Photos taken from http://www.dbun.com.sg/
I seldom snack. I really seldom snack. But I am a sucker for CNY goodies especially kueh bunkit and hei bee hiam.
But ever since I started buying my own new year goodies, I had a hard time getting delicious kueh bunkit and hei bee hiam.
Most Hei bee hiam are tasteless. They taste nothing more than deep fried mini-popiahs. I like my hei bee hiam HOT!
Kueh Bunkit were beginning to taste like flour with a stash of sugar and nothing more. The flour, very often, stick to my gum and making eating kueh bunkit a messy affair which I no longer enjoy.
But all these changed this year.
I had a mini luxury of walking around Century Square on the first Sunday I returned to Singapore from Fujian. There were several stalls selling new year goodies. I went around trying all the different hei bee hiam and found this relatively unknow brand, the most hiam of the pack.
I asked for a bottle without asking the price. I was told its a whopping $13.80. Ok never mind, its not every year that I get hiam hei bee hiam. $13.80 shall be it.
I brought it to office and without one afternoon, I finished half a bottle on my own (it wasn’t a huge bottle, I bet I paid a good 30 cents for hei bee hiam). I shared the remaining bottle with my colleagues and all felt that it was good. I called the number to ask if they can do delivery. They turned me down because it’s CNY. Ok, the shop is located at 358 Joo Chiat Road. I am pretty familiar with that area since I grew up in the east.
The next morning, I drove down to pick up 8 bottles of hei bee hiams. While in the store, I saw Kueh Bunkits and Kueh Makmur. There were no samples. But since I am a sucker for such goodies, CNY was only 2 days away then and I was not going to have much time left to haunt for such stuff, I decided to grab one bottle each at S$16.80!!
I brought all the goodies back to office. Kueh Makmur was damn freaking expensive. I bet it cost me $1 per piece. It smelt great. I shared one with Pinky, she took one bite, grined at me and said, ‘Its awful. I think You should give me the whole bottle to help you get rid of it.”
Thanks lor, I saw thru her immediately and decided to hide the rest of the Kueh Makmur!
I brought the Kueh Bunkits back. My mum is a cook herself and she is extremely picky on what goes inside her mouth. She seldom compliments but when she took the kueh bunkits, she told me those are authentic nonya kueh bunkits!
The final verdict? My search for good CNY goodies has ended, I know exactly where to head for these now!
Anyway, for my own record,these mesmerizing CNY goodies were from D’bun. D’bun is located at 358 Joo Chiat Road. Delivery is available for purchases more than S$300.
