Chiap Tong

Walking into this 1942 institution is like getting sucked into a time warp. There’s a sense of drowsiness that envelops this non-descript shop, and oftentimes, you’re the only customer enclosed by stacks of biscuit tins and jars. Owner Peter Boo sits on a plastic chair, watching over the lull of the shop like a hawk, answering any of your questions with as much excitement as a guard at Buckingham Palace. Like clockwork, he retreats to the back of the shop around 2pm everyday for a nap, leaving a friendly Indonesian lady to momentarily take charge.

If not for Peter, we’re regulars of this shop for the sheer variety of the biscuits on offer – the kind that you used to buy from the pasar malam as a kid. There are lemon creams, (startlingly tender) butter cookies, chocolate sandwiches, sugar-crusted crackers, coconut melts and those colourful icing-topped drop cookies that once dominated our childhood.

The small space fits more than a hundred kinds of biscuits astonishingly well, most of which are sourced from factories around the country. Biscuits are weighed and priced accordingly, but a kilo of biscuits won’t cost you upwards of RM10, which is surely the wisest option when having friends over for tea.