Top Local Desserts For Kids
If you’re not on the local desserts scene, we’ve run the circuit for you. We totally stuffed our faces and licked plates clean all in the name of research, to bring you our top local sweets for kids. Just don’t eat them all at once!
Kueh Tutu
Made from rice flour and filled with either ground peanuts or desiccated coconut, preparing this sweetie involves rapid steaming of flour and filling. Served on pandan leaves (hello again) for added fragrance, this treat is best eaten fresh off the steamer. The Malay version – known as Putu Piring – is equally good, but filled with gula melaka (palm sugar) instead.
Try either Tan’s Tu Tu Coconut Cakes, Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre and Clementi, or Traditional Haig Road Putu Piring, #01-08 Haig Road Food Centre, 14 Haig Road, Singapore 430014, p. 9688 3067. Open 11am-10pm daily.
Ice Cream Pushcarts
If you’ve been to Orchard Road, you would have seen an uncle with a pushcart outside Takashimaya doling this goodie out, especially to the many tourists. Blocks of ice cream aren’t exactly local, but the way we eat it – sandwiched between crispy thin wafers or traditional colourful bread – is uniquely Singaporean.
Try it anywhere you see it! We highly recommend having it with the bread.
Gulab Jamun
Originating from North India, this delectable dessert basically consists of fried milk or cheese dumplings soaked in spice-flavoured syrup (usually cardamom). It tastes better when eaten warm – yep, chalk up another one on the scoreboard for non-icy desserts.
Try either Delhi Restaurant, Race Course Road and Serangoon Road, see here for more details, or Maharajah North Indian Restaurant, Boat Quay and Somerset, see here for more details.
Soya Beancurd
Affectionately known locally as tau huay (that’s Hokkien), this Singapore favourite underwent a revival two years ago. The traditional version is served hot or cold, with clear, sweet syrup to flavor the curd, while the newer version is more pudding-like, served chilled in a plastic container, and comes in a variety of flavours. The drink incarnation, best enjoyed with a stick of you tiao (fried doughstick), is no less indulgent.
Try either Rochor Original Beancurd, 2 Short Street, Singapore 188211, p. 6741 7358, open Mon-Thu 11am-1am, Fri 11am-3am, Sat 12pm-3am, Sun 12pm-1am, or Lao Ban Soya Beancurd, #01-127 Old Airport Road Hawker Centre, 51 Old Airport Road, Singapore 390051, p, 81812201. Open Tue-Sat 11am-8pm, Sun 130pm-8pm.
Cendol
We imported this icy, milky dessert from Indonesia, and it has been a staple on the hawker scene ever since. The basic ingredients include coconut milk, jelly in a green noodle form (we’re sure the littlies will love slurping them up), shaved ice, and gula melaka (we love this, if you haven’t already noticed), although you might find corn, red beans, or grass jelly in some variations.
Try Cendol Geylang Serai, #02-107 Geylang Serai Food Centre, 1 Geylang Serai, Sinagpore 402001, or Tambuah Mas, Tanglin Shopping Centre and Paragon, see here for more details.
Images: Facebook.