The Great Curry Puff Shoot-out

Chiak Bah Boh?

Watched a show over Channel 8 about 5 places selling great curry puffs last week. Having nothing to do over the weekend, decided to review all 5 places in 1 single sitting. Besides, this is the 1st time fatpapa is doing this curry puff shootout thingy - so who won eventually?

Legend (or Channel 8) has it that the best curry puffs can be found at the following 5 places:

1) Old Airport Road FC (Wang Wang)

2) Ang Mo Kio, Blk 722 (Tip Top curry puff)

3) Hong Lim FC (Tanglin)

4) 1A (various outlets over the island)

5) M hotel, M2000 Cafe

Now what makes a good puff? Crispy or Soft Skin? Spicy or non-Spicy fillings? Its all up to the individual actually - for some those limp 30 cents for 1 curry pok can be world's best but for some $30 one then can consider world's best. So what I have done in this shootout comparison is strictly based on those exquisite tongue of mine and of my opinion only. Judge at your own risk! And please don't sue me hor....

So we began on this curry puff expedition by first checking out the HongLim (HL) ones before swinging east towards Old Airport Rd. Here we hot a brick wall - 10 people queued up in front of the stall with no curry puff in sight. Gave up the wait and hit north towards Ang Mo Kio for Tip Top and 1A curry puffs. Finally flew down south towards M hotel - our final destination and last of the 5 famous puffs - for our shootout location.

As I only managed to find 4 of the 5 puffs, this shootout will have the old airport rd one missing. I remembered eating it sometime ago but can't remember much, just that it is quite nice. So i have decided to give all 5 puffs a cursory 3.5 stars out of 5 first, and see how far off the final rating is from the standard. So in this case, since the old airport one is not reviewed - it gets a cursory 3.5 stars out of 5.

(1 being best, 4 being worst; Y = yes, N=no)

M hotel TipTop HongLim 1A

Skin 1 4 2 3

Spiciness 4 2 1 3

Juiciness 2 4 3 1

Flavour 3 1 2 4

Egg? N Y Y N

Price $3.50 $1.00 $1.20 $1.10

Individual remarks

M Motel: Best puff skin of the lot. Soft, layered, not too thick. Healthier choice as the puffs are baked and not fried. The puffs are also the least spicy of all, bodering on the sweet. $3.50 (exclusive of GST) is a liitle expensive, but you can really taste the chunks of chicken meat in this one.

Tip Top: The skin is a little like the "Old Chang Kee" type, a bit thick and rubbery. Not to my liking. The fillings are also very dry but that probably also explains why the curry is spicier and flavourful. If you like the taste of Indian curry, this one really tops the group. At $1 per piece, it is also the cheapest.

Hong Lim: Has the crispiest skin of the lot and is also the spiciest. The spice has a nice endnote that hits you right in the gut lasting long after devouring the puff. Perhaps the most well balanced of the 4, with the right mix of flavour, spiciness and juiciness.

1A: Worst of the lot. Even though it has the juiciest fillings, it suffers from lack of taste which just doesn't titilate the senses. Too commercialised - it simply tasted like its mass produced and lacking in character.

My take? The Hong Lim one. Most well balanced of the lot combining great skin, flavour and spiciness. The M hotel one is quite good actually, the flavour is sweet but flavourful. Didn;t like the Tip Top skin, but the fillings though a bit dry, is perhaps the best around. 1A? Sorry didn;t quite hit the mark.

Fatpapa rating

M hotel: Cursory 3.5, Fatpapa 4

Tip Top: Cursory 3.5, Fatpapa 3.5

Hong Lim: Cursory 3.5, Fatpapa 4.25

1A: Cursory 3.5, Fatpapa 2.5

Old Airport Rd: Cursory 3.5