Singapore Buy: Mini Toast House (小烘炉) Bakery @ Chinatown Complex

3 July 2026

Mini Toast House (小烘炉), located in Chinatown Complex Food Centre, is an affordable, traditional hawker-bakery known for its nostalgic, Hong Kong-style bakes. It is run by a baker who trained under Hong Kong and Taiwanese chefs for over 28 years. Aside from the stall in Chinatown Complex, another of its outlet can be found in Toa Payoh Lorong 8 Market & Hawker Centre.

The mini-bakery specialises in a wide array of freshly-baked, generously filled buns and pastries that evoke a sense of nostalgia. Aside from traditional pastries and egg tarts, a number of bakes are unique and stylish. Most of the confections are offered at reasonable prices ($2 or under).

Top-left: The Char Siew Bun (叉烧面包) has sweet-savoury filling of char siew flavour in a soft bun. Eaten when freshly-baked or still-warm, it will have a thin crispy top.

Top-right: The Salted Egg Lava Bun (咸蛋流沙面包) is generously filled with sweet-savoury salted egg custard and topped with coarse sugar. It has well-balanced flavour and a satisfying creaminess of the filling — for the lava to flow, the bun will need to be heated up.

Bottom: The Banana Walnut Bun (香蕉核桃面包) is a surprise find and it is really unique. Covered with cheese and baked with walnuts, the bun is generously filled with banana flesh that gives the soft bun a rich banana aroma and flavour, and with crunchy walnuts.

Left: The Pandan Coconut Bun (班兰椰子面包) has a swirling pattern on top and sprinkled with grated coconut. The pandan-infused bun has a mellow pandan and coconut aroma and is filled with juicy, mildly sweet brown sugar-infused grated coconut.

Right: There are some unique pastries with flaky, thin layered crusts and of different flavours. I tried the greenish Pandan-Lotus Pastry (班兰莲蓉酥饼) with dual flavours, purplish Taro Paste Pastry (芋泥酥饼) with nice aroma and whitish Black Sesame Paste Pastry (黑芝麻酥饼) with a unique flavour that is captivating. The pastries have mellow flavours of pandan, taro and black sesame respectively and all are of low sweetness. They are really special.

Left: The Matcha Salted Egg Lava Bun (抹茶咸蛋流沙面包) has a matcha-infused crumbly green crust — resembling the Hong Kong’s iconic polo bun (菠萝包) — that gives off a matcha aroma on re-heating. The salted egg lava filling is infused with matcha too, giving the bun a nice, unique combo-flavour. Re-heating the bun makes the crust crispy as well as ensuring the “lava” flows when eaten warm.

Right: The BBQ Chicken Coin Bak Kwa Bread (金钱肉干面包) has a large piece of round-shaped, or coin, chicken bak kwa (sweet dried meat) on a bun. The bak kwa is beautifully done without charring and not as sweet as those sold in bak kwa shops. On re-heating, the bun gives off the familiar aroma of bak kwa and the outer surface of the bun turned crispy.