Poh Guan Cake House 宝源饼家, Hong Lim Complex

Rarely seen Teochew “black” Kueh in Singapore Chinatown..

Poh Guan Cake House 宝源饼家 is a traditional chinese confectionery, specializes in making traditional biscuits, cakes, Teochew kuehs/snacks, etc in Chinatown. I patronized this confectionery a few times and each time, I will buy their Teochew “black” kueh which also called as Chi Kak Kueh, 鼠壳粿, 鼠曲粿, 鼠麴粿 or 茨殼粿.

I had done some research thru the Internet. The kueh dough was added with juice from a kind of special Chinese herb that made it looks blackish or greenish. This special Chinese herb “Chi Kak leaves” named as 鼠壳草, English named as Gnaphalium affine D. Don or Jersey Cudweed according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnaphalium_affine.

This Teochew Kueh, 鼠壳粿 is a Cháoshàn (潮汕) snack. During festive seasons, the Chaoshan people made this Teochew Kueh to worship their ancestors to remember their hardships. If you want to know more about the legend of this Teochew Kueh, you can go to these two links: http://bbs.zh51home.com/showtopic-103249.aspx and http://www.csrlm.com/bbs/thread-19458-1-6.html.

Poh Guan’s Chi Kak Kueh – 7/10
Poh Guan uses salted green bean paste as the fillings for their Chi Kak Kueh. The Kueh skin texture was soft and thin and I felt the bitterness of the Chinese herb. The filling was generous, a little salty and not too sweet. The overall combination was marvelous.





There are another two also selling Chi Kak Kueh, namely Kuehs and Snacks 老婶阿嬤潮州粿 at Bukit Merah and Yan Sen Cooked Food & Carrot Cake 炎成粿品菜头粿 at Tekka Market and Food Centre. I tried their Chi Kak Kuehs too. I will post my review on their Chi Kak Kuehs soon. Look out ya.



Address:
Poh Guan Cake House
(in front of Hong Lim Hawker Centre)
Blk 531Upper Cross Street
#01-57
Hong Lim Complex
Singapore 050531

Tel: 6534 0136