Lek Lim Nonya Cake Confectionery : A Kueh Lover's Paradise

Born in the 1960s and having been in its current compound since the 1970s, Lek Lim Confectionary have been around for a long time surviving on long standing customers and by word of mouth.

Time seems to have come to a standstill here where culture and tradition is preserved; The laborious task of hand making kuehs and other yummy products and waking up in the wee hours of the morning still goes on here. Well, to be honest I've never heard of Lek Lim confectionary before personally and though it might not be a household name, you may have tasted their products unknowingly because they supply to caterers who would make a loss of profits and time if they have to make their own kuehs.
Gavan, the third generation, who will be taking over from his dad hopes to reach to customers that they have lost over the years because of their obscurity in location and even dreams for the Y generation to appreciate these traditional snacks as much as he does. So the big question is : can the popular snacks of Gen X continue on for Gen Y as well? Or will it be lost in transition and under the influence of the West? I can't predict and I'm sure no one can give you a definite answer but Gavan assures us that quality is the emphasis here not quantity. Lacking in manpower, there's only so much he can do to reach out and to innovate. 

As he shares with me his ideas and stories, I was given a walk-about the shop while orders were rushed out for the seventh month ceremonies. 
Nigel Ate : 4.5/5
The highlight of the day : I made my own ang ku kueh! Shaping the soft and pliable dough can be liken to playing with play dough, it's quite fun. The auntie next to me has been doing this for many years and of course my final products didn't match hers but the experience was enjoyable nonetheless.

Here's my ang ku kuehs and yup, the skin was too much and too thick at some parts and too thin and the others but.. Ah well, I had fun haha. Ang Ku Kueh's ($0.50/piece) their signature kueh around here and living up to its claim, the skin was delicate with some bite to it while the filling was nice and fragrant, not too moist.
Nigel Ate : 4.25/5
They also have other flavours such as the mung bean ($0.50/piece) and gula melaka ($0.50/piece) one. The mung bean was sweet and savory, very smooth too. But I'm a peanut fan so I can't tell you exactly how good the mung bean filling is. Lovers of gula melaka will love the green ang ku kueh where there encased a filling of gula melaka coconut.
Nigel Ate : 4.2/5
Not limited to chinese traditional kueh, malay kuehs are sold here as well. I tried my hands at doing some Pulut Inti ($0.40/piece) and it was pretty simple. Traditionally, blue dye was taken from the clitoria flower but there wouldn't enough to go around for large scale productions so they have resorted to using minimum blue dye. The glutinous rice is slightly savoury, going very well with the sweet gula melaka coconut topping. 
Nigel Ate : 4.5/5
This is simplicity at its best, mashed tapioca with gula melaka ($1.20/pkt). Two simple ingredient combined and you have a delicious and wonderful final product. 
Nigel Ate : 3/5
The Ubi Bengka ($1.20/pkt) was rather bland and gummy, disappointing. 
Nigel Ate : 4/5
Another snack for the gula melaka fans, mashed tapioca with a layer of gula melaka coconut on top. Delicious in its own way, but not on par with the one with gula melaka mixed in together.
Nigel Ate : 4/5
Kueh Salat ($0.40/piece), bottom half a layer of glutinous rice with top half layer of green pandan custard. The slight sweetness of the custard complimented the savoury glutinous well and the fragrant of the pandan was evident.
 Nigel Ate : 4.25/5
This is one of my childhood snacks as well, the Kueh Lapis ($1.20/pkt) should have 9 layers and the correct way of eating it is by peeling off layer by layer. Taking time to savour your food - one of the simple joys of life.
Nigel Ate : 4.2/5
Diverging into further types of kueh, they do do soon kueh and peng kueh as well. Packed full of mushrooms and mung guang, each soon kueh only goes for $0.70 while the peng kueh was likewise generously filled with glutinous rice, peanuts, dried shrimps and more, also going for $0.70.
Nigel Ate : 4.25/5
I'll recommend trying their fried food items while you're at the shop. They sell several fried items such as  fried yam cake ($0.80/piece), sardine puffs ($1/piece) and spring rolls. I couldn't resist and sneaked a bite into the sardine puff even though I was having sore throat and it still remained crispy after a 40mins journey home. Not a particular fan of sardine because they often prove too fishy to me but this sardine puff surprisingly found my approval for it. 

Being in the neighborhood with a small shop front and a lot of manual labour, Lek Lim Nonya Cake Confectionery has managed to keep prices low in the midst of inflation while retaining quality all these while. So what are you waiting for? Come on down and try their kuehs and other products for yourself and you might just find new born appreciation for these traditional snacks. Don't forget to spread the word around because you wouldn't want an important part of your heritage to be lost!

Thank you Gavan for the invite and the interesting insights!

Lek Lim Nonya Cake Confectionery
Address: Blk 84 Bedok Nth St 4 #01-21 
Tel:             +65 64490815       
Opening Hours: Mon - Sat 4am-6pm; Sun 4am-2pm

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Nigel, thanks for the visit and I'm glad you had a wonderful experience. thanks also the kind review. I'd seen the review on the bengka ubi and will work on improving the taste and texture.

nigeleats said...

Hi Gavan, thank you for the invite once again. I hope that when I revisit your shop, I'll be able to taste a better packet bengka ubi!(:

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