2 New Castella Cake & Cream Puff Brands From Taiwan Come To Singapore

Grand Castella Cake from Taiwan was founded in 2010 in Taipei, from the same town as rival brand Original Cake. Both brands claim to be the “original” creator of this hot, puffy cake. Who will emerge the victor in this small city?

Grand Castella Cake’s NEX outlet is its first foray into Singapore, and a second outlet is set to open in Raffles City Shopping Mall by month’s end. Most famous castella cake brands come branded with a stamp, but Grand Castella’s bakes are set apart with a wavy patterned crust.

Its flavours include the usual Original ($9.90) and Cheese ($11.90), plus also Chocolate ($12.90) and a very local Pandan ($10.90) on a rotational basis.

Grand Castella Cake is at #03-K19/20 NEX, 23 Serangoon Central, S556083. Tel: 8194-7189. Open daily 10am-10pm. Last orders at closing. https://www.facebook.com/GrandCastellaCakeSG

This Japanese-inspired bakery will arrive on our shores on 5 January, 2018. It's a rebranding of its Taiwanese parent company, Nichifu, which sees long queues at all eight of its outlets for its cream-filled pastries. It's the first time Nichifu has ventured outside of Taiwan, and Kazo's ingredients are air-flown from there. The signature item here is the bite-sized Cream Puff ($1.80 each), with a choux pastry exterior cloaked in a crispy mixture of caramelised sugar and egg white. Each munchkin houses either plain Hokkaido Cream or Chocolate filling. Can it stand up to famous Japanese brands like Beard Papa or Hattendo? We'll find out soon.

Aside from cream puffs, Kazo is also known for its Kazu Kazu ($3.50 each) pastries. It's essentially a mini baguette-shaped version of its regular puffs. What does Kazu Kazu mean? Apparently, the brand thinks that's the sound made when one bites into this crunchy and creamy treat.

Besides cream puffs, Kazo also offers Cheese Tarts ($3.20 each), with a crumbly crust and a hearty dollop of cheese in the middle. What sets it apart from the other brands is that Kazo's is apparently bigger than most cheese tarts in the market.

Like Grand Castella, Kazo also aims to cater to local taste buds. Their Danish Polo ($2.50 to $5.50 each) is a crusty creation that's a hybrid of a crumbly Hong Kong bolo bun and flaky Danish pastry, resulting in a layered "croissant-type" texture. Each orb is stuffed with either Hokkaido Cream, Ice Cream in flavours such as Royal Chocolate, Matcha and Hokkaido Milk (pictured), or an oozy Salted Egg filling.

We challenge you to show us a better bottle design than this sexy thing. The Kazo Man ($2.80 each) drink comes in either Matcha Latte or Organic Soya Bean flavour, and is housed in an abs-olutely hilarious collectible bottle shaped like a hunk's headless torso. Available for a limited period only.

Kazo opens Jan 5, 2018. #01-30 Chinatown Point, 133 North Bridge Rd, S059413. Open daily 10am-9.30pm. Last orders at closing.