Malaysia
Singapore
Thailand
When I was trawling through the first floor of Dunman Food Centre, I stumbled upon Say Seng Famous Tau Kwa Pau 正宗生成著名豆干包.
Immediately, the hawker stall caught my attention because I had no idea what tau kwa paus were, and I knew I had to give it a try.
Say Seng Famous Tau Kwa Pau was founded by Khoo Buck Teck in 1959. He first started out by selling duck rice in Katong, but created the tau kwa pau to cater to Peranakan gamblers as the little stuffed beancurd buns looked like little purses bursting with gold.
The stall moved a couple of times before settling down at Dunman Food Centre. Khoo Buck Teck has now retired, and the stall is handled by his son.
When I was queuing to place my order, I couldn’t help but oogle at the trays and trays of golden tau kwa paus on the shelf.
Each Tau Kwa Pau costs S$2, which is pretty affordable considering it comes with chopped braised egg, fish cake, cucumber, fried yam, and more.
It reminded me of kong bak paus because of how the individual beancurd cubes looked stuffed to the brim, and they looked absolutely delicious. I couldn’t wait to try them!
I ordered 2 Tau Kwa Paus and was surprised to see that most of the filling had been scattered around the beancurd cubes.
I had expected the beancurd to be stuffed to the brim with filling—just like how a pau should look like—and I got to admit, I was pretty disappointed.
Nonetheless, the smell of freshly deep-fried tau kwa and the roughly chopped up ingredients was enough to entice me to give it a second chance, and I dug in eagerly.
The tau kwa was deep-fried, so the golden exterior was crispy while the white tofu on the inside was still delightfully soft and silky. Unlike some tau kwa cubes, which might be rubbery and dry, Say Seng Famous Tau Kwa Pau’s version was plump and delicate, which is a sure sign of its freshness.
By itself, tau kwa is quite bland, so here’s how I ended up eating this dish: I cut a thin piece of tau kwa and paired it with a spoonful of chopped ingredients.
I took one bite of the roughly chopped ingredients and I instantly fell in love.
The braised egg bits and fishcake slices were springy and soft, the cucumbers were crunchy and added a freshness to each mouthful, and the fried yam bits were addictively salty. All the ingredients were slathered in a thick braised duck sauce, which was rich and savoury.
To some extent, it made me think of the leftover remnants of seasoning from a bag of potato chips—crunchy, addictive, and indulgent.
When I paired it together with the silky tau kwa slices, it was absolutely divine. By itself, the filling might be too salty, so the silky-smooth tau kwa helped to balance out the savoury flavours.
Be sure to dip the tau kwa in the chilli sauce. Though it might look lethally spicy, it was actually really piquant and citrusy, and added a fresh burst of sourness to each bite.
Say Seng Famous Tau Kwa Pau also sells Duck Meat Platter (S$5 per pax), which comes with braised duck meat, fried yam slices, pig tongue, and pork belly. You can also choose to add Fried Fishballs (S$3) to the platter.
Out of all the ingredients in the meat platter, I loved the fried yam slices the most. It wasn’t crispy—not like it had been deep-fried on the spot—but it was salty and chewy on the outside while the yam was soft and mushy on the inside.
While I wished that the exterior was crispier, like fried yam puffs from my favourite dim sum stall, it was still fried to a glorious golden-brown and reminded me of chunks of deep-fried chicken skin—sinfully yummy, down to the last bite.
I left Say Seng Famous Tau Kwa Pau feeling satiated and not bloated—I thank the fact that there were hardly any carbs in my meal. Tau kwa pau is a simple snack, suitable for breakfast or for any other meal of the day, and I know I’ll definitely be back for more.
Expected Damage: S$1.50 – S$7 per pax
