Friends Bakery

Soft, pillowy bread

This bakery in Serangoon North is small and the range is tight. The bread and cakes are freshly made at its sister outlet, also called Friends Bakery, in Sumang Walk in Punggol and delivered daily.

The bakery is a pork-free one, using chicken for the ham and sausages in its buns.

My top pick is the decadent Chocolate Swiss Roll ($5.50).

Lovers of the old-school Swiss roll will like the version here. The cake is velvety soft and generously slathered with butter cream. The entire cake is bathed in chocolate rice.

For those who prefer savoury over sweet, the Takoyaki Bun ($1.50) is a safe bet. Its topping of chicken ham and bonito flakes is heavily drizzled in cheese and mayonnaise. I like how the bread is so soft and chewy.

Another popular item is the auspiciously shaped figure of eight Vienna Bun, which has a coating of crispy toasted cheese flakes and fluffy bread encasing the chicken sausage.

The bakery makes its own curry filling for the Curry Bun ($1.50), which is creamy with potato, with a touch of heat in the aromatic curry. There is supposed to be chicken in the filling but I cannot detect any. 

Missing my Rotiboy from Johor Bahru, the Coffee Bun ($1.50) is a valiant substitute, with its superbly aromatic coffee flavour and a layer of melted butter in the bread, near the top. The top is softly crisp and the bread is pillowy, but it makes me miss the real Rotiboy.

The spiral-shaped Chocolate Tornado Bun ($1.50) is one of the sweeter offerings, with semi-sweet chocolate chips in the topping.

What I like most about Friends Bakery is that the buns and cakes are moderately sweet. 

The bakery has a Char Siu Bun ($1.50), which is inspired by the bolo bun, with a butter sugar egg crust. But it is not crusty enough and the reddish chicken char siu filling fails to thrill me. I will give that a miss next time.

Where: Friends Bakery, 01-328 Block 152 Serangoon North Avenue 1
MRT: Kovan
Open: 6.30am to 9.30pm daily
Tel: 9184-6569

Ploythai Kitchen

Affordable Thai fare

Upper Serangoon Crescent is a large cul-de-sac that houses Parkland Residences. Ploythai Kitchen is a small coffee shop stall located at Rong Yuan Coffeeshop, in the same block as the multi-storey carpark. 

It is worth the hassle of getting here for the affordably priced and generously portioned Thai stir-fry dishes and Thai Style Kway Chap ($6).

Stall owner Nachatchadaporn Sirimueang, 51, better known by her nickname, Ploy, is a Thai Chinese from Nong Khai province in Isan, north-east Thailand. Her mother is Teochew and influenced her love of braised pork trotters.

It was Ploy’s signature dish when she was the head cook at Thai food stall Pong Cheer Cheer in Defu Lane, which she left in May. 

The following month, she started Ploythai Kitchen where she reprises her signature dishes such as Thai Style Braised Pork Trotter ($18) and Thai Style Kway Chap ($6), using imported Chinese five spice powder from Thailand. 

For her kway chap, she uses triangular sheets of rice noodle imported from Thailand, which are thinner, smoother and pricier than locally produced version.

Cooked in the broth, the lustrous, translucent rice noodle sheets curl up into spirals, but are springy and soak up the tasty broth without turning mushy. 

Ploy uses the rice noodle sheets for her Pad Ki Mao Kway Teow ($6) and Fried Kway Teow ($6) too.

Horapha (Thai holy basil) and torn fresh Thai lime leaves perfume the Pad Ki Mao Kway Teow, with plenty of heat from cut green chilli and chilli padi.

The spice levels are meant for Thai taste buds. The chilli padi is used like confetti in the noodles. There is no shame in asking for the spice level to be toned down if you cannot take that much heat.

The slightly greasy but tasty noodles come with three sea prawns with shells on. I would prefer that the prawn heads are cleaned up to remove the eyes. And the dash of white pepper powder on the dish mars the taste of the noodles. Best to ask for it to be omitted when you place your order. 

I still prefer pad ki mao mama, which is the version featuring Thai instant noodles. I find that the stall’s noodle options are currently limited to kway teow, which can be boring for customers who may prefer other types of noodles.

The Fried Kway Teow comes with tender pieces of pork slices and plenty of kailan. 

Ms Nachatchadaporn makes her own roast pork – boiling, air-frying and deep-frying it to achieve a golden crispy pork crackling on the rolled-up pork belly.

She stir-fries it in a mix of Thai sauces and sweet basil leaves for the Basil Crispy Pork Rice ($6), which comes with plain rice and a sunny-side-up. The sauce is aromatic and packs a punch.

The Tom Yum Soup ($8), good for two or three to share, is superbly spicy.

You get four prawns along with white beech mushroom and plenty of tomatoes and onion. Thai lime leaves lend their citrusy aroma, while sawtooth coriander accents the soup with a stronger aroma than regular fresh coriander.

The soup is a touch cloudy from the use of evaporated milk. At first sip, you taste the sweetness of the chicken broth base, then the spice from the chilli hits hard, followed by the tang of lime.  

Where: Ploythai Kitchen, Stall 6 Rong Yuan Coffeeshop, 01-01 Block 475 Upper Serangoon Crescent
MRT: Hougang
Open: 11.30am to 9pm daily. Closed irregularly
Tel: 8249-5159