This is the Food Place food court, located at Pavilion Mall. The food court is located beside the Oriental Kopi Restaurant. I will introduce you to another food from another stall.
This time I ordered Butter Kaya Puff from the Nan Yang Siew Bao stall for breakfast, which cost RM3.80 per piece.
The butter kaya puff is a baked pastry with a golden, flaky crust topped with sesame seeds. The outer layer is rich, buttery, and slightly crisp, while inside it is filled with kaya — a traditional Southeast Asian coconut jam made from coconut milk, eggs, sugar, and flavored with pandan leaves. The kaya in this puff is thick, sweet, and aromatic, pairing well with the pastry’s buttery notes. When eaten warm, the puff gives a satisfying contrast between the crisp layers and the soft, sweet filling.
It is often enjoyed with coffee or tea. Kaya puffs are a comforting snack that blends traditional local flavours with Western-style pastry techniques.
Kaya itself has deep roots in Straits-born Nyonya and Hainanese cuisine. It became popular during the colonial era in Malaya and Singapore, when Hainanese cooks working in British households combined European custard-making techniques with local ingredients like coconut milk and pandan.
The kaya puff is a local adaptation of the Portuguese and British-style puff pastries, but filled with kaya instead of savoury fillings like curry or meat.
Over time, kaya puff became a beloved snack in Malaysia and Singapore, often sold in traditional bakeries, kopitiams (coffee shops), and now in modern food courts like Pavilion Mall. The use of butter pastry gives it a richer, more indulgent taste compared to the more common curry puff, highlighting the fusion of colonial pastry traditions with local Southeast Asian flavours.
The butter kaya puff is both a nostalgic treat and a symbol of culinary blending — East meeting West in the most delicious way.
