Hidden Gem Curry Puff Joint Sells Tasty Black Pepper Chicken & Apple Puffs From $1.60
The shop boss, a former IT professional, serves both fried and baked curry puffs.
Puffs N Deli, a takeaway shop near Tai Seng MRT station, is a chance for 59-year-old Sam Ho to return to his latent passion in cooking after a long career in IT. His foray into F&B is a standalone eatery at commercial building Tai Seng Point that sells both deep-fried and baked curry puffs stuffed with curried chicken chunks, potatoes and hard-boiled eggs. Other than chicken, there are also other mod flavours like minced beef, sambal chicken and even apple.
Sam’s shop has been around since 2015, though it was only in February last year that he moved to his current location from a previous spot at nearby mall The Commerze @ Irving.
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Before he went into the IT line, Sam trained as a chef. He graduated from the Singapore Hotel and Tourism Education Centre in 1985 before working in hotel kitchens, including a year as commis chef at the defunct German restaurant Baron’s Table at Royal Holiday Inn (now renamed to the Royal Plaza on Scotts hotel).
However, he soon switched careers and found a job in data centre operations at a bank. “I decided that for the long-term, I should go for a formal work environment with better salary prospects,” he says.
He remained in IT for 23 years till 2011 when he decided to return to F&B. Married with a son in his late teens, Sam says: “My housing loan and family expenses were more or less settled. I was bored with what I was doing, so I decided to go back to my passion.”
He opted to sell fried curry puffs for his first solo venture. “I thought that it would be the most manageable item that I can handle alone,” he reasons. “I also believe that curry puffs are the most popular snack in Singapore.” However, he closed his first stall – situated in the food court above Bishan Bus Interchange – after just six months. “Bishan looked good, but it was not that good. The footfall was very bad,” he explains simply.
After a brief return to IT, he opened Puffs N Deli in 2015 at The Commerze @ Irving. “The place was quite hidden, and business was pretty slow,” Sam tells us. But he found the pace “manageable”, especially since he was splitting his time between contract work in IT and his shop for his first two years there.
However, once Sam committed to Puffs N Deli full-time, he found that business there was unsustainable due to how “invisible” the shop was. He then shifted to Tai Seng Point last February, just a minute’s walk away from his old space but now along the busier Upper Paya Lebar Road. Moving nearby had its benefits, as Sam reckons he could continue to serve his regulars and remain known as “the Tai Seng curry puff”.
He continued to produce his takeaway curry puffs alone, despite opening for longer hours to cater to more customers. “The area is industrial – it’s not like a shopping mall where there’s a constant crowd. So I open for longer hours and prepare my food in batches to serve the breakfast, lunch and tea break crowd.”
Sam is used to the long hours – he works about 12 hours on weekdays, and six on the weekends – but hopes to streamline his curry puff production so that he can reintroduce other items he enjoyed making back at his old shop, including “Korean rice cakes, Taiwanese spring onion pancakes and oyster mee sua”. And that’s because his curry puffs are easily his most popular item. “Most of the time [now, we’re] only able to fulfill the ‘Puffs’ portion [of the stall’s name]. Not much on the ‘Deli’ unfortunately,” he laments.
For now, expect a focused menu comprising fried curry puff – Sam’s bestseller – and eight other baked puffs. He also sells a few other quick and easy deep-fried snacks like spring rolls, fish balls and chicken nuggets.
There are a couple of chairs outside Puffs N Deli for customers who want to grab a quick bite, but his operations remain takeaway-focused, says Sam. Delivery isn’t an option as the lone baker is ill-equipped to deal with the surges in orders; he advises customers looking to buy anything more than a few puffs (especially the baked ones) to call ahead for orders.
Sam’s classic curry chicken puff, which is crescent-shaped with a rather fetching pleated edge, fares well enough. The deep-fried pastry is crisp and thin, breaking open to reveal curried chicken chunks, diced potatoes and a wedge of hard-boiled egg. As far as curry puff fillings go, it’s ample and aromatic, though we would like it to be a touch spicier.
Unlike the pastry for the fried curry puff, which is done in-house by Sam, this is from a supplier. “I would only be able to make the puff pastry myself if I close my shop for an extra day for making them, or hire extra staff,” he tells us. Nonetheless, the pastry is light, flaky and rather delish; we find ourselves enjoying it a tad more than his deep-fried version.
Chicken chunks, cooked in a mix of “different sambal sauces and onions” fill this pastry. The chook is tender and quite toothsome, but the spicy sambal lacks the piquant, savoury notes that makes it shiok.
Our favourite of the lot. Like the sambal chicken, this filling is pleasantly succulent and lightly perfumed with the musk of black pepper, though it would be tastier with a stronger peppery kick. A comforting, homely bake that we’d love to have with a cup of tea.
There’s also a baked puff stuffed with sliced chicken chipolata, mushrooms and mozzarella. It doesn’t fare as well as the others as the spicy sausage overwhelms the flavours of the mushrooms and melted mozzarella (which isn’t quite luscious enough).
A fragrant, meaty number generously stuffed with mustard-scented minced beef. Too bad it’s a little dry, as we find Sam’s “Western-style” take on the puff quite enjoyable.
The only baked dessert puff option from Puffs N Deli. The not-too-sweet apple filling has a moreish soft and crunchy texture, with the occasional juicy raisin mixed in.
Puffs N Deli delivers pretty decent curry puffs, with some yummy, if relatively muted, newfangled flavours. We like the baked black pepper chicken one best. It’s worth popping by if you’re in the (relatively ulu) area – do remember to call ahead to avoid disappointment, as Sam mans his shop alone and preps the baked puffs in limited quantities.
