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If you’re residing in Kuala Lumpur, you’ll probably be familiar with Tai Zi Ta, a little bakery located in Taman Muda Ampang that has been serving freshly-baked, piping hot mini egg tarts since 1996, and has been using the same recipe ever since.
Customers file in and out on a daily basis especially for their egg tarts. The owners make hundreds of them every day— it’s really that addictive. In fact, they are so in demand that customers drop-by to ask for the time they can get their hands on fresh batches, and then come back to pick them up.
Tai Zi Ta offers 5 different types of tarts: their famous Mini Egg Tarts, Mini Thai Pineapple Tarts, Mini Tuna Tarts, Mini Apple Tarts and Mini Coconut Tarts. The mini tarts were sold at only RM0.50 before the price went up to RM0.70, then RM0.90 and today, each mini tart costs RM1 a piece.
They also sell Kaya Puffs— Big Kaya Puff (RM2.70) and Mini Kaya Puff (RM1) along with a Seremban favourite, Siew Pau (RM2.70).
You can mix and match the tarts in a box, 6 mini tarts for RM6 and 10 pieces for RM10. I opted for 6 pieces of the mini tarts. Unfortunately, the Mini Tuna Tarts and Mini Apple Tarts were already sold out for the day— just my luck.
What I tried at Tai Zi Ta
I started off with their OG, the famous Mini Egg Tart. I must admit that they really live up to their ‘mini’ name. I noticed that as soon as I picked up a piece, the tart was extremely flaky, and it was quite a messy affair.
The egg tart is probably the flakiest egg tart you will ever come across in Klang Valley. Made freshly every day, the egg tart is exceedingly crispy and pleasing to your taste buds. The filling wasn’t very sweet and tasted rather mild.
The mini size made it easy and convenient to pop into your mouth, which made it even more addictive. I then understood why customers bought the Mini Egg Tarts by the box.
Next was the Mini Coconut Tart. Just like the Mini Egg Tart, this tart had a crisp, tender and buttery short crust pastry. The filling was really interesting as it had a moist, custard-coated grated coconut filling. If you enjoy coconut-based desserts, this will definitely hit the spot.
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Moving on to the Mini Kaya Puff, I sliced it into half to have a clearer look at the kaya filling and boy, was I pleased. There was an extremely generous slab of kaya spread sandwiched in the centre of the pastry.
Once again, the bakers at Tai Zi Ta hit perfection. The pastry is so crisp, buttery and flaky. This is proof that the recipe is unsparing with butter. The kaya filling is homemade so it’s not extremely sweet. Score!
I saved my favourite baked treat for last, the Siew Pau or baked pork bun. The Siew Pau definitely looked enticing with the minced pork filling oozing out.
In addition, the filling of the buns appeared finer in texture and was sweeter. If you like your buns on the sweet side, this is the siew pau for you. It felt like heaven biting into the pillowy soft golden brown bread which encased a sweet and savoury BBQ pork filling.
Final thoughts
If you’re planning to head down to Tai Zi Ta, I recommend that you get there early or you’d be in the same boat as I was— unable to get my hands on 2 other tarts. I suggest you get a whole box of just the Mini Egg Tarts cause it’s the perfect tea time snack— you’ll be popping them like pills!
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