Ask me about my favourite local breakfast dish, and I would answer “black carrot cake” without hesitation. I mean, just think of those soft radish bits with a slightly crispy exterior, mixed with egg, chye poh, and chilli, then infused with sweet soy sauce and a mighty dose of wok hei. If that isn’t breakfast perfection, then I don’t know what is.
Now that Eatbook is putting out ranked listicles semi-regularly, I thought: what better way to show my love for carrot cake than to create one for it?
10 stalls, many plates of carrot cake, and countless existential crises later (turns out eating so much chai tow kway in a row is bad for your physical and mental health), I’ve managed to rank the 10 best black carrot cake in Singapore.
Black carrot cake is deceptively simple—I say this because there are a lot of elements that go into this messily constructed dish. For the sake of clarity, however, my criteria is broken down into four basic categories.
Texture: How the mouthfeel of the radish bits and eggs affects the dish as a textural whole
Sweet/savoury balance: We don’t want our black carrot cake to be too sweet. It should be equal parts sweet and savoury.
Wok hei factor: Is there noticeable wok hei?
Chilli: Doesn’t have to be the fieriest. Its taste is the most important thing here.
All picks on this list are evaluated based on these categories.
At Telok Blangah Food Centre, one carrot cake stall has been the dominant force for the last 30 years: Yuan Cheng Fried Carrot Cake. The very nice lady who owns the stall is the sister of the man behind Bukit Merah View Carrot Cake, another entry on this list. You could say that chai tow kway runs in that family.
Yuan Cheng prides itself on only using vegetable oil, which makes its rendition healthier than your average plate of carrot cake. The aromatic, sweet soy sauce and generous amount of egg here impressed, yet never crossed into jelak-territory. And with the good amount of chye poh, a decent sweet-savoury balance was achieved. I also had no complaints about the texture.
Unfortunately, what this plate lacked was a strong wok hei flavour. That, plus the somewhat mild chilli, meant that a wow factor was sorely missed.
Still, at $3.50 a plate, this was a solid plate of black carrot cake.
Texture: 3/5
Sweet/savoury balance: 3.5/5
Wok hei factor: 1/5
Chilli: 3/5
Total: 52.5%
Address: 79 Telok Blangah Drive, #01-33, Telok Blangah Food Centre, Singapore 100079
Opening hours: Fri-Wed, 4am to 2pm
Yuan Cheng Fried Carrot Cake is not a halal-certified eatery.
While our previous entry was ahead of the pack in its area, Hock Soon Carrot Cake is not the most famous stall of its ilk at Ghim Moh Road Market & Food Centre—that title goes to Ghim Moh Carrot Cake, which you’ll read more about later in this list. That doesn’t stop Hock Soon from having plenty of patrons, though.
The most prominent thing about Hock Soon’s black carrot cake was its spicy kick. The chilli cut through each radish bit with ease, so much so that its piquant notes hit me before the sweet-savoury flavours did. Overall, the dish leaned much more savoury than sweet.
Texture was its fatal flaw. Each bit of radish was thicker than usual and overly floury. It also didn’t have that slight bounciness that top-tier carrot cake has.
A plate here starts from $3.50. If you’re in the mood for other dishes as well, Hock Soon also offers satay, otah, and rojak.
Texture: 2/5
Sweet/savoury balance: 2/5
Wok hei factor: 3/5
Chilli: 4/5
Total: 55%
Address: 20 Ghim Moh Road, #01-29, 20 Ghim Moh Road Market & Food Centre, Singapore 270020
Opening hours: Mon 6am to 12pm, Tue-Sun 6am to 7pm
Hock Soon Carrot Cake is not a halal-certified eatery.
The first thing you’ll notice about Lau Goh Teochew Chye Thow Kway is that the husband and wife duo who run the stall are partially deaf, so orders are made by pointing to the dish you want—or by lip reading, if your mask is off. The second thing you’ll notice is how good the carrot cake here looks.
Lau Goh’s black carrot cake was definitely on the sweeter side of things, but not excessively so. There was a good amount of egg in this dish, which was fried to a nice crispy texture. This contrasted the soft and bouncy radish bits quite nicely.
Meanwhile, the mild chilli and lack of prominent wok hei left me feeling a little bored with this chai tow kway. Like with Yuan Cheng Fried Carrot Cake, the plate in front of me was perfectly serviceable—there just wasn’t anything memorable about it.
And from $6 a plate, this is one of the pricier stalls on this list. The stall seems to have plenty of fans, though, so don’t let me discourage you from checking it out.
