Jian Bo Shui Kueh is Good

Post by Chiefeater Luke Soon

Jian Bo Shui Kueh (minimum 5 pcs) is served on a piece of waxed paper even when eating at the food centre, due to the oil seeping out from the preserved radish condiment mix. For taking away, a special plastic container will be used to place the chwee kueh and the oil will flow into a groove below — but, it will be better to bring your own container if intending to take-away.

The freshly-steamed rice cakes are topped with a condiment mix of diced savoury and sweet preserved radish (chye poh / 菜脯), preserved vegetable, white sesame seeds, minced dried shrimps, chilli paste (optional) and vegetable oil that the ingredients are fried with and also to keep it moist until served. The rice cakes have bouncy, tender texture, not overly soft (for my liking), and the aromatic condiment mix gives them a nice sweet-savoury, mild-spicy, umami flavour, not too salty and crunchy texture.

Traditionally, pork lard oil was used to fry the diced preserved radish (and still so in Chaozhou, China) but Jian Bo Shui Kueh had switched to using 100% vegetable oil, and adding other aromatics to “replace” the lost lard oil aroma, resulting in a unique, aromatic condiment mix for their shui kueh.

Definitely one of the most iconic rice cake offerings in Singapore. In fact one of those dishes that might be “better” here vs Malaysia.

We first had this 2 decades (at Tiong Bahru Market) ago, and have been ardent fans ever since. When I think about a solid 7/10 over the years with consistency – this would be one of the few shops in mind. And yes, it’s still a 7/10. I think most ChiefEaters would already know about this iconic rice cake, but I had to give it a shout-out, for old times’ sake.

Business Hours

Open Daily
07:00 am to 08:00 pm