Went to Old Airport Road last week to get some bowls of the popular lao ban tau huay, only to find a deserted food market. Quick search on google and twitter did not return anything informative so I decided to walk in and saw a banner announcing the market's undergoing cleaning and washing for a few days. Oh, well.

Today we returned, and it was a buzzing place. Especially the lao ban stall which had moved from #01-127 to #01-107. It took me some time just to get to their stall, given the market's size. Once I got to the right aisle, it was very easy to spot, as it had the longest queue. There were about 20 people or so queuing.

I suppose the bean curd craze was started by this stall, therefore there are quite a number of stalls selling the same stuff in that market alone, although some of them have branches in other places too. But the strong contenders can be found in this market: lao ban, 51 soya bean and QQ soya bean.

Next to the lao ban stall there is another one named happy boy soya bean without any customer. And they had two big sign saying there's 1-for-1 promotion for any flavor. I saw a guy from that stall walking around with small cups of bean curd on a tray for people to try. Oh, the irony. If he offered the samples to me, I would've gladly tried them :)

Lao ban only has 2 different flavors: original ($1.50) and almond ($2). The queue moved quickly enough, thankfully, although there was only one lady serving the snaking queue. 51 bean curd has original, almond, durian and a few other flavors.

My take? I prefer 51 and QQ soya bean to lao ban's. Lao ban's is a little too sweet and too watery, with an oil-like layer on top. Not to mention its queue is too long. So, no more trip to Old Airport Road, I guess, for QQ soya bean has a branch now near my area.

Bean curd craze