Lee Mama Yam Cake - Wah Kueh @ 273 Bukit Batok East Ave 4

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It was during the Covid-19 period when I first heard about this Lee Mama Yam Cake stall at 273 Bukit Batok East Ave 4.

Dining-in at food establishments were prohibited then and people were sharing on social media their favorite places to tapau (takeaway) from.

The reason that this stall had my attention was because they serve wah kueh (碗粿), a fast-disappearing Hokkien snack of yesteryear.

I have bookmarked the stall to visit once dining-in restrictions are lifted but guess what?

Six long years have since gone by, and I have yet to pay a visit to said location.

It was not until earlier this month when a customer posted that the ladies running the stall has decided to call it quits due to aging, poor business and rising costs.

I have no time to procrastinate any longer hence, I took a bus down to the coffee shop three days before their closure.

By the time this post is up, they have already hung up their aprons.

Lee Mama serves the usual breakfast offerings like glutinous rice, yam cake, chee cheong fun, chwee kueh and wah kueh among others.

Since I have come for the wah kueh ($2.20), that is exactly what I ordered.

The freshly steamed kueh was taken out from the steamer and placed on a disposable plate.

A brown sauce is then ladled over the kueh and as a finishing touch, garnished with fried shallots and chopped spring onions on top.

As I cut through the wah kueh with my disposable fork, I could feel a bit of resistance from it.

Taking a bite, the punch from the garlic and heat from the chili infiltrate my olfactory senses. It is a complex flavor of sweet, savory, and tanginess.

I thought it would be soft like the chwee kueh but the bouncy texture is a lot firmer.

Lee Mama has served the folks at Bukit Batok East for the past 40 years and I am sure the neighborhood would miss her delectable kuehs.

I can count offhand less than five places in Singapore where the wah kueh can still be found.

The Hokkien snack is already hard enough to find. With its closure, there is one lesser place to find this traditional kueh but nonetheless, I wish auntie a happy retirement!