Chey Sua Carrot Cake: Famous 50-Year-Old Crispy White Carrot Cake Stall In Toa Payoh

Chey Sua Carrot Cake in Toa Payoh has Michelin-approved white carrot cake

A fun fact about me is that despite my love for this dish, I was completely unaware that chai tow kway was made with radish for a good chunk of my childhood. But at Chey Sua Carrot Cake, both carrots and radishes are used to make their carrot cake! Just for the record, I want anyone who corrected me in primary school to know that I wasn’t ignorant━my younger self clearly knew that I’d be eating carrot-infused carrot cake from a stall on the Michelin Bib Gourmand list 10 years in the distant future. 

Chey Sua Carrot Cake has been around for over 50 years, and is run by two sisters who took over the stall from their parents some 30 years ago. Shirley fries the carrot cake, while Grace prepares the ingredients and takes orders.

The only item on the menu is White Carrot Cake ($3/$4/$5), where the kway is made with white radish and red carrot, then fried with chye poh, eggs and rice flour. Chey Sua still makes their carrot cake from scratch, steaming their radish cubes in-stall with aluminium bowls overnight for a firm but tender texture. 

After cubing the steamed kway in her large wok, and giving them a quick fry, Shirley then adds an egg-and-flour mixture. This is then slowly fried in vegetable oil, giving Chey Sua’s carrot cake its signature golden brown, crispy exterior.

You can have your carrot cake with or without their house-made chilli, which you should definitely ask to be added to your order. Smeared on one side of the carrot cake and lightly fried to impart wok hei to the fragrant paste, the chilli is not spicy at all, and its sweetness balances out the savoury carrot cake. I couldn’t get enough of it. 

Choose from small, medium and large portions, with the small portion being just enough for the average diner. All plates come with a sprinkle of chopped spring onions on top as a finishing touch. 

Chey Sua’s carrot cake is a lot thinner than that of other stalls. Turning over the pancake-like slices, you’ll see the small white cubes of kway, with bits of radish and minced carrots peeking out from under the eggy surface. I found the addition of carrots lent a  welcome sweetness to this chai tow kway. 

Their carrot cake is still a little saltier than how I like my white carrot cake, but the overall taste and mix of textures━think crispy outsides, tender kway and crunchy chye poh━had me devouring the plate in a matter of minutes. 

Chey Sua is one of the more popular stalls located in this hawker centre. Coupled with the time required for Shirley to fry each plate to order, you can expect to wait at least half an hour for your carrot cake, even outside of peak breakfast and lunch hours. 

Don’t worry about standing around though, you’ll get a buzzer from Grace and an estimated wait time that allows you to wander around and check out the many gems in Toa Payoh West Market and Food Centre. 

For more carrot cake stalls that we love, read our list of the best fried carrot cake stalls in Singapore so you can have chai tow kway for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Also check out our interview with the hawker behind Bukit Merah View Carrot Cake, a legendary stall that’s been around for over 70 years!

Address: 127 Lorong 1 Toa Payoh, #02-30, Toa Payoh West Market & Food Centre, Singapore 310127
Opening hours: Wed-Sun 6:30am to 1pm
Tel: 6254 6323
Website
Chey Sua Carrot Cake is not a halal-certified eatery but uses no pork or lard. 

Photos taken by John Lery Villanueva.
This was an independent visit by Eatbook.