Chai Wee Cuttlefish (Chinatown Complex)

I am a big fan of these little traditional biscuits known as pigs ears (or elephant's ear as I call them).

Growing up, these biscuits (along with other favourites such as gems and wafers) were sold out of tin cans in provision shops and mama stores in the neighbourhood. These stores have mostly disappeared. You can still find these biscuits but most of them give me a headache as the pastry can be teeth-shattering hard.

Chai Wee is an old school stall in Chinatown Complex that sells baked cuttlefish and pig ears biscuit. I have walked by them a couple of times but balked at their prices. $10.50 for 100g of cuttlefish?!? You will have to splash out at least $20 for a set of cuttlefish and pig ear biscuits as they do not sell their ear biscuits separately.

Curious, we ordered a set recently and were instantly hooked. The cuttlefish was crispy and full of flavours. But the star of their show is the ear biscuits which were smooth, thin and shattering crisp. They are delicious and addictively crunchy.

Chai Wee cuts their dough by hand to make the biscuits thinner and this makes a world of difference. Its a time consuming and arduous process to make this snack entirely by hand which kinda explains why this stall is the last artisan left standing.

Yes, it's pricey and a simple traditional snack but I think it's worth the artisanal and nostalgia value!

Got to try these out when dad brought a packet home. I am usually not a big fan of Ear Biscuits for how greasy and stodgy they are (oh, the pain they cause to the teeth when you crunch them apart), but these were surprisingly crisp and light — the texture distinctly different from the commercial ones we get from tidbit shops; the effort behind making it from scratch is clearly evident here. The flavours are also pretty profound here, less the sickening greasiness nor does it reek of overused oil — let's just say it's difficult to simply stop at one for these!

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