Chey Sua Carrot Cake

Only white, fried slowly, one side golden. The sisters have been refusing to rush since 1991.

Chey Sua is worth an early alarm if you like your carrot cake white, crisp-edged and made by people who will not cut corners for you. It is the stall people mean when they tell you to get to Toa Payoh West Market & Food Centre early, and it holds a Bib Gourmand in the 2026 Michelin Guide. The compromises: there is one dish, it is white only, the stall trades Wednesday to Sunday mornings, and every plate is fried to order, so you will wait. Go first thing and bring something to do.

Why it is different

The menu is one item long: white carrot cake, or chai tow kway. The radish cake is steamed in-house overnight in aluminium bowls, then cubed and fried in a big wok with an egg-and-flour mix, slowly, until one side is golden. That slow side is the point; it is where the caramelised, crisp bits come from. The layers are thinner than at many stalls, with chye poh running through. Black carrot cake people should go elsewhere and take their sweet sauce with them.

Ask for the chilli, which is smeared on one side and fried in with the cake rather than spooned on top. The stall uses no pork or lard, though it isn't halal-certified.

The sisters

The family story starts with a pushcart in Serangoon Gardens in 1950. Their father moved into a cooked-food centre in 1972 and arrived in Toa Payoh in 1973. Shirley and Grace Tay took over in 1991, and the original signboard is still up. Shirley works the wok; Grace takes the orders and does the prep.

Their standards are part of the reputation. The sisters have told of turning down a customer who wanted a large takeaway order fried "anyhow", and of neighbours warning them not to "spoil market" by keeping prices low. They didn't listen to either. Every plate gets the same treatment, which is exactly why there is a wait. The Tays come from a third-generation hawker family, and in 2019 their children had shown interest in taking over one day.

How to do it well

Go as close to opening as you can, on a weekday rather than Sunday, and be patient. The stall hands out a buzzer with an estimated time, so order, take it and queue for a kopi or a second breakfast elsewhere in the centre while you wait (the most Toa Payoh way to spend a wait is in another queue). The stall can sell out, so don't plan it as an early lunch. It is a short walk from Braddell MRT, on the second floor of the market at 127 Lorong 1 Toa Payoh.

Order a plate each. Sharing one is a false economy you will regret by the third mouthful.

Good to know #02-30 Toa Payoh West Market & Food Centre, 127 Lorong 1 Toa Payoh, a short walk from Braddell MRT. It is a morning stall, closed Mondays and Tuesdays, and can sell out, so go first thing. No pork or lard; not halal-certified.

Chey Sua Carrot Cake | #02-30 Toa Payoh West Market & Food Centre, 127 Lorong 1 Toa Payoh, Singapore 310127