Traditionally, huat kueh is used for festive occasions such as Chinese New Year or as an offering item for prayers. That’s precisely why I was so intrigued when I heard of Mr Bready, a hawker stall in Mei Ling Market & Food Centre that sells uniquely flavoured huat kueh, including matcha, dark chocolate and mango peach!
Mr Bready was launched in 2016 by two friends, Rodney and Jason, with the main intention of selling bread.
“The old folks in this hawker centre would often go for prayers on the 1st and 15th of every month and would often ask us why we don’t sell huat kueh,” shared Rodney. “One day, we just so happened to have a surplus of sweet potatoes and after some research, we decided to try making huat kueh using sweet potatoes.”
And that’s how their huat kueh business blossomed— no pun intended.
While Rodney and Jason started out by selling plain huat kueh with sweet potatoes, the pair eventually decided to be adventurous and ventured into unique flavours such as strawberry and black sesame.
When we dropped by today, we were pleased to spot six to seven different flavoured huat kueh, all of which were made every morning using real and fresh ingredients, so you won’t spot any artificial flavourings or colourings here.
As each huat kueh flavour is made by batch, with the first flavour of the day being pushed out at 9am, our best tip would be to place a pre-order via their Facebook page so that you can enjoy all its flavours without worrying about whether they’ll be sold out. If not, you can try dropping by between 11.30am to 12pm for a good variety of flavours.
What I tried
I started out with a classic flavour: Raisin Walnut (S$1.80).
This huat kueh consists of a traditional sweet potato base and is topped off with raisins and walnuts.
There was a good texture to the sponginess, which was decently springy without being too dense or dry, and I could taste a natural sweetness from the palm sugar. The walnuts and raisins added a nutty crunchiness, which complemented the softness of the huat kueh really well.
Overall, this was your classic huat kueh, but slightly jazzed up with the addition of the walnuts and raisins. I enjoyed this thoroughly and could see myself dipping this into a cup of hot milo or kopi for that extra oomph.
Next, I moved onto the Dark Chocolate Almond (S$2).
Note of caution: prepare some wet wipes or tissue, as the melted chocolate started to stain my fingers even as I was picking it up!
If you hadn’t told me that this was huat kueh, I would’ve thought it was chocolate cake instead.
This was a delightful, fudgey mess that had an intense chocolate flavour. The huat kueh still retained that iconic soft sponginess, but with a touch of wet denseness like chocolate sponge cake. I loved the little pockets of melted chocolate, which got me licking my fingers like a child.
This was my dining companion’s favourite flavour because of two reasons: she loved the rich chocolatey flavours, but the winning factor was how astonishingly unique it was from regular huat kueh.
With its appealing bright shade of green, Mr Bready’s Matcha Cranberry (S$1.80) huat kueh was a must-buy, and I was 100% glad that I did.
The matcha flavour came through in a bright and rich manner, and I could taste the authenticness of the matcha— it was earthy with a subtle bitterness, and I had no doubt that Mr Bready used real matcha powder to make this huat kueh.
While I was already in love with how prominent the matcha flavours were, I was even more impressed when I bit into a tart cranberry. It added a well-needed burst of mild sweetness, which complemented the tea-like nuttiness from the matcha.
As a matcha lover, I’ve got to say that Mr Bready got the flavours absolutely spot-on with this huat kueh, and this was easily my favourite out of the entire lot.
I ended the tasting off with one of Mr Bready’s most recent releases: the Rose Lychee (S$1.80), which came in a pretty peach-like colour, with large knobs of lychee stuffed in its side.
Rodney shared with me that they use real rose flowers and rose water in this huat kueh, so I was quite excited to take a bite.
This would be a great hit for those who lean towards floral flavours.
I tasted a light sweetness from the rose and I appreciated how subtle it was, such that I didn’t feel like I was drinking perfume (which can be the case when incorporating popular scents into food). The star of the show were the large pieces of lychee, which were still plump and juicy despite having spent time in the oven.
Final thoughts
Because I had tried each huat kueh after one another, I couldn’t help but be impressed by how Mr Bready handled every single flavour. Despite having the same huat kueh base, each flavour was uniquely different, and my dining companion and I easily finished the entire box of huat kueh without feeling like we just consumed six quantities of the same thing.
I look forward to seeing what other unique flavours Mr Bready comes up with in the future. Durian perhaps, or even roasted oolong with almonds?
Expected damage: S$1.80 – S$11 per pax
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12 best stalls at newly-opened Senja Hawker Centre you must try
Price: $
Our Rating: 4 / 5
Mr Bready
159 Mei Chin Road, Mei Ling Market, #02-31, Singapore 140159
Mr Bready
159 Mei Chin Road, Mei Ling Market, #02-31, Singapore 140159
