So which is worth the calories?
Photos: Weekender
With Chinese New Year bounding in like an enthusiastic puppy, it's time to splash your abode in shades of auspicious red with bulbous silk lanterns, blinking firecrackers, spring couplets, and of course, an array of red lid-touting containers filled with your favourite festive goodies. From perennial favourites of crunchy arrowhead chips and smoky bak kwa squares to trendy ones such as salted egg yolk chips and fried fish skin, these addictive snacks will leave the fingers all dusty and crusty with sugar and spice during this joyous occasion.
Out of the lot, we zeroed in on our personal favourite CNY goodie: The pineapple tart.
A delicious staple during the festive shenanigans, the pineapple tart is flaunted like a prized pig by bakeries from around the nation, each vying for your attention with promises that their buttery creation is the best.
We'll be the judge of that, after eating our way through 10 brands of pineapple tarts.
9. Crystal Jade’s Fortune Bo Lo Pineapple Tarts, $10.80 for a box of 8
Crystal Jade has cleverly combined Hong Kong’s ever-popular Bo Lo pau and the pineapple tart into one. Like the crusty surface of the country’s cult bun, the Bo Lo Pineapple Tart embodies this very trait by putting a crispy lid over the pineapple tart. The filling itself is passable, with each bite revealing pineapple fibres that indicate real fruit is used in the making. Other than that, the tart is rather forgettable, saved by the grace of the unique crunchy ‘hat’.
Available at Crystal Jade My Bread outlets, including 391 Orchard Rd, Ngee Ann City, Singapore 238873
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