Literally translating to "sugar water" in English, tong sui is a collective term for a sweet, warm soup or custard served as a dessert at the end of a Cantonese meal. The range of the quintessential Cantonese dessert is vast but here are some of the more popular variants: walnut, peanut or black sesame paste, sweet mango pudding paired with sago (chewy beads made with tapioca flour) and white fungus cooked down with chunks of papaya.
Here are five stalls we frequent for traditional Cantonese desserts.
Here are five stalls we frequent for traditional Cantonese desserts.
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Ah Chew Desserts
Liang Seah Place, 1 Liang Seah Street, #01-10/11
Opening hours: 12.30pm to midnight, Mon to Fri. 1.30pm to midnight, Sat & Sun.
Expect long queues after meals and requests to share tables. The service at Ah Chew on a Friday night is brisk but the crowd doesn't take a toll on the quality of their desserts. The menu here is extensive; customers can choose from a bowl of black sesame paste to walnut, white fungus and papaya sweet soup to a steamed milk custard. Slightly more unconventional but equally popular are their durian and watermelon sago.
Liang Seah Place, 1 Liang Seah Street, #01-10/11
Opening hours: 12.30pm to midnight, Mon to Fri. 1.30pm to midnight, Sat & Sun.
Expect long queues after meals and requests to share tables. The service at Ah Chew on a Friday night is brisk but the crowd doesn't take a toll on the quality of their desserts. The menu here is extensive; customers can choose from a bowl of black sesame paste to walnut, white fungus and papaya sweet soup to a steamed milk custard. Slightly more unconventional but equally popular are their durian and watermelon sago.
Traditional sweet soup of white fungus and papaya
Mei Heong Yuen Dessert
63-67 Temple Street, Chinatown
Opening hours: 12pm to 9.30pm, daily. Closed on Mondays.
Mei Heong Yuen Dessert on Temple Street is somewhat of an institution with regular customers from all three generations paying them a visit. They've evolved with the times and expanded their menu of traditional Cantonese desserts to include some modern-day concoctions. Their towering structures of shaved ice ($5 onwards) doused in various syrups are a feast for the eyes but what we're really after is their humble-looking pastes. Silky-smooth, thick and flavourful, their pastes come in four flavours: peanut, walnut, almond and black sesame ($3.50 each).
Ren Ren Desserts
Siglap Centre, 55 Siglap Road, #B1-23
Opening hours: 1.30pm to 7.30pm, daily. Closed on Mon & Fri.
The crowd at this nondescript eatery is made up mostly of regulars who have followed them over from Katong Shopping Centre when they shifted earlier this year. Desserts are naturally a specialty of theirs; their black sesame and almond pastes, bean curd with ginko nuts and coffee puddings are some of their signatures. But if you're looking for some savoury snacks to accompany your sweet soups, there's also chee cheong fun (steamed rice rolls), bak zhang (glutinous rice dumplings) and yam cakes just to name a few.
63-67 Temple Street, Chinatown
Opening hours: 12pm to 9.30pm, daily. Closed on Mondays.
Mei Heong Yuen Dessert on Temple Street is somewhat of an institution with regular customers from all three generations paying them a visit. They've evolved with the times and expanded their menu of traditional Cantonese desserts to include some modern-day concoctions. Their towering structures of shaved ice ($5 onwards) doused in various syrups are a feast for the eyes but what we're really after is their humble-looking pastes. Silky-smooth, thick and flavourful, their pastes come in four flavours: peanut, walnut, almond and black sesame ($3.50 each).
Ren Ren Desserts
Siglap Centre, 55 Siglap Road, #B1-23
Opening hours: 1.30pm to 7.30pm, daily. Closed on Mon & Fri.
The crowd at this nondescript eatery is made up mostly of regulars who have followed them over from Katong Shopping Centre when they shifted earlier this year. Desserts are naturally a specialty of theirs; their black sesame and almond pastes, bean curd with ginko nuts and coffee puddings are some of their signatures. But if you're looking for some savoury snacks to accompany your sweet soups, there's also chee cheong fun (steamed rice rolls), bak zhang (glutinous rice dumplings) and yam cakes just to name a few.
For a dessert that’s so elegant, black sesame soup is surprisingly easy to make. All you need is rice, black sesame seeds and sugar.
115 Tang Shui
Chinatown Complex Food Centre, Blk 335 Smith Street, #02-206
Opening hours: 7.30am to 5pm, daily. Closed on Tuesdays.
While tong sui is Cantonese for 'sweet soup', tang shui is the Mandarin equivalent. At 115 Tang Shui, the recipes for their traditional Cantonese desserts have remained largely unchanged since 1966. Customers that visit the stall can catch a glimpse of their stone grinder, which has been faithfully grinding up the nuts and seeds used in their pastes for 42 years. Today, a third-generation hawker is at the helm. While the recipe for their signature pastes remains status quo, owner Fabian Toh has amped up the stall's initiatives to remain current, partnering with food delivery service providers such as UberEats and Honest Bee to deliver fresh tang shui to customers. Their Facebook page also shares videos on how navigate the labyrinth of stalls at Chinatown Complex Food Centre to find them.
Gong He Guan
28 Upper Cross Street
Opening hours: 10.30am to 10.30pm, daily.
Adding to the saturated mix of Cantonese tong sui spots in the Chinatown vicinity is Gong He Guan on Upper Cross Street but they've also got another outlet on Geylang Road. The steamed fresh milk is one of their specialties as is the rock melon sago (both $3.80). Prices for their pastes begin at $2.50 for a standard bowl and fret not if you can't decide on one flavour, customers may choose to mix two in a bowl for the same price.
Chinatown Complex Food Centre, Blk 335 Smith Street, #02-206
Opening hours: 7.30am to 5pm, daily. Closed on Tuesdays.
While tong sui is Cantonese for 'sweet soup', tang shui is the Mandarin equivalent. At 115 Tang Shui, the recipes for their traditional Cantonese desserts have remained largely unchanged since 1966. Customers that visit the stall can catch a glimpse of their stone grinder, which has been faithfully grinding up the nuts and seeds used in their pastes for 42 years. Today, a third-generation hawker is at the helm. While the recipe for their signature pastes remains status quo, owner Fabian Toh has amped up the stall's initiatives to remain current, partnering with food delivery service providers such as UberEats and Honest Bee to deliver fresh tang shui to customers. Their Facebook page also shares videos on how navigate the labyrinth of stalls at Chinatown Complex Food Centre to find them.
Gong He Guan
28 Upper Cross Street
Opening hours: 10.30am to 10.30pm, daily.
Adding to the saturated mix of Cantonese tong sui spots in the Chinatown vicinity is Gong He Guan on Upper Cross Street but they've also got another outlet on Geylang Road. The steamed fresh milk is one of their specialties as is the rock melon sago (both $3.80). Prices for their pastes begin at $2.50 for a standard bowl and fret not if you can't decide on one flavour, customers may choose to mix two in a bowl for the same price.
