I’m sure you haven’t heard of this bakery before! It’s hidden at the top level of Beauty World Centre, near the hawker centre. I stumbled upon it the other day, as I was exploring the area. This rather non-descript bakery would easily be taken as one of the usual old school neighbourhood bakeries, but wait! Before you shrug it off, and walk pass it, pause for a moment to look in at their rows of freshly baked fluffy buns.

Intrigued by the wide selection of bread, I walked in to browse their selections. I was impressed to find that Oishii Bakery had so many options, from the more familiar Sausage Bun to more creative, rarely found creations like Black Sesame Paste Bun. They even had Hae Bee Hiam bun, and Kaya bun for the Singaporeans who love their traditional flavours. Young children need not feel left out, since Oishii Bakery also offers Nacho Cheese Bun, and Butter Sugar Buns.

I decided to try their Black Sesame Paste Bun and Yam Bun, since these are rarely sold elsewhere.
My friend tried the Hae Bee Hiam Bun, and Coconut bun, both of which were generously filled.

Before I review the two buns I tried, let me first apologize for the wrinkled, squashed appearance of the buns, which by no means reflect how the buns taste. Like any bakery buns, if these are not handled with care, you will very likely end up with ugly shriveled looking buns like mine. But fret not, cause the aesthetics of the bun does not affect its quality.

Black Sesame Paste Bun

This was my first time trying a black sesame paste bun, something I have been meaning to try. After finally being able to get my hands on one, I slowly bit into the chewy bread, hoping that it would live up to my expectations. The bread was rather tasteless, but that was a good thing since the filling was extremely robust! The bread merely acted as a casing for the generous portion of black sesame inside.

In the picture above, the black sesame doesn’t really look very generous, but as you bite further in, the amount of filling increases (below). The filling was more powdery than a paste, and was not at all like the Black Sesame Paste dessert. It was stronger, and was almost too bitter. Being a black sesame fan, I liked this bun.

BUT, if you aren’t a fan of black sesame. I suggest you steer clear of this bun, since the black sesame taste is very strong. The bun was not sweet at all, so the natural flavor of the black sesame remains the star of this bun.

Yam Bun

Yet another wrinkly bun. The bread was similar to the black sesame bread — tasteless with a chewy texture.

Sadly, the filling was not as generous for this bun. But it was enough to me, considering that the yam paste tasted exactly like the yam paste dessert aka Orh-nee, which can be quite rich on its own. The sweetness was just right, and was nicely balanced off with the plain bread.

Oishii Bakery offers a great variety of  quality buns, which go beyond your normal options, which is a huge plus point to me. I love how they incorporate traditional flavours into their bread. It would be nice if they made their fillings even more generous or increased the size of their buns though, since their buns average at $1.40 a piece.  Compared to the many other neighbourhood bakeries though, it isn’t particularly outstanding. Definitely above average, but it is going to take a lot more for bread to really WOW me. Nonetheless, it is a good place to stop by to grab a bun, or two for a quick on-the-go snack.

Rating: 6/10 (+1 for variety)

• Bukit Timah: 144 Upper Bukit Timah Road, Beauty World Centre 04-02
• West Coast: 154 West Coast Road, West Coast Plaza B1-24/25
• Serangoon: 1 Maju Avenue, myVillage at Serangoon Garden B1-K03