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Review: Ding Bakery’s Best Tasting 100% Hand-Made Chinese New Year Goodies with Zero Preservatives

Ding Bakery began as a small family business in Muar, Johor. 

Originally being home bakers, the business have now not only expanded all over Malaysia, but also to Singapore as well.

Ding Bakery pride themselves in delivering the best tasting and freshest CNY Goodies to their customers. 

All goodies are 100% hand-made in their shop in Muar and they use only premium ingredients and zero preservatives, in order to ensure the high quality of their goodies.

Ding Bakery recently reached out to me on a collaboration. And with Chinese New Year fast approaching, I agreed.

The variety of goodies available on Ding Bakery’s website is quite wide, and there is something to cater to everyone, regardless of whether you are looking for classic goodies, or new and interesting ones.

Placing an order on Ding Bakery’s website was simple enough. 

I picked the goodies that I wanted, and put my order through, giving the bakery a two-week lead time to prepare and deliver my goods. This had been more than enough time.

The website was fuss-free and easy to navigate through, with large photos illustrating the various goodies on offer and descriptions of each of the goodies. This made it simple to choose what my family and I had wanted.

However I soon realised that there was an issue with the coupon code that I had been provided with.

This is because at first, the website was charging me delivery fees, even though the total order amount should have been eligible to free delivery. 

But the issue was quickly resolved after a short chat via email with Ding Bakery.

My box of goodies arrived punctually on the nominated date and well within the time frame that I had requested, which was good.

However when I opened the box, I immediately realised that there was no identification label on each of the containers of Chinese New Year goodies. 

Instead, nine out of the 11 containers that arrived, merely had a standard Ding Bakery label stuck on them, and the 10th and 11th ones lacked a label completely.

At the bare minimum, I would have expected some form of identification label on each container, that stated what type of goodies it had inside.

With Pineapple Tarts being a staple during any Chinese New Year celebration as well as my favourite go-to snack during the festive season, we had picked four different types of pineapple tarts from Ding Bakery.

These are as follows.

Award-winning Premium Melt-in-Your-Mouth Pineapple Tart Ball (S$22.90)

These are Ding Bakery’s homemade and award-winning pineapple tarts, using the best ingredients and baking methods to ensure optimum sweetness and texture.

In terms of the texture, the pastry of these pineapple tarts was the softest, smoothest and most crumbly of the lot. 

The flavour of the tart was somewhat in-between, not overly sweet yet not overly tangy at the same time. 

I would say that it was a pretty well-balanced pineapple tart and I recommend this version of pineapple tart to those who like their pastry to crumble in their mouths.

Award-Winning Nyonya Pineapple Tart (S$19.90)

The Nyonya style pineapple tart is well-known for its signature sunflower shape and at Ding Bakery, their signature in-house pineapple jam is placed over a well-baked crusty and buttery tart base.

This was the only pineapple tart that I could easily identify at first glance because it was the only open-style one.

For these pineapple tarts, the pastry was firmer as compared to the Award-winning Premium Melt-in-Your-Mouth Pineapple Tart Ball and the SCS Butter Pineapple Ball, and the pineapple jam filling was quite balanced, being not too sweet yet not overly tangy at the same time.

SCS Butter Pineapple Tart Ball (S$19.90)

Opening this can of pineapple tart, the smell and fragrance of the pineapple appears to come out the strongest.

For the pastry, this was similar to the Nyonya Pineapple Tart in terms of the texture and firmness.

The butter notes were somewhat stronger in this pineapple tart, both when I smelled and tasted the tart.

In terms of the flavour, I found the pineapple jam was also less sweet and significantly more tangy than all the other varieties.  

I recommend this as a great choice for those who like their pineapple tarts to be on the firm and tangy side.

Out of the pineapple tarts I had ordered, this version was my favourite.

Cheese Pineapple Ball (S$15.90)

The texture of this pastry was marginally softer and not as firm as the Award-Winning Nyonya Pineapple Tart and most definitely not crumbly like the Melt-in-Your-Mouth Pineapple Tart Ball.

In terms of the tart’s overall flavour profile, I would say that the tart is quite well-balanced.

The pineapple jam flavour is pretty similar compared to the Award-Winning Nyonya Pineapple Tart.

There is a hint of cheese flavour embedded in the pastry and I could catch a slight taste of this upon popping a tart into my mouth. It is not very strong or pronounced though.

As a whole, I would describe this tart as being not too sweet, yet not overly tangy, making for a pretty well-balanced tart to eat.

Generally, I feel that there are not huge differences between the various pineapple tart offerings from Ding Bakery; they are all delicious.

If you are looking for some good pineapple tarts that won’t disappoint you, to munch on for this Chinese New Year season, you can get them at Ding Bakery.

Besides the pineapple tarts, we also went for a range of both traditional and novel Chinese New Year snacks.

These are as follows.

Golden Egg Roll Love Letters (S$16.90)

As Love Letters are also a must-have during Chinese New Year, this classic item was definitely on my festive shopping list.

