A beloved Singaporean street food, born from Chinese immigrant roots, carries a famously misleading name that has confused food lovers for decades

Eh, you think got carrot inside ah? Aiyah, wrong lah. If you have ever stood at a Singapore hawker centre and pointed at a sizzling plate of chai tow kway — only to wonder where the orange vegetable is — you are very much not alone. This dish, known in English as fried carrot cake, is arguably one of the most misunderstood names in all of Southeast Asian cuisine. But here’s the thing: the confusion is precisely what makes it iconic. There is no carrot in Singapore’s fried carrot cake. What you get instead is something far more interesting — a golden, wok-tossed piece of culinary history that tells the story of migration, adaptation, and the spirit of a city built on street food.

Singapore’s fried carrot cake, locally known as chai tow kway (菜头粿) in Teochew, is a savory hawker dish made from cubed steamed radish-and-rice-flour cake, stir-fried in a wok with eggs, preserved radish (chye poh or chai poh), garlic, and fish sauce. It has nothing to do with the Western dessert of the same name, nor does it contain actual carrots. According to Singapore Infopedia, the dish traces its roots to Teochew (Chaoshan) immigrants from China, where the original preparation — called bí-ko or ko-kóe — was made from rice flour and milled puffed rice, with no radish.

Over time, the dish evolved dramatically in Singapore’s hawker stalls, giving rise to the two beloved versions the city knows today: the white version, simply fried with eggs to a crisp golden exterior, and the black version, enriched with sweet dark soy sauce and vigorously stir-fried for a caramelized, smoky depth. A serving at a hawker stall today typically costs between SGD $3 and $8, making it one of the most accessible comfort foods in the city.

A Chinese Root, A Singaporean Soul

The story of chai tow kway begins not in Singapore, but in the Chaoshan province of southern China. The dish was known there as chao gao guo — meaning fried flour cake — with rice flour as its primary ingredient, accompanied by fish sauce and dark sweet soy sauce, fried alongside eggs, oysters, and shrimp. When waves of Teochew immigrants arrived in Singapore during the 19th and early 20th centuries, they brought this humble preparation with them. In their new home, the dish took on a new identity. It was renamed char kway — meaning fried rice cake — and the diced radish cake was tossed simply with dark soy sauce.

In Singapore, it became known as char kueh, where the rice cake was cut into cubes and stir-fried with dark soya sauce. The base dish was practical, filling, and cheap — perfectly suited to the lives of laborers and working-class families building a new city. What began as an immigrant’s comfort food was about to undergo a transformation that would make it a national icon.

The Hawkers Who Made History

The naming and evolution of chai tow kway can be traced directly to two individuals whose contributions shaped the dish as it is eaten today. A new name, chai tow kway, is self-attributed to hawker Ng Soik Theng, who added radish to the cakes in the 1960s. This was a decisive shift — by incorporating white radish (daikon) into the steamed rice flour base, Ng Soik Theng gave the dish its distinct texture and flavor. The Teochew word chai tow can loosely be translated as “radish” but also carries a meaning that overlaps with “carrot” in certain Hokkien dialect contexts, which is precisely how the English name “carrot cake” was born.

The reason it is called carrot cake is because the word for daikon can also refer to a carrot, because of a loose English translation from Hokkien. Then came Lau Goh, who — operating from what would eventually become Lau Goh Teochew Chye Thow Kway at Zion Riverside Food Centre on 70 Zion Road — popularized the white version in the 1970s, creating a lighter, egg-forward style that now stands as one of the two definitive preparations. Lau Goh Teochew Chye Thow Kway is now in its second generation from its establishment in the 1960s, and remains one of the most popular stalls for the dish. These two hawkers, in their modest stalls, effectively wrote the grammar of a dish that millions would follow.

What’s Inside the Wok

Understanding what chai tow kway actually is requires a closer look at how it is made — because the process is more deliberate than the humble price tag suggests. White radish is grated and then steamed with rice flour and water, then cubed and tossed in a wok with eggs, preserved radish, and other seasonings. The radish cake is first allowed to cool, ideally overnight in the refrigerator, so it can fully set before being cut into cubes and pan-fried until the edges turn brown and slightly crisp.

From there, the preparation diverges into two distinct paths. The white version (Bai Chai Tow Kway) is stir-fried simply with eggs and seasonings, resulting in crispy golden-brown bites with a soft interior. The black version (Hei Chai Tow Kway) follows the same process but with the addition of sweet dark soy sauce, giving it a deep, caramelized flavor. The key seasoning agent across both versions is chai poh, the salted preserved radish that provides an intense, umami-driven saltiness. Garlic and fish sauce round out the profile, and spring onions are added just before plating. The dish is beloved as a Teochew delicacy and can be eaten for breakfast, as a meal, or as a late-night supper — any time of day. That flexibility is central to its staying power in Singaporean life.

