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WORDS PRIYANKA ELHENCE

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gg tarts, wife’s pastry, barbecued pork buns, mooncakes,

baked pork crisps, coconut egg tarts and lotus salted egg

pastry...these are just some of the regular baked delights

that customers have been flocking to Tong Heng for

generations for. Their famous egg tarts are irresistible

with their perfectly balanced crumbly-buttery pastry cradling

a smooth egg custard filling. Also available are homemade kaya

spreads and myriad Chinese desserts such as white fungus soup, red

bean soup, black sesame dessert, ginger steamed egg, and the cooling

longan orange soup.

But it’s the traditional baked goods that Tong Heng is best known

for since it first set up shop in 1935. Today, the close-knit family

business is helmed by Ana Fong, who is from the 4th generation

of the family that runs the shop, and her two aunts, Rebecca and

Constance Fong, from the 3rd generation. After a brief albeit major

renovation hiatus in April to breathe new life into the 83-year-old

Cantonese pastry shop in Chinatown, there are still no signs of this

time-honoured pastry stalwart slowing down or giving way to the

competition anytime soon.

A WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE

Ana’s great-grandfather, Fong Chee Heng, started Tong Heng in

Pasir Panjang in the late 1920s as a humble street side drinks stall.

Says Ana, “He started street peddling in the late 1920s. Back then,

he manned his mobile store with the help of his wife and two sons.

It wasn’t until the mid-1930s that they managed to rent a shop unit

along Smith Street near the iconic Majestic Theatre, and he had

enough space to work on his real passion—pastry making.” And he

lost no time in expanding his menu to include Cantonese pastries

and other baked goods. Tong Heng moved once more in the mid-

1980s to its current Chinatown location, while also operating a

takeaway kiosk in Jurong Point.

One of Singapore’s oldest pastry shops, Tong Heng

Delicacies is revered for their traditional Chinese pastries

and signature diamond-shaped egg tarts

FOR THE LOVE

OF TARTS