Texture: 4/5
Sweet/savoury balance: 3.5/5
Wok hei factor: 2/5
Chilli: 2.5/5
Total: 60%
Address: 70 Zion Road, #01-26, Zion Riverside Food Centre, Singapore 247792
Opening hours: Wed-Mon 12pm to 2:30pm, 3:45pm to 9pm
Lau Goh Teochew Chye Thow Kway is not a halal-certified eatery.
When it comes to fried carrot cake in the East, a name you’ll often hear crop up is Song Zhou Luo Bo Gao, which you’ll find at Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre.
The rich dark colour of Song Zhou’s black carrot cake seemed to imply that it was very well-caramelised—and sure enough, it was. The fragrant black sauce lent the dish a good sweetness, while a strong wok hei flavour and chilli kick gave the dish plenty of zing. Copious chye poh added crunch and savoury goodness, helping to balance the sweetness of black sauce pretty well.
Song Zhou chops its radish mix into small, fine bits, as you can see in the pictures above. That on its own is fine if its mouthfeel is excellent, but sadly, the bits here were a little too floury and even somewhat rubbery. Egg was relatively sparse in this dish as well, meaning this plate lacked textural variety.
One plate starts from $3.50. There’s also a $6 option that sees prawns mixed in with your chai tow kway.
Texture: 2/5
Sweet/savoury balance: 4/5
Wok hei factor: 4/5
Chilli: 3.5/5
Total: 67.5%
Address: 208B New Upper Changi Road, #01-37, Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre, Singapore 462208
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 6:30am to 8pm
Song Zhou Luo Bo Gao is not a halal-certified eatery.
As mentioned in an earlier entry, Ghim Moh Carrot Cake is the most well-known carrot cake stall at Ghim Moh Road Market & Food Centre. And for good reason—Ghim Moh serves chai tow kway that boasts superb flavour.
But that comes with some caveats. The carrot cake had a very strong wok hei taste, rich sweetness, and piquant chilli, but the dish became quite jelak after a while. Its almost overt sweetness may appeal to some, but that negatively impacted its sweet and savoury balance. Still, in terms of tastiness, you’d be hard-pressed to find better carrot cake.
Texture-wise, well-fried eggs and crunchy chye poh aided the tender and springy radish cubes well.
A plate of black carrot cake here starts from $3.50—a small price to pay for a great deal of flavour.
Texture: 4/5
Sweet/savoury balance: 2/5
Wok hei factor: 4.5/5
Chilli: 3.5/5
Total: 70%
Address: 20 Ghim Moh Road, #01-16, 20 Ghim Moh Road Market & Food Centre, Singapore 270020
Opening hours: Wed-Fri 6:30am to 1pm, Sat-Sun 6:30am to 2pm
Ghim Moh Carrot Cake is not a halal-certified eatery.
If your reaction to the image above is “wow, that’s a lot of egg”, you’d be right in thinking that, as Geylang Traditional Carrot Cake at Upper Boon Keng Market & Food Centre was by far the most generous with that ingredient. I witnessed them pour egg after egg into the chai tow kway mix, and this gave the dish a very fluffy texture.
The radish bits themselves were bouncy, with that bit of crispiness around them. They were infused in a fragrant dark sauce that, though a tad too sweet, went well with the strong wok hei, savoury chye poh, and decent chilli.
Even though I got the cheapest option at $3, it still felt more like a black carrot cake omelette than your usual chai tow kway. And I loved that.
Texture: 4.5/5
Sweet/savoury balance: 3/5
Wok hey factor: 4/5
Chilli: 3/5
Total: 72.5%
Address: 17 Upper Boon Keng Road, #01-21, Upper Boon Keng Food Centre, Singapore 380017
Opening hours: Mon-Thurs 6:30am to 12pm, Sat 6:30am to 12pm
Geylang Traditional Carrot Cake is not a halal-certified eatery.
Bukit Merah View Carrot Cake has almost legendary status among carrot cake fans. The stall has been around since the 1950s, and now operates in Bukit Merah View Market & Hawker Centre. For the longest time, its owner milled rice grains himself to make carrot cake, but he’s since switched to the factory-made stuff. That doesn’t mean its texture has taken a big hit, however, as the factory the owner orders from still mills the rice themselves.
The use of milled rice instead of rice flour, which is what many carrot cake stalls use nowadays, gave each radish bit here a firm yet pillowy mouthfeel. The fact that each bit was a large rectangular chunk also made it a joy to chew.
