Chey Sua Carrot Cake

The chance is here! And this time round I was here on a weekday morning in Toa Payoh for a plate of so called one of the best carrot cake in Singapore. In the past I was there in the evening and was rather disappointed as by the time I was there, Chey Sua Carrot Cake Stall was already closed for the business day.
There was no queue in front of the stall which caught me by surprised and immediately i went up and order a medium portion at $ 3 but was asked for a table number. They provide the service to your table and no wonder there was no queue to be seen.
They are one of the few carrot cakes stall left that insist in preparing their own carrot cake from the scratch instead of adopting the factory packed carrot cake. And if you are looking for traditional taste like this, Chey Sua Carrot Cake may suits the list.
Carrot Cake — $ 3 (Medium)
Though most of the Carrot Cake comes in white or Black version, for Chey Sua, their default will be white. I was absolutely surprise when the lady took my order over. Carrot cake was fried to crisp and you can see the distinctively layer and amount of eggs used. The combination of crispiness and softness of their carrot cake was heavenly. Not forgetting about the consistent use of chai bor that had been mixed with the carrot cake, elevating its taste. Unlike the usual carrot cakes we had in rectangular and cube shapes, theirs remind me of Korean Kimchi Pancake.
Spelling another difference in their carrot cake will be the style of chilli used. If you realised, chilli was only a final touchup on the exterior crisp layer. The uniqueness of Chey Sua Carrot Cake had really won my heart! I don’t mind travelling here in the morning for a plate of this again!

I’m not very sure if I’m particularly overwhelmed by this carrot cake. There’s quite a bit of hype over it and when my nomming friend mentioned that you had to wait in excess of 30mins for this dish — I was kind of expecting something a lot more, flavourful.
So, wait we did — and my friend who lives around the area has been to this hawker centre multiple times but only had this carrot cake once because of the extremely long wait time, that I guess is a deterrent to some. As we waited, we ordered other dishes and the friend shared that, it’s really up to the stall owners when you’re going to get your carrot cake and that a lot of people give up after a while.
So when the carrot cake came, I really was expecting something yummy for all that hype and wait that you have to go through. But, it really disappointed. The only thing that I liked about it was the crispy eggy top — which was its saving grace. I wasn’t too excited about the flour kuehs below because it was really too salty and chopped up. I’m more a fan of carrot cake that has rice kuehs that you can bit into and have that smokey wok hei flavor just burst in your mouth.
Overall, I wouldn’t wait for this carrot cake again. There are a lot of other yummy dishes in this hawker centre that you should try.

It is getting quite hard to find a sinfully delicious fried carrot cake. My favorite stall used to be from the market somewhere in Ang Mo Kio where it was fried by a very old auntie (probably in her 70s) in the 2000s. The kueh (steamed carrot cake) was homemade and was the same for the chwee kueh also sold in the stall. It was wobbly soft and could just melt in your mouth.
I have yet to taste something similar ever since. The kueh in most fried carrot cake was firm or hard, like days old kueh. It just was not satisfying.
Chey Sua Carrot Cake almost got the wobbly soft texture. What I like about it was the crispy eggy part which covered the soft kueh underneath. The chili was even distributed and fried together. I really dislike those places where the chili was served on the side.
The wait was long, maybe 30 minutes or more, during lunch time. And it was sold out by 2pm that day.
Go early and order. While waiting for it, order something else to tide you over, and the carrot cake can be a snack to share when it arrives. It is one of the better ones around in the island.

the life of a hawker must be a thankless job.
if your food is good, many people will flood your stall then they will curse as they have to wait long long.
if you rush to meet their insatiable demands, your standards might drop and the queue vanishes.
so…to be or not to be…
here at chey sua, they are the king or queen.
i might be the duke and baron but wait i still must.
btw you only get to wait if they are not closed.
at liberty they open when they want, here they close as and when they want.
so don’t check in until you climb up those stairs and double confirmed that they are indeed open!
even if they are indeed open, do not check in until you know for sure that they have not run out of carrot cake.
even if they indeed have not run out of carrot cake, do not check in until you know the estimated waiting time!
deceptively, there might not be a queue standing in line but trust me, it is a trap.
everyone seating around the stall is in the queue ahead of you!!!
so, if you so happen to still insist on checking in here be prepared to wait in excess of 45 mins on a weekend or holiday.
your best bet for a check in and dukedom might well be an early weekday morning.
and please do not approach the aunty or uncle frying!!!
hawkers at work must not be disturbed.
go to the right hand side of the stall where the ordering takes place.
first words that always comes out of their mouth: MUST WAIT HOR!
normal response would be: how long?
Booooooom comes the answer: VERY LONG!!!
ok, how long is very long?
MORE THAN #@$@#@%%@^&!&!()!!!
ok can.
if you survive that, please do not ask or order the black version!!!
there is no black version here!!!
never was and never will be.
an uncle tried to be funny and ordered black and insisted that they do sell the black version???
kenna he did from them!
black and black face thereafter.
of course i absorbed all these whilst waiting for my one order for takeaway.
and mind you, that is after i finished my come daily hokkien mee for breakfast.
so why is the queue so long?
the process is complicated.
the ‘cake’ has to be fried just right to be crispy on the outside and melt on the inside.
the prep starts at the rear of the stall where another cuts the ‘cake’ into small cubes.
a quick fry in tonnes of oil and the hot ‘cake’ is scooped into a bowl of well beaten eggs to coat with cholesterol before being returned to the pan for more torture.
in goes the chye por and the crisping process starts.
once crisped, it is dished or packed and the token chopped spring onions adorned.
oh wait, that is not mine!
sigh…
the uncle ahead ordered gazillion packets to go!!!
sob…
i sat quietly waiting, as many who ventured forward to ask about their order were shot.
so after a 45 mins wait… i rushed home in a cab with my bounty as i was running late.
you see, i actually ran to chey sua.
anyways, the bottom line is it is crisp.
even though mine was a takeaway packet.
they do indeed put in a lot of hard work to make it so.
and yes, it is a thankless job of splattering hot oil and intense heat.

Read from iEiSiP that this stall’s history is at least 40 years old.
First impression was that their dish is flatter than other carrot cakes; almost like a crêpe.
It’s crispy on the topside and soft below. The chilli is quite sweet. It’s also evident that every ingredient is self-​made — something I really appreciate.
Overall, I wasn’t too overwhelmed despite this stall’s popularity.

There are many good carrot cake stalls in Singapore. Personally, I’ve always preferred the white carrot cake. And one of my favourite stall is in Toa Payoh where I grew up. Similar to Come Daily Hokkien Mee at the same food centre, I have practically grew up with both stalls. And over the years, I also watched the older generation pass the baton on to their younger generation. Fortunately, standards have not dropped one bit.
A good carrot cake to me is a combination of fresh home made carrot cake, eggs and chye poh (pickled radish). Like any other good stall, Chey Sua still makes their own carrot cake. You can see them being portioned out of small aluminium bowls which they have been using since they first opened. What I particularly like about their carrot cake is one side is fried practically to a crisp while the other side is only lightly fried. So what you get is a crispy surface and white carrot cake all the way through. The portion of eggs is generous and the chye poh is just right, not too salty. And of course the chilli is just nice too, not too overpowering or oily.
They are opened from 6am till 1pm everyday except on Mondays. Perfect for a weekend breakfast.