Tiong Bahru Bakery flips hawker food on its head with Lau Pa Sat collab

Tiong Bahru Bakery (TBB) is bringing street food to the café counter with a new collaboration that gives Singapore’s beloved satay an unexpected twist.

In a first-of-its-kind partnership for SG60, the craft bakery has teamed up with heritage hawker centre Lau Pa Sat to launch a limited-edition line of pastries inspired by the smoky skewers that have drawn locals and tourists to Satay Street for decades.

The line-up, which runs from 1 to 31 August 2025, reimagines iconic hawker flavours from 'satay' (meat skewers) to 'sambal' (chilli) through TBB’s signature French baking techniques. Anchoring the special menu is a satay sauce co-developed with Lau Pa Sat’s hawkers and adapted by TBB’s R&D team to complement both sweet and savoury bakes.

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The hero items include a satay beef croissant stuffed with slow-cooked beef satay, a satay white chocolate kouign amann glazed in the sauce and topped with white chocolate, and a nasi sambal (rice and chilli) danish layered with coconut rice, sambal and a baked egg.

For sweet tooths, the line-up rounds off with local kopitiam classics MILO dinosaur and teh c (tea with milk) shio pan buns. 

Prices for the SG60 menu range from SG$5 to SG$12, with pastries available at all TBB outlets islandwide and selected delivery platforms. A café-hopping ‘Sip & Stroll’ trail with sister brand Common Man Coffee Roasters will run alongside the launch, inviting customers to turn their pastry pit stops into mini heritage walks.

“This collection is about building bridges: between generations, flavours, and ways of bringing people together — through the lens of TBB’s signature laminated dough,” said Matt McLauchlan, general manager of Tiong Bahru Bakery.

Lau Pa Sat, one of Singapore’s oldest hawker landmarks, now run by FairPrice Group’s Kopitiam arm, sees the crossover as a chance to put street food into new hands. “Lau Pa Sat has always been a melting pot of local flavours, and working with such an iconic local bakery allows us to share our authentic tastes in new and exciting ways,” said Pauline Png, head of customer innovation and marketing (food services) at FairPrice Group.

Founded in 2012, Tiong Bahru Bakery has built its brand by blending classic French pastry craft with local tastes, growing to 20 outlets in Singapore and its first overseas café in Manila.

The Lau Pa Sat tie-up started as a flavour experiment in the pastry lab, with the team distilling the smoky, peanut-rich depth of hawker satay into a sauce that could be layered into buttery viennoiserie.

“Satay is one of the democratic foods in Singapore. It’s nostalgic, widely loved and instantly recognisable. The challenge was to take something iconic and make it feel fresh, without losing its soul," McLauchlan added. 

Food has emerged as a central theme in many SG60 campaigns this year, with brands tapping into Singapore’s rich hawker heritage and comfort classics to mark the milestone in ways that feel both nostalgic and fresh. FairPrice Group recently rolled out three tongue-in-cheek potato chip flavours — kopi, laksa and black pepper crab — under its housebrand label, turning everyday snacks into a bite-sized tribute to local favourites.

Fast food is joining the party too. McDonald’s Singapore teamed up with homegrown seafood icon JUMBO Seafoodfor the first time, unveiling a national day menu that puts a fast-food spin on chilli crab. The line-up includes new prawn and chicken burgers laced with JUMBO’s signature chilli crab sauce — a move that McDonald’s says honours what makes Singapore unique by reimagining one of its most beloved dishes.

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