And Ding Bakery certainly did not disappoint. These were very crispy and fragrant with a hint of a coconut and pandan fragrance. It was addictive and pleasant to eat.

Premium Peanut Kuih Kapit (S$24.90)

This is described by Ding Bakery as being crispy, crunchy, fragrant and satisfying.

I love peanut and I also love anything crispy, so why not go for this, right?

Upon opening the container, the peanut smell wafts into my nostrils immediately.

And the taste? Ding Bakery’s version of Kuih Kapit was definitely crispy. Upon taking the first bite, you are immediately hit by a mouthful of peanut. 

Overall, the layer of peanut may not be as thick as some other version of Kueh kapit I have come across, but I find that because the flavour of the peanut is stronger, this means it does not overwhelm the senses. 

Definitely a satisfying and delicious combination for the Chinese New Year.

Premium Crispy Salted Egg Seaweed Popiah Cracker (S$18.90)

This is described by Ding Bakery as an addictive snack using top quality Nori seaweed as well as some natural Salted Egg Yolk to evolve the snack to the next level.

I found that this had a strong seaweed flavour that drowned out the taste of the salted egg. 

On the first mouthful, I could pick up a slight hint of the salted egg, but on subsequent mouthfuls, I could no longer detect much of the salted egg flavour, and the seaweed flavour began to dominate my taste buds.

As well, they were very crispy, salty and indeed, addictive. I have to warn you that once you start munching on these, it’s insanely hard to stop eating.

Award-Winning Gold Standard Butter Cookies (S$18.90)

Ding Bakery’s version of Butter Cookies are soft and light. I can smell a very faint whiff of butter notes immediately upon opening the container. 

These butter cookies crumble and melt in the mouth.

However when tasting these butter cookies, the butteriness was not as pronounced as I had anticipated. I thought that the butter taste could have been stronger.

Premium Almond Cookies ($16.90)

I found Ding Bakery’s version of Almond Cookies to be crispy and nutty, with a gritty texture from the almonds used in the baking. However, they were not fragrant and the flavour of these cookies was very mild.

Cashew Nut Cookies ($18.90)

Out of the three types of cookies I had ordered, Ding Bakery’s Cashew Nut Cookies were the tastiest and most flavourful of the lot.

In terms of the cookie texture, these are crunchy, rough and gritty mouth-feel because of the cashew nuts that have been diced up and mashed into the dough.

There is a strong nutty flavour emerging from the cookies. 

I already caught a whiff of this smell upon opening the container, and the nuttiness becomes all the more apparent, when I popped a cookie into my mouth.

Sample CNY Goodies (S$6)

As the name suggests, this is good to order if you aren’t sure what to purchase from Ding Bakery and wish to sample a bunch of their snacks first, before coming to a final decision.

The sample pack I received, consisted of the following.

  • Premium Pineapple Tart
  • Premium Melt-In-Your-Mouth Kueh Bangkit 
  • Nyonya Pineapple Tart
  • Gold Standard Butter Cookies
  • Salted Egg Crab Stick
  • Hae Bee Hiam Roll

This particular set of goodies are described by Ding Bakery as the mostly highly requested sample pieces.

However I had been quite disappointed by how the Sample CNY Goodies had been packaged and delivered to me. 

Unlike the singular goodies that I had ordered, the Sample CNY Goodies were packed not in an airtight container, but rather, in a cheap-looking plastic bento container.

As a result, all of the goodies in this packet had already become soft when I came around to eating them – and this was just 24 hours after they had been delivered to me.

Perhaps if the Sample CNY Goodies are ordered for delivery, it may be better to pack them in an airtight wrapping in order to keep them fresh.

From the Sample CNY Goodies pack, the Hae Bee Hiam Roll had a spicy kick that hits you immediately when you pop it into your mouth. It is a decent version of this classic snack.

Though it was still somewhat crispy, I have to say I would have preferred if it was crunchier and fresher.

The Premium Kueh Bangkit had been a bit starchy for my liking, and I also felt it could have been crispier if it had been eaten fresh.

The Salted Egg Crab Stick, unfortunately was pretty soft when I ate it from the sample pack, so this ruined the taste of the snack somewhat for me. 

Taste-wise, I could definitely pick up the salted egg flavour together with a whiff of artificial crab flavour when I popped some into my mouth.

If it had been much crispier, I think it would definitely be an addictive snack though.

Where to get Ding Bakery’s goodies

If you are interested to take a look at their selection and purchase Chinese New Year goodies from Ding Bakery, you can check them out at https://www.cnygoodies.sg. 

Orders can either be made online or picked up from their Singapore headquarters at Paya Lebar. 

As well, besides ordering a Sampling Pack, sampling of the goodies is also available at Paya Lebar HQ, for those who can’t make up their mind on what to get.

1 Comment

  • Michael says:

    Hi. I think we all dig your cookies. Can I leave a note to just put the date you start at 140, AZ Paya Lebar cos I personally went there in drizz and was disappointed to not able to walk-in and buy. Thanks!

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