The Dead Cockroach: Ghim Moh Carrot Cake @ Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre

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There are two fried carrot cake stalls at Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre and I am undecided which one to patronize. Reading up reviews online at home pushed me into deeper dilemma as both have their fair share of supporters.

Even on the day of my visit, I am still mulling over it. It was only when I reached there at the food centre that I made up my mind to have Ghim Moh Carrot Cake instead of Hock Soon Carrot Cake.

Reason? I went to the one with the longest queue.

This stall sells both the white and black carrot cake for $2.50, $3, $4 and $5. Now here comes another problem: black or white?

When it reached my turn to order, I queried whether they serve the yuan yang, which is a combo of both the white and black carrot cake on the same plate. To my delight, they said yes.

Problem solved for $4.

The stall is run by a husband and wife team with their son who have work distributed between the three of them. The wife is in charge of frying the white carrot cake and the husband fries the black version while their son relays customers' order to them.

Their teamwork is impeccable as the queue clears quite fast.

The white carrot cake come in rectangular pieces where the cubes of carrot cake and chye poh are held together by a generous amount of beaten egg. I see bits of orange carrot among the white radish as well.

The surface is fried to a crisp while the carrot cake within is moist and tender.

As for the black carrot cake, the cubes of carrot cake, chye poh and egg are haphazardly fried into a mess with dark, sweet sauce. The sauce is not just one-dimensional kind of sweet but with a subtle caramelized taste to it.

Whether its the frying skills of the uncle that brought out the flavor or all credits go to the sauce itself, I have no complains. With generous chunks of beaten egg, every mouthful is a party of savory and sweetness in the mouth. If only spring onion is added to make the dish more visually appealing.

Between the two, I preferred the black carrot cake more as the taste is more intense than the white one. Nevertheless, both versions have their own merits.

The carrot cake portion is generous. I polished off the whole plate and is too full to have anything else at the food centre.