ayu, which goes by another name there but again… forgot to write it down! When you Google search it, images that usually show up are these mini bundt-​cake looking things that are green and white. Galicier takes it to another level by adding what I assume is my all-​time favourite ingredient, GULA MELAKA, making theirs green, white and brown. Seriously y’all… I know you’re going to hate me for saying this but I CAN’T EVEN. I don’t have the ability to even. Just… so good.
So yeah, that’s how I feel about this place. Any questions?

I’m a big fan of peranakan/​nyonya kueh. When I lived in Singapore, there were 2 Bengawan Solo stores near me that I just don’t go to. Why? Because of places like Tiong Bahru Galicier
I’d rather wait for an opportunity to enjoy really good kuehs once in a while rather than regularly tasting the mediocre ones. That’s a philosophy that I personally take on any kind of food. Good food worth the wait and effort of getting there, and this definitely applies to TBGP. I don’t mind taking the bus-​subway-​walk (total of ~1 hour) to get to TBGP, where I know I can enjoy very authentic and fresh kuehs. Situated in very old school and humble atmosphere, I know I always get the best from TBGP. :)

«Old school» is the first adjective that springs to mind when I think of Galicier.
This bakery has been around for 15+ years, and is owned/​operated by a family which has a rich and varied baking heritage. I think the lady boss shared that her family has a history making local style kueh-​kueh, whilst her husband’s family used to focus on «Western» style confectionery.
It’s all good, really…
The kuehs and cakes here are very fresh, sometimes made twice a day because they’ll sell out on their first run.
Lots of special little touches here, such as the homemade kueh dardar skin, evidenced by the delicate texture and visible griddle marks — I brought these into my office recently, and they were very well-​received by the colleagues who appreciated the freshness and surprising lightness of the coconut filling.
Besides the kueh dardar, I strongly recommend sweet potato ondeh ondeh, huat kueh (if it’s warm) and assorted cookies.

Mom and pop style bakery selling a huge variety of traditional kuehs and pastries. Imagine a non commercialized Bengawan Solo. Prices are reasonable and all pastries taste fresh which is especially important for the ones with coconut. Worth supporting especially if one likes traditional local style cakes. Best is the Ondeh Ondeh. Worth supporting… Will be back.

This is one of them old school confectionaries that you’d be hard pressed to find in Singapore these days. Despite it’s many accolades in mainstream media, this place retains a rather unassuming air of business as usual. No hoity toity inflation of prices or snubbing of customers here. Come lunch time, the working crowd descends on Galicier for the break items, and it’s no different for us. In fact, we usually buy hoards of stuff — half dozens and entire cakes at a go — to pacify cranky meeting attendees.
Popular items include the ondeh ondeh, more generously sized than normal. The kueh dadar is one of the best I’ve had. Pale green and fragrant, the copious amount of coconut filling is moist and not cloyingly sweet. The sweet potato huat kueh is fluffy with the right amount of denseness to give it heft, unlike the many paperweight-​like specimens one finds outside. Also, the bite sized cubes of sweet potato buried inside gives a variety of textures and bursts of sweetness. My personal favorite is the lempur udang — dried shrimp fried in spicy paste, encased in soft glutinous rice, and then wrapped in banana leaf. The smokiness and spice of the filling against the fluffy rice is a great combination, and it’s immensely difficult to stop at just one. Still, you’d be better off exercising some restraint as the selection here is pretty wide.