“Mmm…what have you got in the box? Smells so yummy!” exclaimed the taxi driver, moments after after I got into his vehicle.
“Eh, muffins!” I laughed sheepishly.
“Are they good?” he asked.
“Dunno,” I replied. “It’s my first time buying them. They smelled really delicious, and I saw lots of people buying, so I’m bringing some home to try!”
Actually, I was at Toa Payoh Lorong 1 Market & Food Centre to review Come Daily Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee, when I smelled the aroma of freshly baked muffins and couldn’t resist checking out the source of the aroma.
Apparently, Bliss Haven has already made quite a name for itself, having been featured in Straits Times and 8 Days. It seems they also have many regular fans, as evidenced by an endless stream of customers snapping up muffins by the dozens.
As soon as a fresh batch of muffins emerged from the oven, they were immediately whisked into waiting boxes. They were, literally, selling like hot cakes!
In recent years, there’s been a gradual increase in the number of muffin specialty stores in hawker centres and HDB shops. I think the popularity of these muffins is their resemblance to cupcakes. Made using the creaming method, the result is more cake-like compared to those made using the classic muffin method, i.e. mixing dry and wet ingredients together.
These muffins aren’t as rich as butter cupcakes, yet, they retain a moist, fluffy texture that we Singaporeans love. Voila! It’s a recipe for success!
Bliss Haven has quite a number of muffin flavors to choose from. As I couldn’t wait 30 minutes for the rest of the flavors to be ready, I just took what was available: chocolate chip, banana walnut, and ham & cheese (S$1.20 each, buy 5 get 1 free).
Chocolate chip:
It’s actually chocolate rice, not chocolate chip. Nothing wow. The muffin base is very fluffy and spongy. It was nice to eat when fresh and hot from the oven, but not as good when cold. I think the muffins here are a little over-browned, and the interior isn’t as moist as I’d prefer.
Banana walnut:
Much better than the chocolate chip. Incidentally, this is also one of their bestsellers. I can see why. They use ripe banana and toasted walnut, and are very generous with them. Much more generous than Chocolate N’ Spice. But I still prefer the texture of Chocolate N’ Spice’s moist and fine-crumbed muffin.
Ham & cheese:
Tried this out of curiosity. Was initially skeptical. Savoury ingredients in a sweet muffin base? Surprisingly, it wasn’t as weird as I thought it’d be. Pretty interesting blend of flavors, actually. The smoky ham and salty cheese (not much though) was an intriguing contrast that blended well with the sweet cake. It’s an acquired taste. Not bad, but not something I’d regularly buy.
If you buy 5 muffins, you get 1 free. That works out to a dollar a muffin, which I think is pretty good value for a generous-sized muffin with considerable amount of ingredients.
While I wouldn’t travel from Jurong to Toa Payoh to queue for these muffins, I think they are decent enough to warrant a repeat visit if I’m nearby. It’s also a cheap an affordable gift for friends/family/co-workers.
Bliss Haven claims to be the first fortune muffin. No, that slip of paper wasn’t baked into my muffin (thank goodness!), but was slipped into the box.
By the way, I did offer a muffin to the taxi driver, but I think he was too polite to accept. 😀
Bliss Haven Muffin
Blk 127 Toa Payoh Lorong 1
#02-34
Singapore 310127
Tuesday to Sunday: 10am – 2:30pm
Closed on Mondays
URL: www.blisshaven.com
We do agree that Chocolate N Spice banana walnut muffin is not fantastic. There’s very little banana and is not sweet at all. Hopefully we will try out Bliss Haven muffin soon! 🙂
If you can, try the Oreo muffin too! I saw them mixing big chunks of Oreo cookies into the batter. But waiting time was too long, so I didn’t get any. 😦
really! we’ll try that out! 🙂
Julia,
So it a restaurant bakery. The muffins is very differents from the American types that I find too sweet like cupcakes but still fine. I like the photo of the banana muffins look so yummy. I love chocolate chips and banana so when I make banana muffins I add some chocolate chip to batter for a banana chocolate chips muffins.
Banana and choc chips, what a fantastic combo! I’m sure it’s delicious. 🙂
This is by far my favourite of all the muffins I’ve tried. Must try the new flavours!! They keep getting better.
I wanted to try the Oreo muffin, but they weren’t ready to be baked. I saw big chunks of Oreo cookies, yums! Wonder what new flavors they have?
Actually I tried Bliss Haven but unfortunately it was not the best muffin that I had tasted. Maybe was unlucky that day that the whole box we got didn’t taste fresh and good. Even the ones at Amoy market, Delifrance, Choco & Spice, Serangoon Garden or any bakery tasted better than theirs. After that I swear I will not buy from them anymore.
So far, the best muffin I have eaten is from Baker’s Well located at East Coast Road (eh..i tink number 35). They do not use regular butter or margarine but cornodal (can’t spell) oil which makes the muffin stay soft…even after 2 days (we tried leaving it out for 2 days). You might wish to try. Xmas is coming, they have shepard’s pie and turkey for order too. Shepard’s pie is the best I have eaten so far. =)
Not fresh? Hmm, well, the box I got was definitely fresh as the muffins were straight out from the oven! But I thought the muffins could be more moist.
Though it is a little far for you, try the muffin stall at Jurong East Central if you drop by. It is a new stall, and I think the muffins there are pretty fabulous, very flavourful, moist and soft, even after 3 days! My absolute favourites are their Mocca delight and Nutella.. Rich n decadent, the way I like it:) oh… It’s called Treaties-Peacebymuffins, at Jurong East Central blk134. Peacebymuffins.com