Kiew’s Pie: Traditional Teochew Puffs

Kiew’s Pie: traditional Teochew puffs

Bangkok’s Chinatown, locally known as Yaowarat, is home to some of the oldest restaurants in Thailand. While you’ll get some of the best dim sum or roast duck there, Kiew’s Pie serves a traditional Thai-Chinese snack that you’ll have difficulty finding elsewhere in Thailand.

Here’s how the little hawker stall has stayed in business for over 130 years.

Teochew puffs with generous fillings

Image credit: @vaerkin

Teochew puffs, called Iw Kuay (อิ่วก้วย) in Thai, are a savoury snack. Kiew’s Pie is a hawker stall in Yaowarat that specializes in these pastries, and carefully makes each piece by hand.

The little unassuming stall has been serving these snacks to locals for over 130 years across 3 generations. Once you see and taste these puffs, it won’t be hard to see why.

Image credit: “บีม” ชื่อนี้กินเก่ง

The cheap ฿30-40 (~USD1.30) handmade snacks are huge and have generous fillings. If they weren’t called snacks, we’re sure they would be considered a hearty meal by themselves.

Image credit: @vaerkin

At first glance, you might be worried that these puffs are deceptively large. We’ve all seen pies and puffs that are more bread than filling shared on socials. Kiew’s Pie will serve you puffs that have a thin crisp casing that barely contains the filling within.

According to the hawker, these thin casings are also made with their original 130-year-old recipe. It’s made with 80% sweet potato and 20% flour, which gives a nice hint of a sweet fragrance that perfectly complements the salty fillings.

Six choices of fillings

Image credit: @vaerkin

This hawker stall serves multiple types of fillings, each with their own distinct meaning. Although the name on the menu is based on the primary vegetable in the filling, pork or shrimp is also added to the filling depending on the plant.

The most popular filling is cabbage. The filling is made of cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, pork, and shrimp. The cabbage is a vibrant green because the owner freezes the cabbage right after she finely chops it. Then she washes the cabbage 3 times before cooking it.

The pork and shrimp are also marinated for over 8 hours, so the spices are deeply ingrained into each bite.

Image credit: “บีม” ชื่อนี้กินเก่ง

There’s the bamboo shoot filling, also accompanied by pork, shrimp, and mushrooms. For fans of coconuts, there’s also a sweeter filling with coconut meat.

If you’re getting these for offerings during Chinese New Year or other festivals, some of the fillings also have special meanings.

The taro filling is said to bring success, the soybean filling is said to bring wealth, and the salted peanuts filling is said to bring good health.

Image credit: “บีม” ชื่อนี้กินเก่ง

These teochew puffs are great as offerings for your ancestors, but they’re also a delicious treat that’ll leave you full.

Kiew’s Pie serving Teochew puffs in Yaowarat

If you’re visiting Bangkok, Yaowarat is a can’t-miss spot for both history and food. For those looking for a rare gem, unknown even to a lot of Thais, Kiew’s Pie is a stop you have to make.

For only ฿30-40 (~USD1.30), you’ll get a filling snack that’ll bring you great luck, success, and wealth.

Kiew’s Pie (อิ่วก้วย เจ๊เกียว)
Address: 423/3 Mangkon Rd, Pom Prap, Pom Prap Sattru Phai, Bangkok 10100
Closest train station: MRT Wat Mangkon
Opening hours: 7am-5pm, Daily
Contact: +66 8 1562 9707 | Kiew’s Pie’s Facebook | Google Maps