A Hawker Legacy With Michelin Recognition

The status of chai tow kway has risen well beyond the humble hawker stall. Several stalls have earned significant recognition for their dedication to the craft. Guan Kee Fried Carrot Cake’s origins can be traced back to the 1950s, when it started as a humble chai tow kway pushcart in then-kampung Bugis. In 1978, the pushcart was upgraded to a hawker stall within Albert Food Centre at 270 Queen Street, where it still operates today, with white and black versions priced at SGD $4 for a small portion and SGD $8 for a large portion.

Similarly, Bukit Merah View Carrot Cake has been operating since the 1950s, and for the longest time its owner milled rice grains himself to make the carrot cake. Perhaps most remarkably, Unforgettable Carrot Cake at 115 Bukit Merah View Hawker Centre earned a spot on the 2023 Michelin Guide Singapore, with its chai tow kway priced at SGD $4, $4.50, and $5. This recognition signals a broader global shift in how street food is valued — no longer dismissed as simple or low-status, but celebrated as the carrier of genuine culinary knowledge, skill, and tradition. The wok hei — the elusive smoky breath of the wok — that a skilled chai tow kway hawker can coax into a plate of radish cake requires years of practice that no Michelin kitchen training can shortcut.

A Dish That Travels, But Never Loses Its Roots

While chai tow kway is most closely associated with Singapore, the dish has relatives across Southeast Asia and China. The versions served by hawkers in Singapore and Johor in southern Malaysia — where Teochew people live — are typically prepared by frying the radish cake with chopped preserved daikon, diced garlic, eggs, and Chinese fish sauce in place of soya sauce, with spring onions added just before serving. Further north in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, the dish takes a darker turn — bean sprouts are added and dark soy sauce is more predominant, with the Penang version known as char koay kak.

In Cantonese dim sum culture, the radish cake (lo bak go) is typically steamed with Chinese sausage and mushrooms and pan-fried in slices — a softer, more refined cousin to Singapore’s street-ready version. Taiwanese radish cake is firmer with fewer other ingredients mixed in, and while variations exist across Southeast Asia, Singapore’s interpretation — with its egg-forward richness and wok-kissed aroma — remains the most distinct and widely celebrated. The Singapore version carries a confidence and boldness that is entirely its own, shaped by the specific conditions of the island’s hawker culture and its unique confluence of Chinese, Malay, and Indian culinary influences.

What This Dish Means for Visitors to Singapore

There is no better entry point into Singapore’s food culture than a plate of chai tow kway. It is inexpensive, available at virtually every hawker centre across the island, and asks nothing of the diner except an open mind about names. The dish is found at almost all of Singapore’s hawker food centres, known in Teochew dialect as chai tow kway, and can be ordered in white or black versions. For visitors from Indonesia — where luo bo gao is familiar in Chinese-Singaporean-style restaurants — the flavor profile will feel close yet distinctly different in its hawker execution. For travelers from Europe, the United States, or Japan, it will be revelatory: savory, eggy, slightly smoky, and nothing like the cream-cheese-frosted cake the name might conjure.

The fact that this dish has earned a place in the Michelin Guide while remaining priced at as little as SGD $3 (approximately IDR 38,961) tells a story about Singapore that matters deeply: that excellence does not require exclusivity. Hawker food culture is so central to Singaporean identity that UNESCO inscribed it on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2020. Chai tow kway is not a side note in that story — it is one of its main characters. For any traveler hoping to understand what Singapore actually tastes like, the answer is waiting in a sizzling wok at the nearest hawker centre. Order the black. Order the white. Then decide which team you’re on. For more news and editorial content, visit our page to stay updated.

Sources:
[1] Fried Carrot Cake
[2] Chai Tow Kway (Fried Carrot Cake)
[3] Fried Carrot Cake (Black)
[4] Turnip cake
[5] 10 Must-Try FRIED CARROT CAKE aka CHAI TOW KWAY In Singapore – From Chey Sua, He Zhong, Song Zhou To Clementi Fried Carrot Cake
[6] He Zhong Carrot Cake – Eggy White Chai Tow Kway Stall Reopens at Bukit Timah Interim Food Centre
[7] 15 best fried carrot cakes 菜头粿 in SG that are worth your indulgence [Nov 2024 update]
[8] 10 Best Black Carrot Cake in Singapore Ranked, Including Michelin-Approved And 70-Year-Old Stalls
[9] BEST OF SINGAPORE HAWKERS & CASUAL DINING: CARROT CAKE / CHYE TOW KUEH
[10] SINGAPORE FRIED CARROT CAKE / FRIED TURNIP CAKE (WITH HOMEMADE CHAI TOW KWAY)

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