The Toa Payoh region is home to plenty of delicious yet affordable food stalls with the most unique creations, and Baole Desserts is one of the more recent additions to the bustling neighbourhood.
Located a convenient 3-minute walk away from Toa Payoh MRT Station, Baole Desserts can easily be spotted by its hard-to-miss signboard donning an adorable bear mascot.
Baole Desserts sells two types of dishes: Traditional Chinese desserts, like aiyu jelly and soya beancurd, and rosti. Though Chinese desserts can be found easily islandwide, my interest was piqued by their rosti, which creatively incorporated Asian elements and flavours into the traditionally Western dish.
Another thing that makes their rosti stand out is the fact that it is served on a bed of cabbage, like the Japanese dish okonomiyaki!
I ordered a few items on Baole Desserts’ menu and got to watch as my food was prepared. The food stall offers a few seats outside its store for patrons, but mainly operates on a takeaway basis.
What I tried at Baole Desserts
Of Baole Desserts’ 6 rosti offerings, the simplest was the Signature (S$5.90), topped with a sunny side egg, sweet onions and mozzarella cheese. The rosti itself had already been cooked with an egg in the middle, but was topped with yet another additional fried egg.
The Signature was bursting with savoury flavour from the sauce that coated it liberally, and I loved the slightly crispy texture on the edges of the rosti. Both fried eggs had been cooked all the way through, but I would have preferred if they were a little bit runny. I couldn’t taste the mozzarella cheese, so I would have liked for there to have been a more generous amount added to the dish.
Though the dish was incredibly tasty, the portion was very little in relation to its price. The rosti barely filled the container that it was served in and for S$5.90, I didn’t find it to be very filling either.
Next up was the Flaming Beef (S$9.90), made with beef cubes and mozzarella cheese.
The beef cubes were torched right before they were served with the rosti, giving them a gorgeous charred surface.
The rosti tasted equally as great as the one in the Signature, being liberally drenched in flavourful sauce.
The beef cubes were a little on the drier side but were incredibly rich and juicy. They were definitely my favourite element of all the dishes I tried. However, I counted exactly 5 small beef cubes in the Flaming Beef, which I found to be a very meagre portion, especially when compared to the large amount of beef reflected on the picture in their menu.
Like the Signature, the serving size of the Flaming Beef was a let down, even though the dish itself was delicious.
The 3 Way Chicken (S$8.90) offered me with the most hope as it appeared to be the most generous in terms of fillings— it came topped with chicken sausage, popcorn chicken and chicken floss.
If you’re a big fan of chicken-based products like me, Baole Dessert’s 3 Way Chicken is definitely a dish to consider. The popcorn chicken pieces were large and the chicken floss added a nice soft texture to the dish.
The combination of the sausages, popcorn chicken and chicken floss made the dish taste like a comforting street snack I’d have as a kid, given its highly-processed nature. I enjoyed the myriad of flavours and textures in this dish.
The final rosti dish I tried was the Vegetarian (S$7.90), which came with sweet onions, garlic mushroom and cherry tomatoes.
The most interesting element of this dish was the addition of the cherry tomatoes, which gave each bite a refreshing pop of tangy flavour. Compared to the other 3 rostis I tried, the Vegetarian had the smallest portion, which did not justify its S$7.90 price.
I moved on to Baole Desserts’ Chinese desserts, available in 15 different variations. Their menu consists of three types of Chinese dessert bases: soya, grass jelly and aiyu. The menu items include a whole host of different toppings depending on the dish chosen, such as tang yuan, taro balls, popping balls and purple rice!
I opted for the Chendol Pulut (S$4.40), containing soya, grass jelly, taro balls, purple rice, yoghurt popping balls and chendol, and the Specially Mixed (S$5.20), filled with soya, grass jelly, aiyu, taro balls, mini taro, black pearls, tang yuan and mixed jelly.
I also got to choose from 4 sauces to add to each dessert: Milk Cup, Mango Sago, Coconut Sago and Gula Melaka. I opted for Gula Melaka, which had a lovely coconut fragrance that could evidently be tasted.
The Chendol Pulut was a little too sweet for my liking given how much syrup was inside the container, and the taro balls were a bit bland and chewy. I liked the texture of the chendol and the popping balls, which were fun to bite into. Though the taste did not blow me away, I thought that the serving, in relation to the price, was quite reasonable.
The Specially Mixed was so loaded with ingredients that I could barely remove the lid from the container without some syrup spilling out from the sides. Like the Chendol Pulut, I thought that some of the ingredients were a tad bland on their own, but the generous amount of sweet syrup was enough to make up for it.
Generally, Baole Desserts’ Chinese desserts were not outstanding, but were comforting enough for me to enjoy.
Final thoughts
The biggest disappointment I had with Baole Desserts was the serving sizes of the rosti dishes. Given the price of their rosti, I would have expected for there to be a more satisfying amount of food served. Though the rosti dishes were delicious, I didn’t find them to be worth the price in relation to the mediocre portions.
The Chinese desserts, on the other hand, were satisfying enough for me, especially with their much more generous portions. I would likely drop by Baole Desserts again if I were in the area, but I doubt that I would specially make a trip down unless the portions of the rosti were improved.
Expected damage: S$3.90 – S$11.90 per pax
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Baole Desserts
Block 190, Lorong 6 Toa Payoh, #01-514, Singapore 310190
Baole Desserts
Block 190, Lorong 6 Toa Payoh, #01-514, Singapore 310190