Time Out Tries: The best Lunar New Year snacks

For those who seek adventure – with refinement

Co-founded by ex-Bakery Brera and Keong Saik Bakery pastry chef Wythe Ng, La Levain serves up rows of freshly baked viennoiseries in the form of croissants, pastries and cruffins at its space within the Jalan Besar locale. This Lunar New Year, the bakery is turning out nine special flavours: under the Prosperity ONG LAI series are four pineapple tart flavours including original ($24.80), osmanthus ($26.80), mixed herb ($26.80) and hojicha ($26.80) and under the Premium LAI HUAT series are five cookie flavours including cacao berry chocolate cookies with Himalayan sea salt ($22.80) and Italian herb mix almond feuilletine ($19.90). 

How it looks We received the original pineapple tarts, Italian herb mix almond feuilletine and almond hazelnut cookies in clear, cylindrical containers with black caps, again stamped with a La Levain sticker. Nothing to shout about. 

How it tastes La Levain has one of the best, if not the best, pineapple tarts of the bunch. We love the generous pineapple filling (which is itself not too sweet), and the pastry is buttery and flaky. It makes us curious about the other pineapple tart flavours on the menu.

Meanwhile, the Italian herb mix almond feuilletine is fragrant and savoury on the nose (we smell rosemary and thyme), and sweet on the tongue with a nice shatter. Easy to watch TV and continually stuff your face with this one. 

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For those who want to please both the eye and the palette

Sourbombe Artisanal Bakery needs no introduction. This bakery at Penang Road consistently sells out its puffy pillows stuffed with luscious flavoured cream. The bakery often rolls out innovative sourbombe doughnuts for special occasions too – take the recent Christmas box – but this CNY, it's instead turning its attention to pineapple tarts and festive cookies. 

How it looks Sourbombe has the best-looking packaging of the bunch – it's fresh, modern and slightly cheeky. The snacks arrived in round metal tins wrapped in bright colours that each alludes to the snack within. That is: a sexy black design for the fragrant buckwheat black sesame cookies ($20), a bright and pale blue with cute pineapple illustrations for the bak kwa pineapple tarts ($24) and a fire engine red for the hae bee hiam spiced cookies with fish floss ($22). Get the Lunar Orient Cookies bundle of three ($60) for gifting. 

How it tastes We're not lying when we say that our Food and Drink writer couldn't stop reaching for the buckwheat black sesame cookies. He just couldn't get enough of its toasty and salty flavours. Meanwhile, the bakkwa pineapple tarts were wonderfully chewy with a subtle savoury note thanks to the bak kwa – we do wish that we could taste it a little more though. The hae bee hiam cookies were not as intense as The Pine Garden's version, but have a surprisingly light texture – great for non-stop snacking. 

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For traditionalists who want consistency

This neighbourhood bakery has made it big in recent years. Once a hidden gem, it has since been featured in multiple news outlets and best-of-lists. This joint is notable for its locally-inspired buttercream cakes – so we can't wait to see how they take on Chinese New Year goodies.  

How it looks The CNY treats arrived in clear, cylindrical containers with a Pine Garden sticker pasted on. The look is simple and traditional – probably not something you'd get for gifting if that's your intention. 

How it tastes Out of six snacks – including open-faced pineapple tarts – the hae bee hiam crackers stood out to us for their intense and smoky taste. The honey cornflake biscuits were also fragrant, crisp and highly addictive. We wish the kai chai paeng (little chicken biscuit) had a stronger flavour of pepper and chicken fat, and the seaweed biscuit was not to our taste. Otherwise, the taste and quality were consistent across the board. Pine Garden is a no-fail option. 

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