Lek Lim Nonya Cake Confectionery located in Bedok is a traditional shop selling kuehs. It first started its business in 1967, serving customers through their home kitchen before setting up their own shop (at its current location) in 1987 as business picked up.
Through out the years since their inception, they have survived mainly through customers' word of mouth (WOM), no advertising on their part is required. This is not an easy feat as I notice that their location is not exactly ideal. To get to Lek Lim Nonya Cake Confectionery, one would need to take a bus from Bedok MRT station. It is not located in a crowded area near an attraction or shopping mall. They are located just next to Fengshan Food Centre where many people frequent at night for supper for the famous Minced Pork Noodles and Chicken Wings, but well... they are closed by evening time. Hence, to have operated for so long with just WOM, I am sure they did something, if not a few things right!
So what are Lek Lim Nonya Cake Confectionery's USP (Unique Selling Points) that have allowed them to operate for so long? From my perspective the USPs are:
1) Hand made Kuehs and other products. The Kuehs and fried stuff such as Yam Cake, Curry Puffs, Spring Rolls are all hand made! From pastry to the fillings, they are all hand made from the raw ingredients. Not made from factories! I feel that this is the most important USP. Despite it being a labourious task with such a wide product range, they still take the effort to make everything from scratch. Kudos to them.
2) Freshly made daily. Every thing is freshly made on the spot daily. To do this, they have to start working at 4am in the wee hours of the morning daily!
3) No/Minimum preservatives. If you are a regular customer here, you will know that most of the kuehs and fried snacks cannot be kept for long. This is because no preservatives are added. It is best to eat it on the spot or within the same day.
4) Vegetarian. Suitable for vegetarian.
5) Halal Certified. Suitable for our Muslim friends (important point..especially in the light of Amy Cheong facebook post).
Through out the years since their inception, they have survived mainly through customers' word of mouth (WOM), no advertising on their part is required. This is not an easy feat as I notice that their location is not exactly ideal. To get to Lek Lim Nonya Cake Confectionery, one would need to take a bus from Bedok MRT station. It is not located in a crowded area near an attraction or shopping mall. They are located just next to Fengshan Food Centre where many people frequent at night for supper for the famous Minced Pork Noodles and Chicken Wings, but well... they are closed by evening time. Hence, to have operated for so long with just WOM, I am sure they did something, if not a few things right!
1) Hand made Kuehs and other products. The Kuehs and fried stuff such as Yam Cake, Curry Puffs, Spring Rolls are all hand made! From pastry to the fillings, they are all hand made from the raw ingredients. Not made from factories! I feel that this is the most important USP. Despite it being a labourious task with such a wide product range, they still take the effort to make everything from scratch. Kudos to them.
2) Freshly made daily. Every thing is freshly made on the spot daily. To do this, they have to start working at 4am in the wee hours of the morning daily!
3) No/Minimum preservatives. If you are a regular customer here, you will know that most of the kuehs and fried snacks cannot be kept for long. This is because no preservatives are added. It is best to eat it on the spot or within the same day.
4) Vegetarian. Suitable for vegetarian.
5) Halal Certified. Suitable for our Muslim friends (important point..especially in the light of Amy Cheong facebook post).
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| Part of the product range |
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| Kuehs |
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| Pulut Int and Fried Snacks |
During this visit, the partner and I had the opportunity to view and learn (hands on experience) how some of the kuehs are made. First up, Ang Ku Kuehs.
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| Filling for Ang Ku Kuehs (Peanut, Bean, Gula Melaka Coconut) |
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| Left to Right: Mould, Ang Ku Kueh - making in process |
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| Ang Ku Kuehs before steaming |
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| Ang Ku Kuehs |
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| Pulut Int |
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| Pulut Int |
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| Soon Kueh |
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| Soon Kueh |
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| Mould |
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| Kueh Salat |
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| Kueh Salat |
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| Kueh Lapi |
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| Kueh Lapis |
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| Yam Cake |
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| Tapioca Kuehs; Kotoh Ubi |
Both kuehs above are Tapioca Kuehs - Kotoh Ubi ($1.20 per packet). The one on the left is mashed tapioca with gula melaka mixed in it. While the one on the right is mashed tapioca topped with gula melaka coconut (This is my favourite among all the kuehs I tried). The tapioca at the bottom was soft and fragrant with generous chunks of tapioca in it. On top, the gula melaka coconut enhanced the flavour making this incredibly delectable.
I can't help but emphasis on the quality and freshness of the kuehs and snacks that Lek Lim Nonya Cake Confectionery sells. In addition, these are hand made with manual labour at such an affordable price. I must say, I really admire the spirit of Lek Lim Nonya Cake Confectionary, for taking such effort to bring these delish kuehs to consumers in the traditional way (hard way). They could have easily just purchase a few machines to do the work (less staffing issues to handle, higher throughput). With our developing society modernising and as quality of life improves, who knows if kuehs will still continue to play a role in our daily life. From my own personal observation, it seems to be going on a down trend,
Thanks Gavan for the invite.
ps: the Spring Rolls are quite good too. Big and full of ingredients such as turnip, carrot, beansprouts. No photo as we well... ate it while on the way home.
84 Bedok North Street 4
#01-21
Tel: 6449 0815
Opening Hours: Mon to Sat 4am - 6pm
Sun 4am - 2pm
Website
Location
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