Oyster Boy 蠔小子 (Golden Mile Food Centre)

A great snack to grab from the food centre, available in both original or prawn options.

The original option filled with the oysters, prawn, minced pork and parsley. While the prawn option is just adding more prawn into it.

It has a very crispy outer layer as you bite on it, while inside is soft with lots of ingredients.

Super crispy and thin pastry which is perfect. 2 oysters and prawns and juicy meat. Can’t get enough. Can’t believe the owner has only been working on the product for 6 months. Well done!

Caught wind of the Oyster Bay that is located at Golden Mile Food Centre whilst scrolling through social media one day and made a mental note to make a physical visit to the stall. Located at the first level of Golden Mile Food Centre, Oyster Bay takes over the former premises of the now-defunct CAN’s Classic Pao Fan — the stall being neighbours with Golden Mile Curry Rice which saw a queue when we made our visit to Oyster Bay. Sporting a blue-coloured signage, Oyster Bay’s signboard does stand out from that of its neighbours; pretty attention-grabbing with its distinct colours. Being a stall that focuses on serving up oyster cakes, Oyster Bay serves up three variations of oyster cakes — there is the Original, as well as a Prawn and a Minced Pork rendition being offered; the Prawn featuring more prawns in place of the oysters, while the Minced Pork sees more minced pork in place of both of the prawns and the oysters. All variations of the Oyster Cake at Oyster Bay are sold at $3 a piece, and the stall claims that the oyster cakes are freshly-made upon order (a claim which holds true based on our experience during our visit). Chili sauce in packets as well as in a squeeze bottle are available on the did for patrons to help themselves with.

Considering how this was our very first visit to Oyster Bay, we found ourselves ordering the Original Oyster Cake — this would see the oyster cake come with prawns, oysters and parsley. Upon ordering, the staff behind the counter can be seen layering the batter on the ladle; that would be before lining the batter with a layer of minced pork and parsley. He then places the prawns and oysters over the minced pork and parsley — three pieces of prawns and two pieces of oysters to be exact, before spreading another layer of batter and topping that off with white bait; we did notice how the variation of the oyster cake here comes thoughtfully without peanuts. The ladle then goes into the deep-fryer at the side for the oyster cake to be deep-fried before serving. Considering how each other is prepared and freshly-fried only upon order, one would need to expect some waiting time for the oyster cakes to be done. Taking a bite into the oyster cake, we noted how crisp the oyster cake is — their oyster cake was also not particularly greasy as well; not totally free from it, but not as sinful as it would be as compared to some others we had tried. The batter here is also fairly thin; encases the minced pork filling nicely without having empty pockets of air within; some may comment on how there isn’t enough minced pork filling but we did feel that they managed to put the highlight on the prawns and oysters here. Whilst the minced pork and parsley filling provided a meaty bite and a slight zing that cuts through all the elements, we really loved how the prawns were plump and fresh — carrying a natural sweetness of its own while the oysters were suitably briny; a good balance achieved between all the elements included. We also felt that this was one of the least jelat oyster cakes that we have come across; perhaps attributed to the thin batter and how it didn’t feel excessively greasy like how other oyster cakes have been for us.

There has been an uprising for oyster cakes in recent years even though it has been seen as a dying craft for a period of time — the resurgence of the item could likely be attributed to how the average folk seems to be more educated on heritage food these days, as well as an oyster cake stall that operates as a pop-up stall in night markets (i.e. Pasar malam) around. COVID-19 has also caused some of such pop-up stalls to have found a permanent space, though there are some that had also reverted back to operations as pop-up stalls around night markets with the lifting of safety management measures since then. With the emphasis being much on their freshly-prepared oyster cakes, the folks behind Oyster Bay does seem like those who are obsessed with the quality of the food that they serve up — there are a lot of intricate details that go into the preparation of the Oyster Cakes here; that balance achieved between all of the elements within the oyster cake is a testament to that. Ensuring how the oyster cake comes with just enough of everything whilst remaining as a light snack that it should have been, the Original Oyster Cake that we have had was especially well-executed — not to mention that it also tasted free of any undesirable stench of overused oil; another detail that seems to be well taken care of here. One could only imagine the amount of effort that these humble folks have went through to come up with that recipe after all the research and development — all that just to bring patrons what would be their best attempt of the heritage dish to be served to patrons fresh; nothing less than being piping hot. We aren’t usually fans of oyster cakes but Oyster Bay’s rendition was one that went well with our preferences — definitely one to add to the list of places to try!