Tong Huat Traditional Confectionery (东发传统饼家) is a well-known and popular shop in Kluang that sells mung bean biscuits or tau sar peah (豆沙饼). A long queue is always formed outside the shop on Saturdays and public holidays — Tong Huat is closed on Sundays.
As a precaution against COVID-19, the shop is still out of bound to anyone. But, there is no need to go in to browse the products on the shelves. Most customers are here for two hot items: Tong Huat's salty mung bean biscuits (咸豆沙饼) and sweet mung bean biscuits (甜豆沙饼). Tong Huat do make other traditional pastries, such as heong peah (香饼) and also traditional mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Of the two types of mung bean biscuits, the salty version is a hot favourite among local customers and tourists who heard about the biscuits. As such, each customer is limited to buying up to 10 packs (5 pieces in each pack) of their salty mung bean biscuits. The biscuits are freshly-baked in the shop twice daily and ready for sales at 9am and 2:30pm (time may varies during festive seasons).
As first-timer to Tong Huat, it will be better to go early and get both the sweet and salty versions to try.
The salty mung bean biscuit is mild savoury-sweet with light shallot aroma and in crispy, smooth and layered crusts, which is slightly harder than other mung bean biscuits and not becoming soft after a week. Despite being called "salty", these biscuits are not really that salty. And no preservatives used.
It is difficult to stop after eating just one piece of the biscuits. No wonder the biscuit is so popular.
The sweet mung bean biscuits look very much similar to the salty biscuits except that the filling is not salted. It is not too sweet either and the taste is not bad too. I like both the sweet and salty tau sar peah.
In the couple of months leading to Mid-Autumn Festival, Tong Huat will start selling products for the festive season. The salty mung bean biscuits will only be available in either 8-piece longer tubes or boxes of 8 individual packs, instead of the usual 5-piece tube. The sweet mung bean biscuits will be suspended during the period and the bigger Teochew la piah (潮州朥饼) with sweet mung bean fillings will take its place.
The protagonist for the festive season is their traditional mooncakes with different fillings and with/without single/double salted egg yolks. Each of the mooncakes are individually sealed to retain their freshness for few weeks (expiry date behind packaging).
The pandan-flavoured lotus-filling mooncakes with/without salted egg yolk (金翡翠/丹青) has very low sweetness level with a pleasant and light taste. The salted egg yolk does not have a strong taste that makes it stands out. This is nice — and I don't feel like I have consumed a lot of calories.
Don't miss Tong Huat's mung bean biscuits when in Kluang or their mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Address:
28, Jalan Cantik, Kampung Masjid Lama, 86000 Kluang, Johor, Malaysia
Opening Hours:
9am to 6pm | Closed on Sunday
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