Ah Mah Traditional Homemade Egg Sponge Cake 阿嬷老字號 @ VivoCity – 17 October 2017
I was pique by curiosity
whenever I see the long queue as I pass by the food basement of Vivocity. Later
I learnt that the supposedly famous Ah Mah Sponge Cake had opened a branch
here.
I had an impulse to join the queue at times just to taste
this fantastic cake that's so much raved by almost ALL bloggers (then I realised
they were mostly invited for the media tasting, and hence wrote good reviews).
But the long waiting times always discouraged me – you
had to wait up to 40 minutes if you just joined the queue – and it could be up
to hours just standing there to wait.
Just happened that when I visited on a Tuesday evening
around 7 pm, the queue seemed relatively short (meaning 40 minutes). Since my
friend had not turned up yet and I was very curious about the cake, I decided
to go for the queue.
I did note that the queue has considerably shortened
compared to a few months ago when it opened.
The cake is definitely not cheap… I went for the original
and cheese. There were already ready baked chocolate ones – you don’t even need
to queue but it is expensive!
As you wait in the queue, you can see the bakers preparing
the cake live and fresh.
There is always excitement when the cake is ready and taken
out from the oven. The smell is like yumz. Notice the ‘salivating’ stares of
the crowd…
Care is taken to remove the baking sheets on the cake, so as
not to ruin it.
The chef even has to measure the cakes to ensure everybody gets
an equal portion.
The cake is carefully cut and portioned.
Notice that half of the cake is cheese, and half is
original. I wonder how they baked the cake to achieve this effect.
After a long gruelling wait, I finally got mine! Looks nice
peering into it.
Looks yummy, but how does it taste?
Verdict:
nay (due to long queue and price); yay (if no queue but I
still think it is expensive)
Relatively mediocre. I didn’t get any eggy or buttery taste –
just normal cake. It is also not fluffy nor light. I was expecting Bengawan
Solo type of spongy texture but you don’t get that for this cake, nor do you
get a concentrated taste. It’s just…. mediocre.
However, the redeeming point about the cake is that you do
know it is freshly baked since it is baked literally in front of you. But
otherwise, the ingredients used were mostly ordinary.
I tasted it right after it was baked and was terribly
disappointed – Sara Lee definitely tasted better. I was advised by a friend
that sponge cake needed time to ‘settle’. It tasted slightly better the next
day but not significantly. The cheese version tasted similar but had a savory
twist to it, but paying $3 for a few slices of cheese in between is also not
worth.
$8 is a tad too expensive for an otherwise mediocre cake,
even so with cheese added ($11).
My mother did say she liked the cake as it was not so sweet,
so there was some saving grace for the cake.
Lastly, I was confused whether it was Taiwan origin or
Malaysian origin? I saw this cake in Danshui last year but no queues…. Not sure
why there would be a fad in Singapore though. It was supposedly Taiwan, but it
was the Malaysians that brought it over – must be making a fortune right now.
Ah Mah Traditional Homemade Egg Sponge Cake 阿嬷老字號 @ VivoCity
VivoCity
1 Harbourfront Walk B2-K7
Singapore 098585
Hours: 10 am to 10 pm (queue closes about 40 minutes before)
1 Harbourfront Walk B2-K7
Singapore 098585
Hours: 10 am to 10 pm (queue closes about 40 minutes before)
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