Dona Manis Cake Shop Vs Auntie Peng Banana Pie - Which One Is Better?

"A difference in business goals"

For those of you who haven’t caught up with the drama yet, Dona Manis’ former head baker, Mdm Soh, left the popular retro bakery early this April. Shortly after, she opened her own banana pie shop - selling almost the exact same bakes at similar prices - in the unit beside Dona Manis. Fierce. Prior to this, she had co-founded Dona Manis together with the late Mr Tan Tieow Teong in 1992. Mr Tan’s daughter, Esther Tan, 69, now runs Dona Manis. While this may seem like another Ah Tai versus Tian Tian chicken rice feud, the owners of both bakeries say there’s “no bad blood” between them. 

Mdm Soh declines to elaborate on her reason for leaving Dona Manis, simply saying it’s “a difference in business goals”. She adds: “Please let us and Dona Manis move on and concentrate on baking our pastries with love, so that consumers can have the best pastries they can find from both shops”. 

While both sides maintain that there’s no animosity between them, Auntie Peng did seem slightly uneasy speaking about Dona Manis whenever we brought up the subject.

That being said, Mdm Soh claims to be the only one who can achieve Dona Manis’ original banana pie flavour, while Dona Manis’ new boss Esther insists she has “improved” on Mdm Soh’s original recipe (which she says was given to her by her late dad).

When 8days.sg headed down on Wednesday at 10am, Mdm Soh’s bakery was livelier, with a couple of customers walking in to collect their bakes. On the contrary, Dona Manis seemed a little quieter, with two workers manning the store. They also had less bakes on display. One possible reason is that Auntie Peng’s opens at 9am while Dona opens only at 10am. 

“Customers told me that [the bakes at Dona Manis] taste different,” says Auntie Peng

We were greeted by the friendly, chirpy Mdm Soh, who was resting outside her shop when we arrived, attentively peeking in every few minutes to monitor her kitchen assistants (all her family members). She tells us that she has a bad knee, asserting: “after my kids can manage [the shop] on their own, I want to retire soon”.

Even so, she currently devotes her mornings to baking at Auntie Peng Banana Pie (she bakes alongside her son and daughter on some days and supervises them on others), which she shares is very tiring, but adds: “I insist on baking myself, instead of hiring workers”. Right now, she’s in the midst of training her children to make the banana pies independently. 

Mdm Soh brushes off comments on any awkwardness regarding setting up shop next to Dona Manis, especially since she says most of the staff there “are workers”. Esther’s daughter, Claire Tan, 40, however, tells 8days.sg that she has been working at Dona Manis almost daily, but usually “hides in the kitchen” as she’s more introverted. We’re also told she and her mum bake alongside their workers most of the time.

Mdm Soh notes that many of her regulars decided to patronise her shop after finding out that she left Dona Manis. “Many customers told me that [the bakes at Dona Manis] taste different [now],” she declares.

As for who truly makes the better pastry, the 8days.sg team buys a whole pie from each shop to find out.

First impressions

Both pies are crafted with almost identical ingredients like shortcrust pastry baked with SCS butter, ang bak chio (berangan) bananas commonly used in local banana desserts, desiccated coconut and chopped almonds. Auntie Peng’s pie comes in a shallower, sturdier box, which helped hold the pre-sliced pie together better, whilst Dona Manis’ is crammed into a taller, flimsier box. 

The look

AUNTIE PENG’S BANANA PIE, $3.30 A SLICE; $33 WHOLE (10 PCS) 

Definitely the neater bake of the two. It has a flat, even surface uniformly littered with lightly baked almond nibs. The edges of the pastry are also equally neat. While it looks more polished than Dona’s, it is also paler, which we were iffy about at first glance (pastry that isn’t browned enough sometimes lacks flavour and crunch).  

DONA MANIS’ BANANA PIE, $3.50 A SLICE; $33 WHOLE (10 PCS) 

Meanwhile, Dona Manis’ pie is messier and more rustic — in a good way. It’s baked to an attractive golden-brown hue that straddles the fine line between caramelised and almost-burnt, its surface domed promisingly with what seems like more filling. The tanned almonds are sprinkled more haphazardly, and the pastry edges crumblier.

Before we move on to the taste test, we’re obliged to mention that we found a strand of hair beneath a slice of pie from Auntie Peng’s. At least the pie was separated from the hair by a thin paper liner, but still…

TASTE TEST: DONA MANIS’ BANANA PIE 

Dona Manis’ pie is more unwieldy to eat - the pastry crumbles as soon as we pick it up. In fact, there’s hardly any pastry to be tasted, aside from the brittle edges (mainly ’cos the bottom crust is soggy from the wet fruit). Instead, the dominating flavour goes to its generous filling of overripe, sweet, gooey bananas. Our food editor enjoyed the thicker layer of chewy coconut, which was more well-toasted than its rival’s and thus added more intensely lemak pops to the pie (though some of our coconut-hating colleagues weren’t fans). Another editor loved the soft mouthfeel and “slightly fermented” quality of the bananas. Overall yummy, though the extremely ripe fruit got a bit too sugary for some in the 8days.sg team after a while.

TASTE TEST: AUNTIE PENG’S BANANA PIE

Auntie’s pie boasts better texture overall - the crust has a more defined crunch and its base isn’t soggy. Because it isn’t overwhelmed by more fruit filling like Dona Manis’, the buttery flavour of its pastry is slightly more apparent than Dona’s. However, its banana stuffing split the 8days.sg team into two camps. Interestingly the, ahem, older folks preferred its slightly firmer, tangier bananas because it was “less rich and jelak”. Our food editor didn’t adore it at first, remarking that the “bananas aren’t ripe enough”. However, it kinda grew on her midway through both pies, mainly because it wasn’t as cloying as Manis’. Meanwhile, the younger team firmly chose Dona Manis’ sweeter pie, declaring it “more shiok”.

Verdict: It’s a tie! 

Of the nine of us who tried the bakes, the results ended up being split right down the middle. Both pies received four votes each, while our food editor remained on the fence, remarking that both confections have their merits and weaknesses. 

On the one hand, Auntie Peng’s pie is more ‘refined’ and technically sound, with crisper, evenly rolled pastry and a slightly tangy, firmer banana filling that some of us prefer. On the other, Dona Manis’ version is more decadent as it has a sweeter, oozier banana stuffing and a larger heap of fragrant coconut which some of us appreciated. However, it has soggier pastry.

Both nostalgic bakes are undeniably comforting and enjoyable to eat — it’s just a matter of whether you prefer a richer and sweeter pie, or a slightly lighter-tasting one.

The perfect banana pie, in 8days.sg’s opinion, would’ve been an amalgamation of Auntie Peng’s and Dona Manis’: a blend of both overripe and firmer bananas for an ideal balance of sweet-tart, plus Auntie Peng’s superior pastry crowned with a smidgen more coconut.

Perhaps a third bakery can open shop in Katong and offer this? Oh relax, we're kidding.  

Auntie Peng Banana Pie is at #B1-92 Katong Shopping Centre, 865 Mountbatten Rd, S437844. Open Mon - Sat 9am - 6pm; Sun 9am - 3pm. Tel: 8088 9639. More info via Facebook.  

Dona Manis Cake Shop is at #B1-93 Katong Shopping Centre, 865 Mountbatten Rd, S437844.  Open Tue - Sat 10am - 4.30pm; Sun 10am - 3pm. Closed on Mon. Tel: 6440 7688. More info via Facebook. 

Photos: Gwyn Lim, Pyron Tan

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