The oyster cake was one of Granny’s favourite deep-fried snacks in the 80s. I remembered they were very greasy but oh-so-delicious and addictive. They also had crunchy peanuts and crispy silver fish on top. Not really sure where Gran had bought the oyster cakes from or perhaps because they were more common back then so were always readily available. Anyway, I hardly saw oyster cakes through the years and almost forgot about their existence until I came across it again at The 50 Cents Fest at Chinatown Food Street which I had shared earlier on my Instagram page.
There were many nostalgic snacks and food on offer then and prices started from 50 cents and up. The one thing that caught my attention when I was there was this stall that was selling oyster cakes. In order to cope with the crowd, their oyster cakes were fried in advanced and refried again before selling them to customers.
Didn’t expect much from a 50 cents oyster cake. It was small and flat with a tiny oyster in the middle. It was still quite tasty even though it lacked substance. At least, it didn’t ooze oil with each bite. Oil was fresh too.
Besides oyster cake, there were also kok kok mee, rickshaw noodles, malt candy, chicken rice ball, roti prata, bak kut teh, chilli crab, ice ball and many more other local delights and nostalgic treats. I was extremely thrilled when I held this ice ball in my hand. It was something that I used to eat a lot in the 80s. Best thing to have on a hot and humid afternoon.
I came to Maxwell Food Centre a few times before but I just had no affinity with this oyster cake stall as I was here at the wrong time so they were closed. Finally, one day when I was in the vicinity and I decided to pop by for a sugarcane juice to quench my thirst, I saw the stall open for business.
I was stoked as if I won the lottery, haha.
Besides Fu Zhou Poh Hwa Oyster Cake in Jalan Besar and another stall that operates in pasar malam, this is the last stall I know of that still sells oyster cakes in Singapore.
If anyone of you has come across any new or ‘hidden-gem’ oyster cake stalls in Singapore, please let me know. Thank you very much. 🙂
Maxwell Fuzhou’s oyster cakes were freshly fried on the spot so we would always get piping hot ones. At first glance, the colour of the frying oil didn’t impress me much as it looked really way over-used which made me a little skeptical as it meant the oil might not be fresh-tasting.
True enough, one bite into this oyster cake (S$2) and I felt slightly disappointed because the oil was heavy unlike the one used at The 50 Cents Fest which was light and fresh.
Putting that aside, the filling was actually quite tasty. The inside was moist and juicy with traces of fatty pork mince, Chinese celery, prawns and oysters. Portion size was good for a mere $2 too.
A cheap and good snack if you don’t mind greasy food.
Maxwell Fuzhou Oyster Cake
1 Kadayanallur Street
#01-05 Maxwell Food Centre
Singapore 069184
Tel: +65 9344 1296
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/maxwellfuzhouoystercake
Opening hours: 9.00am to 8.00pm (Mon-Sat)