Say Chiizu

The latest food fad from Bangkok hits our shores fast and furious. The cross border partnership has sprouted four brand new stores at VivoCity, The Clementi Mall, 313@Somerset and White Sands within the same week. (Actor Nat Ho is a shareholder and creative director in this partnership.) And there are another 10 more in the pipeline, including a self-service café next month. Ambitious, much? And they’re already attracting long queues of up to 30 minutes. The, um, pull factor? All that stretchy cheese, of course.

Created by a Thai duo in 2015, the Hokkaido-style thick toast, a Thai creation that uses Hokkaido milk in its milk and cheese, made its debut at night markets in Thailand before graduating to malls like Siam Paragon. There are presently four outlets back home, and more in Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Korea. The social media darling comes piping hot in a cutesy yellow jacket and is ridiculously Instagrammable. The signature oozy filling is made from mozzarella and an undisclosed blend of other cheeses in a plant in Thailand and imported over. The palm-sized Hokkaido milk toast, oven toasted then griddled with butter on a hot pan a la minute, is baked locally using an in-house recipe.

For now, there are only three flavours available: original, chocolate and charcoal. The full menu, which will include cheese fries, will only be available when the sit-down café opens in Bugis this month.

Bottom line: The cheese sarnies here are decent, but they’re definitely more fun to photograph than they are to eat.

Currently four outlets, including White Sands Shopping Centre, #01-44, 1 Pasir Ris Central St 3, S518457.

Open daily 10am-10pm. Last orders at closing. www.facebook.com/saychiizu.sg