Hiap Joo Bakery (Johor Bahru) – Famous 100 Year Old Bakery Known For Delicious Banana Cakes

I visited Hiap Joo Bakery & Biscuit Factory in Johor Bahru one early Saturday morning and happily bought two boxes of banana cakes. Unfortunately, despite all the raving online reviews, they did not really taste as good as I had expected. This article was last updated on 30 October 2019.

Hiap Joo Bakery & Biscuit Factory (协裕面包西果厂)

Hiap Joo Bakery is a hole-in-the-wall bakery in Johor Bahru famous for its wood-fired oven baked banana cakes and coconut buns.

This super old-school bakery was founded 100 years ago in 1919 and has been operating at the same location since the beginning. It is a small take-away bakery without any seats.

Hiap Joo is a family business and today it is run by the third generation of the Lim family.

Menu

The most famous item here is definitely the Banana Cake. Apparently, one reason why it tastes so delicious is because it is baked in a traditional wood-fired brick oven which is able to distribute heat evenly.

The Coconut Bun is another popular item. These freshly baked buns contain fresh coconut shreds and sweet gula melaka fillings.

Hiap Joo’s latest snack is the Crunchy Banana Cake (RM5 for six pieces), which is made by slow-roasting the previous day’s unsold banana cakes in the oven overnight. It retains the taste and fragrance of the original banana cake, but has a hard and crispy texture. There is limited availability for this item because the quantity depends on the amount of leftover banana cakes.

If you are interested, you can also check out the other flavoured buns like Red Bean, Peanut, Kaya, or Otak-Otak (see menu above).

Banana Cakes

I reached the bakery at 8am on a Saturday morning and was happy to see that there was no queue at all. I bought two 5-piece boxes of Banana Cakes for RM5 each and ate them at a nearby coffeeshop.

Unfortunately, I was not impressed by the taste.

According to other food blogs, the banana cake is supposed to have rich banana flavours, a lightly sweet taste, and a moist and fluffy texture.

However, mine tasted.. average. It was slightly bland and was certainly not “moist and fluffy”. It was also quite cold.

Feeling disappointed, I did some research and found out that it could have been because I had bought the cakes at the wrong time.

According to some online speculations, the freshly baked banana cakes are only available from 12pm onwards every single day. Before that, the cakes on sale are actually leftovers from the previous day.

This is despite Hiap Joo’s claim that freshly baked banana cakes are available from 7.30am between Tuesday and Saturday.

Therefore, this explained the difference in the quality and taste between the “morning cakes” and the “afternoon cakes”.

Pre-Order Details

In case you are planning a banana cake party (minimum 20 big boxes).

Conclusion

Unlike most people, I was not super satisfied after trying the banana cakes at Hiap Joo Bakery & Biscuit Factory. Well, at least it was not very expensive. My guess is that every morning, Hiap Joo clears their inventory of leftover banana cakes, and only start selling the freshly baked cakes from noon. However, please note that this is purely my guess, and I may very well be completely wrong. In any case, I am curious to see if the banana cakes sold in the afternoon really taste better, and will be making a trip back soon.

Hiap Joo Bakery & Biscuit Factory (协裕面包西果厂)
What to Buy: Banana Cakes, Coconut Buns
Directions: 15-minute walk from JB customs
Address: 13 Jalan Tan Hiok Nee, 80000 Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Opening Hours: Daily 7.30am to 5pm
Freshly Baked Banana Cakes: | Mon to Sat: 12pm to 5pm | Sun: 8.30am till sold out (around 10am) |
Freshly Baked Breads: | Mon to Sat: 11am onwards |
Phone Number: +607 223 1703