Silky and light tofu custard from QQ Soya Bean Curd. (Makansutra)
By KF Seetoh, makansutra
First there was the bubble tea craze, which fizzled out in a flash not long after making a splashing debut some years back. Then the pork floss bread that took us by storm fled to make a beeline for the roti boy coffee buns. That boy exited the business not long after making a bundle before turning into a teenager. The doughnut chains are still making the rounds, but are raking in much less dough as not as many people are going nuts over it these days.
And now something new is curdling at the Old Airport Road hawker centre. A year and a half ago, one stall decided to offer it and a slow and steady stream of customers began to stream in daily and bear the one hour wait just for it. This form of tau huay has many incarnations in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan with their salty, spicy and gingery versions. But this silky, milky tofu custard here, in the words of some customers in the queue, is "worth the wait, every week".
Li Hui Shing and his wife Hui Ywai Kwai set up Lao Ban Soy Bean Curd, a humble little stall churning out fresh soy bean milk, tamed it with a coffee-mate like milk and malt mixture with a touch of gelatin. They steam, cool then chill it for a few hours before a continuous line of about 30 shows up without fail each day they open.
On average, each person in that queue buys 20 packs of the silky dessert. It comes in two flavours -- plain and almond. Another customer in the queue was too eager to interrupt my conversation with Mdm Hui with a "It does not have that beany taste which I don't like" comment, with another person offering the observation "It's like a cream tofu crème brulee." It's not a milky version of the regular tau huay you get at the usual top stalls sweetened by syrup. This tofu custard comes just as smooth and is already gently sweetened, and, I must admit, the "beaniness" is addictively contained by the milk and malt mixture touch.
Today, two other stalls have slid down that smooth and silky road to milk that success in that same food centre. And at $1.50 to $2 per portion, they are raking it in for now. We preview them before another flood of them pops up over the island....
