Onde onde (say “on-day on-day”) are petite glutinous rice balls filled with gula melaka. When cooked, the solid pieces of gula melaka sealed within the dough melt into rich syrup.
The most exciting part of eating onde onde is the explosive burst of melted gula melaka in the mouth! The sensation is completed with soft, chewy dough rolled in fresh grated coconut.
inSing.com hunts down some of the best onde onde for this taste test. Where can you find the most addictive, insanely delicious onde onde? Read on to find out!
Cambridge Deli EDITOR’S PICK!
216G Syed Alwi Road, #01-06
Opening hours: Daily: 7am-5pm
Price: $1.00 (3 pieces)
Rating: 4.5/5
Cambridge Deli must be one of the best kept secrets among those who’ve discovered this Nonya kueh specialist. Even without much publicity, they attract a respectable number of faithful fans. Their luscious onde onde sell out very early. No wonder their fans want this little gem to remain under the radar!
Each onde onde was small enough to pop into the mouth, but big enough to provide lots of oomph. As we bit into a jade-green orb, it burst and filled our mouths with an intensely sweet but refreshing liquid gula melaka.
Delicately scented with pandan, the dough was not too thick. It struck a fine balance between being delightfully bouncy and soft to the bite. The exterior was coated with finely shredded coconut. The only grouse we had was that some balls had pieces of gula melaka that hadn’t totally melted.
Despite this minor flaw, Cambridge Deli’s onde onde were insanely addictive. We simply couldn’t resist popping one after another into our mouths!
Harriann’s Delights BEST VARIETY
Blk 30 Seng Poh Road
#02-25 Tiong Bahru Market Food Centre
Opening hours: Tue-Sun: 7am-2pm
Price: $1.20 (4 pieces)
Rating: 4/5
The onde onde at Harriann’s Delights were smaller than the rest in this round-up, but they were the neatest. Every onde onde was uniform in size as well as thickness.
We tried the onde onde here on separate visits, and were impressed by their consistent standards. The dough—made with sweet potato—was superbly smooth, soft, and subtly chewy. Each onde onde was meticulously sealed and cooked, with no solid pieces of gula melaka within. A good grade of gula melaka was used. Too bad the shredded coconut was on the dry side.
Here, they also offer unique twists like yam onde onde and Belgian chocolate onde onde. Decadently rich and bittersweet, the chocolate version threatened to steal the thunder from its excellent traditional counterpart.
Borobudur Snacks Shop BEST VALUE
537 Bedok North Street 3, #01-523
Opening hours: Daily: 6.30am-6.30pm
Price: $1.50 (6 pieces), $0.60 each for large version
Rating: 3.5/5
Borobudur has been around for more than 30 years, with their core business as a supplier to other F&B businesses. Portions are hearty and prices are very reasonable.
Here, there are two versions of onde onde to choose from. The smaller version is the regular pandan-flavored dough filled with melted gula melaka. The bigger version—slightly larger than a golf ball—is stuffed with grated coconut sweetened with gula melaka.
For the smaller version, the skin was soft and gummy, with a light springiness. Although it was rather thick, it was matched with an ample amount of fragrant gula melaka. The balls were evenly shaped and well-sealed.
The large version was generously stuffed with juicy grated coconut. It was a nice change from the usual liquid filling. But be warned that this would fill you up a lot faster.
55 Tiong Bahru Road, #01-39
Opening hours: Tue-Sun: 9am-9pm
Price: $0.60 each
Rating: 3.5/5
The bright orange hue of the dough comes from mashed orange sweet potato. As we bit into these golf ball-sized onde onde, we were impressed by its soft skin that seemed to melt in the mouth. Instead of flavoring the dough with pandan, the chef preferred to just let the natural scent of the sweet potato shine through.
Another unique touch was the addition of toasted sesame seeds to the gula melaka filling. This added fragrance as well as a tiny bit of crunch. We also liked that the gula melaka wasn’t too sweet. Each onde onde was neatly rolled in thick, juicy shredded coconut.
There was plenty to like about Tiong Bahru Galicier’s onde onde. Our only dilemma was its size. It was too big to eat in one mouthful, but if we bit into it, the liquid gula melaka would spurt and cause a mess. It’d be perfect if they were downsized.
1 Kadayanallur Street
#01-31 Maxwell Food Centre
Opening hours: Mon-Sat: 8am-1.30pm
Price: $1.00 (3 pieccs)
Rating: 2/5
This stall has acquired a legendary status for onde onde. But lately, the quality of their onde onde seems to have taken a nosedive.
Each irregularly-shaped onde onde wasn’t properly sealed, which resulted in leaky rice balls. Most of the melted gula melaka had oozed out; the little amount that remained within tasted diluted and watery.
The dough was way too thick. Thankfully, it had a lovely melt-in-the-mouth quality. This was probably its only saving grace.
inSing.com made anonymous visits and paid for its own meals at the stalls featured here.
Don't Miss These Giveaways:
|
|
|
|
