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Was scrolling through social media and found out about a Lian Hup Heng that seemed to have just recently opened its doors at Amoy Street Food Centre. Not much has been mentioned in its social media pages, though it seems to be a bakery as suggested by their Instagram handle with the bio indicating that they serve up cakes, cookies, tarts and pastries. Turns out, Lian Hup Heng is actually situated at the second level of Amoy Street Food Centre; there are located in the same row of stalls which Daylight Coffee and Han Kee Fish Soup are located in the food centre. On first look, Lian Hup Heng already does give off some rather hipster vibes especially with the choice of colours and font type which they have opted for their signboard — a very bright, red colour signboard with a font that has a typeface similar to that of Comic Sans in a way. One will also notice the display cabinet that is stocked with the various bakes and pastries which are available for the day at the storefront — something that quite reminded us of Cat in the Hat Bakery at Golden Mile Food Centre; the range of bakes that are offered on the day of our visit includes a number of tarts, brownies, croissants, as well as financiers. Having been attracted by what Lian Hup Heng has to offer when we skimmed through the lineup of bakes on a visit made to Amoy Street Food Centre by chance, we found ourselves going for both the Orh Nee Tart (i.e. Yam Paste Tart) and the Almond Financier; the former being due to us being lovers of anything with yam / taro, while the latter was to give more of what they have to offer a try. It is noted that Lian Hup Heng does not actually have plates (disposable or non-disposable) to serve their bakes for dine-in; all orders would be served in a cardboard takeaway box by default.
Between the two items that we have tried, the item that left the strongest impression for us was undoubtedly the Orh Nee Tart — it was difficult not to be attracted by this offering even from how it looks; the Orh Nee filling here looks all smooth and luscious and is definitely so in terms of the texture and mouthfeel that it brings. The Orh Nee filling is also noted to come with an evident earthiness that is all reminiscent to the actual Orh Nee that one would come across in Chinese restaurants; it is also moist enough and thus not too dense nor difficult to swallow, nor did it felt overly sweet either. The Gingko Nuts help to add a slight hint of bitterness and a soft bite that cuts through the earthiness; a classic combination even for the usual Orh Nee that is served up at Chinese restaurants all around. The tart base was actually pretty well-executed; even better than some of the tarts that we have come across at specialty coffee joints or at some artisanal patisseries — holds up well to the fillings without being soggy, while being crisp without shattering into a mess with crumbs all over the place. Meanwhile, the Almond Financiers are decent; not overly greasy too a little bit on the dense side — not too sweet with a slight crispness coming from the toasted almond flakes over the top. Overall, with their bakes being priced below $4 an item — these are some pretty well-executed bakes that matches well against what some cafes and artisanal patisseries offer; the sizes being albeit smaller but the pricing of the items does seem to take that into account anyway. Given the circumstances and our impression of the items that we have had, it does seem like Lian Hup Heng is a name to keep a lookout for in the F&B scene in the long run!
