89-Year-Old Confectionery In Far East Square Extends Lease For Another Year
All you Hokkien pastry lovers, rejoice! Tan Hock Seng Cake Shop has extended their lifespan and will still be selling all your favourite treats this year.
According to The Straits Times on Sunday (1 Mar), the traditional bakery’s lease was set to end this month.
Nestled away along a row of shop houses is this hidden gem
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Fortunately, landlord Far East Organization has agreed to extend the lease for another year.
You can find this gem hidden in plain sight at 86 Telok Ayer Street, #01-01, Singapore 048469. Excluding the first day of Chinese New Year, the shop is open all year round.
Customers can continue looking forward to these sweet treats
Tan Hock Seng bakery sells over 40 different kinds of traditional pastries, with its best-sellers being beh teh saw, phong piah and tau sar piah.
Check out these mouth-watering pictures of their goodies below.
Local favourite beh teh saw, which means ‘horseshoe biscuits’
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Phong piah, means “fragrant biscuits”
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Tau sar piah, aka mung bean paste biscuit
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Ang ku kueh, or ‘Red Tortoise Cake’
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Tan Hock Seng Cake Shop still boasts many other delicacies such as:
- Pepper biscuits
- Wife biscuits — commonly known as lao po bing in Chinese
- Salty tau sar piah
- Piglet biscuits.
You’ll have to head on down to see what else they have to offer.
The many offerings of Tan Hock Seng Cake Shop
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The shop has also been featured in a local Chinese food programme. Check out how they make their famous pastries in the video below.
With so much work put into the pastries, it’s no wonder why many customers keep coming back for more.
89-year-old shop is unlikely to continue operations for long
Tan Hock Seng Cake Shop is currently run by Mr Tan Boon Chai, 70, and his sister Ms Tan Siew Heoh, 72. It was opened by their grandfather, Mr Tan Tiam in 1931.
Old shop house along China Street in 1950
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Originally located in China Street, the shop moved to Upper Pickering Street for 5 years in the early 1990s before settling down at its current location.
However, rising rental costs and shortage of manpower has proved challenging for Mr Tan. Faced with very long hours 364 days a year, carrying on with the manual operations of a traditional confectionery makes continuing the business hard.
But Mr Tan said that he will continue working for as long as he can.
Mr Tan in an interview with The New Paper in 2014
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According to Wine&Dine, Mr Tan has no intention of having his sons take over the shop. That, on top of the 1 year extended lease, certainly makes one feel that time is running out. Hopefully, they will manage to renew their lease again next year.
If your mouth feels itchy for these sweet treats, hurry on down and satisfy your cravings today.
Featured image adapted from Facebook.
