Eat Singaporean Amoy J2 Famous Crispy Curry Puff

by John MichaelJan 16, 2019

Where we headed?
I know you love curry puffs!

J2 Famous Crispy Curry Puff tl;dr

Tried and True Crispy Chicken Curry Puff
Sinfully Delicious Crispy Pepper Chicken Puff
Healthier (I’m Hoping) Crispy Sardine Fish Puff
Get Them ALL!

Growing up in a Pilipino household, I had my fair share of pouch likes savory pastries. I guess that’s what got me started on this journey into eating all things pouch like:

Crusty Empanadas
Thick Pot Pies
Instant Hot Pockets
Heavy Pierogi
Curry Puffs, Etc

Despite all the foods in the world, there’s nothing quite like biting into the savory laden pastry layered container of hot goodness. And I’ve tried a lot of different carb loaded variation from all over. There’s baked one, fried ones, savory ones and sweet ones. There’s so many different things to eat while there’s only one of me. I haven’t tried them all yet, but I’m getting there.

Crispy Puff Menu

Enter South East Asia

Maybe it’s because of my move to Singapore or because I’ve simply been ignorant till now, but it seems that there’s more curry puffs than all the other puffy dishes I’ve ever tried before. With my horizons opened to everything South East Asia has to offer, I literally entered the world of hawker food. Whatever the reason, there’s a lot to try around these parts.

Hawker food is essentially what the Western World would call food truck type of food. I would dare to say South East Asian hawker stalls are a touch more, if not a whole lot more specialized, and in a lot of cases, imbued with a lot more history. With that being said, and after trying a handful from the area, I think I found my favorite one!

Front of the Crispy Puff Hawker Stall

Enter J2 Famous Crispy Curry Puff

I first heard of J2 Famous Crispy Curry Puff as I was looking for new things to eat. Considering that I was walking around Amoy Hawker Food Center, and so happened to be an aisle over from where I was standing that it would be a great place to start (thanks Google).

There were countless other hawker stalls that I was getting tempted but I stayed true to the path and made my way to this unassuming kiosk that blended into the seemingly endless food stall landscape.

Crispy Chicken Curry Puff

CPS | Curry, Pepper, and Sardine!

There was just this man and woman making curry puffs. They greeted me, and seeing that I was still looking over the menu, left me to my self deluded belief that I could come to any quick decision. I stood there for what felt like hours, but I hope was only minutes, staring at their windowed cabinet filled to the brim with 3 kinds of crispy puffs.

They say that if you stare in the abyss, the abyss stares back. I’ve never stepped to that edge, but I can tell you those crispy puffs were definitely staring back, sparking questions in my mind. Which one do I get? Which one do I leave behind? What if I really liked them? What if I don’t?

So I did what any hot blooded hungry person would do when placed in my situation. I got one of each. The chicken curry was delicious, filled with a thicker curry sauce filled with potatoes. The pepper chicken had this enveloping sweet and tangy black pepper glaze. The sardine puff was simply a firm bite of fresh sardines and yams.

Crispy Pepper Chicken Puff

Gotta Eat Them All

Do yourself a favor and order one of each. If you’re feeling adventurous, get 2 of each! For me, it’s one of those situations where my stomach couldn’t cash the check my eyes wrote. I ordered 2 of each, not realizing how rich, savory and flaky each one would be; seemed as though the next one more so than the last one. Each one was tasty! Who am I kidding, each one was a puffy layered crescent shaped surprise!

Despite the heaviness which is nearly inherent in all puffs I’ve ever had, it felt as though this shell was much too thin and light to compound the steaming rich interior goodness. Without a doubt, I can say that I could eat more of these than other ones from other variations. Not only were they light, the layers imparted a much more airy flakiness that I didn’t find in other thinner shells.

They are all delicious so try them all and don’t think about it too much. Simply eat them to your hearts, erm stomach’s content. If I like it, it can’t be all that bad!