Long Kee Carrot Cake (龙记菜头粿): Nostalgic Carrot Cake With An Off-Menu Hack In Ang Mo Kio

Every time I come across a one-dish hawker stall, I always wonder what they’re doing right. How do they maintain consistently long queues with only one dish?

One such stall with consistently long queues is Long Kee Carrot Cake (龙记菜头粿). Located within the heartlands at 409 AMK Market & Food Centre, Long Kee specialises in chai tow kway (fried carrot cake).

Even though they only have one dish on the menu, the stall still has persistently long queues, and most of them are regular customers like me.

Unlike most stalls serving up white carrot cake, Long Kee doesn’t make an egg crust for its version of white carrot cake. Instead, the auntie who owns the stall stir-fries everything like she would for black carrot cake.

To prepare a batch, she cuts up a block of homemade radish cake by pushing it through a wire mesh. Each time, she cooks up an entire wok to serve a handful of customers at one go.

Once the radish cakes turn golden-brown from sizzling in the premium vegetable oil, she adds a concoction of other sauces, including the rich black bean sauce and fish sauce. She then adds beaten eggs and finally tosses the radish cake with chilli and spring onions before serving.

I’ve known Auntie since young, and she usually adds in the ingredients without measuring any of them. Only years of cooking can achieve this level of skill!

A plate of signature Carrot Cake (S$2.50 for small, S$3 for medium, S$3.50 for large) always comes straight from the wok, with an unmistakable mouth-watering aroma.

With noticeable dark-brown char marks on the chai tow kway, it’s no wonder each mouthful had a prominent wok hei flavour.

In contrast, the radish cakes were soft and pillowy on the inside. Each piece melted slowly in my mouth with a tinge of sweetness from the black bean sauce.

But if you love eggs as much as I do, here’s a secret that only regulars of Long Kee Carrot Cake will know.

You can actually request for more egg (加蛋) when you order your chai tow kway! This off-menu add-on costs only S$0.50, and I always get it whenever I’m at Long Kee.

Don’t get me wrong, they’re extremely generous with the portions of eggs even without the add-on. However, I really enjoy how the additional scrambled eggs trap the chilli flakes and absorb the seasonings for more flavour.

The owner has been single-handedly running the stall and serving the local favourite for almost 40 years.

In the past, she used to serve black carrot cake too. I was lucky enough to have tried it, and I actually preferred the black version.

As the years went by, she found it too laborious to prepare it, so she reluctantly stopped serving it. Many customers, including me, still remember the dish fondly. Nevertheless, I’m still a big fan of the regular white carrot cake.

Long Kee Carrot Cake has maintained consistent standards, and the taste is as homely as I remember from my childhood.

The stall opens for only about three hours a day, so make sure you’re there early to grab a bite! However, don’t be surprised if the stall is closed even if you’re there on time. The owner frequently leaves for days without notice, to spend time with her grandchildren.

Expected Damage: S$2.50 – S$4 per pax