When getting local products from Johor Bahru, many people, including locals, would recommend Hiap Joo Bakery & Biscuit Factory’s (协裕面包) banana cake and coconut bun. The over-100-year-old traditional bakery was located along Jalan Tan Hiok Nee, also known as Tan Hiok Nee Heritage Walk.
I wanted to try the popular banana cake so I chose a Tuesday to cross the Singapore-Johor border and visit Hiap Joo Bakery. Another reason for going on a Tuesday was because, other than banana cake, the bakery's butter cake and coffee cake are available on Tuesday morning only (in June 2022).
I reached Hiap Joo Bakery at 9:20am and all the cakes and buns that were put up for sales at 7:30am had already been sold out. It was a weekday right after the June school holidays and yet the cakes were sold out like hot cakes.
A short queue of about 4 persons was already formed but the next batch was scheduled for 10:30am. Seeing that it was about an hour away, I decided to have breakfast at a nearby cafe before coming back to queue for the hot cakes — literally.
At 10:05am, I returned to find less than 30 people in the queue. "Not so bad" or so I thought. I joined the queue under a freaking hot sun. And umbrellas were provided for queuers rain or shine — how thoughtful!
In fact, the roll-out time for banana cakes made in the bakery itself was 12pm, and every half-hourly thereafter — buns was at 11:30am. The batch of cakes that were scheduled for 10:30am and 11:30am were made in another place and delivered to the Tan Hiok Nee outlet to "relieve" the queue.
After the next batch of still-hot banana cakes arrived at close to 10:30am, the queue started moving… and stopped when it was nearly my turn! The banana cakes were sold out again. Three other persons were in front of me in the queue.
The next batch was scheduled at 11:30am. A check on my phone showed that it was 10:55am, I decided to wait since it was only 35 minutes to go. Fortunately, I was out of the sun this time.
For half an hour, I chatted with others in the queue and also to an elder man who helped to maintain order outside the bakery. I received a lot of information from him (which I included in this post). I also observed the ladies making buns inside the bakery and trays of dough going in and out of the large wood-fired oven in the centre of the shop.
The price list and schedule of all cakes and buns were pasted on a wall near the bakery's entrance. As mentioned above, both butter cakes and coffee cakes were available on Tuesday morning only.
After the 11:30am batch of banana cakes arrived, the queue started moving again. The lady at the front of the queue walked away with at least 6 sets of hot banana cakes! That was how the cakes got sold out fast earlier even though the queue seemed short.
There was one difference this time — buns were ready and available for sales at the same time. As banana cakes tend to be sold out faster than the buns, once the cakes were all sold, the staff would go down the queue to ask if anyone was buying just the buns, including coconut buns. So for those who were buying buns only, they would still need to queue.
Unable to get a butter cake and a coffee cake as planned, I bought 3 sets of banana cake (10 pieces each at RM12) and a pack of coconut buns (4 pieces for RM5). I had to keep the banana cakes' containers and the buns' plastic bag opened to prevent condensation that could make the cakes and buns soggy, but it was not easy to achieve as the carriers still trapped the warm air within when hand-carrying them.
The banana cakes were cut into 10 pieces while still hot and sold — a result of demands for freshly-baked hot cakes. This could make the cakes shrunk more while cooling down. It would be better if the cakes were allowed to cool off before being cut in order to maintain most of its shape but that would require 6 hours after baking.
Nevertheless, the banana cakes still looked moist and fluffy after 8 hours. It had a nice banana aroma and not too sweet. I was glad to have queued for 1.5 hours to get them. The banana cakes had to be refrigerated after 24 hours and best to finish within 2~5 days as no preservatives were used. To taste the cake with its softness and sponginess retained, it would be best to consume them before being refrigerated.
The coconut buns were not too sweet either and carried the aroma of burning woods that were used to fire the oven. No wonder these buns were highly recommended by the bakery and very popular too.
Yes, I managed to try both the banana cake and coconut bun! Although I did not manage to get the butter cake and coffee cake on the first visit, I successfully bought and tried them a couple of weeks later on another Tuesday — I stayed overnight on a Monday just to be able to buy the cakes at 7:30am.
Note:
My first visit to Hiap Joo Bakery was in June 2022 and some of the information above may have changed, do read the following post for latest updates.
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