Its flavour was remarkably well-balanced, too, with the right amount of sweetness, savouriness and spiciness.
There’s plenty of history in a single plate of carrot cake here, which starts from $3.50. You can read our interview with its owner here.
Texture: 5/5
Sweet/savoury balance: 4.5/5
Wok hei factor: 3.5/5
Chilli: 3/5
Total: 80%
Address: 115 Bukit Merah View, #01-37, Bukit Merah View Market & Hawker Centre, Singapore 151115
Opening hours: Daily 6am to 2pm, 4pm to 8pm (hours may vary)
Bukit Merah View Carrot Cake is not a halal-certified eatery.
Hai Sheng Carrot Cake at Bendemeer Market & Food Centre is the most underrated pick on this list. It isn’t even on Google Maps. More people should know about it, though, as it offers the most unique-tasting black carrot cake that I’ve had.
You’ll notice that this “black” carrot cake here seems more red than anything. That’s the mark of Hai Sheng’s chilli, which was very flavourful and piquant. Add the ridiculous amount of chye poh to the mix and you have an incredibly tasty plate of carrot cake.
Despite the notable savouriness, however, this plate still had that bit of dark sauce sweetness that levelled things quite well.
Hai Sheng’s carrot cake performed above average in the texture and wok hei categories, but really, it was its superb flavour that won me over.
With prices starting from $2, this is also the most affordable entry on this list. There’s no reason not to try Hai Sheng’s carrot cake.
Texture: 3.5/5
Sweet/savoury balance: 4.5/5
Wok hei factor: 3.5/5
Chilli: 5/5
Total: 82.5%
Address: 29 Bendemeer Road, #01-85, Bendemeer Market & Food Centre, Singapore 330029
Opening hours: Daily 6am to 11am
Hai Sheng Carrot Cake is not a halal-certified eatery.
Fu Ming Cooked Food, AKA the “Mickey Mouse” carrot cake stall, was awarded the Michelin Bib Gourmand as recently as 2022. I think that says it all.
The radish bits here varied greatly in size—some were minuscule, while others were relatively large. At the same time, they were all consistently soft, chewy, and downright delicious.
The wok hei presence here was just outstanding, and the chilli’s spicy kick complemented the whole dish without stealing the show. Those savoury pieces of chye poh and irresistible sweet soy sauce were the cherry on top.
You’ll be able to get an exceptional plate of carrot cake here from just $3. As for why it’s called the “Mickey Mouse” stall, it’s because the Disney character adorns its signboard. I’d say that when it comes to carrot cake, Fu Ming is almost as iconic as Mickey himself.
Texture: 4/5
Sweet/savoury balance: 4.5/5
Wok hei factor: 5/5
Chilli: 4/5
Total: 87.5%
Address: 85 Redhill Lane, #01-49, Singapore 150085
Opening hours: Wed-Fri 11am to 7:30pm, Sat 12:30pm to 8pm, Sun 7:30am to 1:30pm
Fu Ming Cooked Food is not a halal-certified eatery.
My number one pick simply calls itself Fried Carrot Cake, as if it were the Platonic ideal of chai tow kway. But if my visit to the stall at Clementi 448 Market & Food Centre was anything to go by, perhaps that isn’t far from the truth.
This plate of black carrot cake was just brilliantly constructed. It checked all the boxes: the soft and fluffy radish bits, the slightly crispy eggs, the savoury chye poh and chilli, and the sweet soy sauce. And yet despite all those elements vying for my attention, it all came together harmoniously.
Simply put, it was perfectly balanced, as all things should be.
From $4, you’d be able to get what is, in my humble opinion, the best black carrot cake in Singapore.
Texture: 4.5/5
Sweet/savoury balance: 5/5
Wok hei factor: 4.5/5
Chilli: 4.5/5
Total: 92.5%
Address: Blk 448 Clementi Avenue 3, #01-45, Clementi 448 Market & Food Centre, Singapore 120448
Opening hours: Tue-Thurs 6am to 4pm, Sat 6am to 3pm, Sun 6:30am to 3pm
Fried Carrot Cake is not a halal-certified eatery.
These were my opinions on the 10 great carrot cake stalls in Singapore. Like with all ranked listicles, they are purely subjective, so don’t be too fussed if your favourite stall is not on this list!
For more local food, check out our ranked list of 10 best old-school waffles in Singapore. For delicious food in Bukit Batok, have a look at our list of 13 Bukit Batok food gems!
Photos taken by Chew Yi En.
This was an independent listicle by Eatbook.sg.
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