Fong Sheng Hao is a famous fixture in Taipei’s Shilin Market; the café is well-known for its charcoal-grilled breakfast toast sandwiches, which are savoured with their house-made milk tea. There are currently two FSH direct outlets in Taiwan.

Come August 30, it will open its first franchised dine-in outlet outside of Taiwan at the new Paya Lebar Quarter Mall, which is connected to Paya Lebar MRT station and also opens to the public on the same day. The 32-seat outlet will serve the same crowd-pleasing sandwiches that its Taiwanese shop offers. Their sarnies are also grilled over charcoal, even at the Singapore store.

The franchise is brought in by Singaporean Louis Tan, 31, who formerly worked at his family’s business in engineering and is now venturing into F&B for the first time. He and his secondary school friend Benedict Tan, 31, who’s FSH Singapore’s local manager, stationed themselves in Taipei for one and a half years to learn how to bake Fong Sheng Hao’s famed thick-cut, fluffy milk loaves. The duo will be personally baking ’em here in a central kitchen. The loaves are then transported to the shop for the sandwiches.

“Our toast bread is specially baked so that it springs back into shape even when you poke it, unlike the usual bread [loaves],” Louis tells us, adding that the loaves are made with butter from New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra’s premium NZMP brand.

There are a total of 14 sarnies on offer here ranging from “$4 to $8”, like their Pork & Egg Cheese omelette sarnie. It’s apparently so popular that Fong Sheng Hao claims one is sold every 36 seconds back in Taiwan.

“They have already extended their menu in Taiwan to [include] noodles and bento sets. However, we will start off with their toast items which was what the Taiwanese [shops] started with as well. We want to uphold the quality of our food before we extend [our menu] to the full range,” says FSH manager Benedict.

He also shares that Fong Sheng Hao Singapore will include exclusive local toasts, like “Kaya Butter, Butter Sugar and Ham & Cheese which Singaporeans are very used to”.

This massive club sandwich can feed two pax, and is like the Pork & Egg Cheese Sandwich, except it also comes with egg mayo, fresh lettuce and tomatoes.

Savoury floss with sweet condensed milk is an underrated combination, but according to Fong Sheng Hao, it’s a winning pairing with a thick slice of omelette.

This sweet toast option is smeared with chunky peanut butter and sprinkled with a thick layer of peanut powder.

Black tea leaves from Taiwan’s oldest 140-year-old tea shop Lin Hua Tai Tea Co. is brewed and infused with fresh milk to create the shop’s signature milk tea. It doesn’t come with tapioca pearls (dang), and you’re meant to savour it with your sarnie, like what you do with Hong Kong cha chaan teng Lan Fong Yuen’s pork bun and nai cha.

Sugarcane is boiled for 12 hours to create a syrup that’s used to sweeten this glass of black tea. Sounds refreshing for our hot weather.

Fong Sheng Hao Singapore, #B2-04 Paya Lebar Quarter Mall. Open daily 8am-10pm.

Other than Fong Sheng Hao, the Paya Lebar Quarter Mall will also house new-to-market F&B outlets that are all opening on August 30, such as:

This apparently popular Korean fried chicken and chicken burger chain from Seoul (it has over 1,100 outlets around the world) — so named because it claims to offer homely fare that tastes like it’s lovingly cooked by mum — will soon open its first Singapore outlet. Look out for their famous Incredible Burger, which boasts a thick chicken cutlet wedged in between sesame buns with a fried egg, ham, pickles, onions and lettuce. The brand is brought in by local seafood restaurant chain No Signboard.

For its opening promotion from August 30 , Mom’s Touch is offering 50% off its burgers and fried chicken dishes. Each customer is limited to two items per purchase.

Draft Denmark
No Signboard’s parent company also owns and makes their own brand of beer called Draft Denmark, which gets a dedicated bar here serving “premium Danish-style lager, dark lager, stout and craft beers”.

This takeaway kiosk is opened by the folks behind defunct same-named Japanese bistro Hayai at Changi Village. But here, it specialises in halal onigirazu (pictured), Japanese-style sarnies that are held together with moulded rice instead of buns. No pork or lard is used here, but you can pick from other types of protein like beef patties, fish, fried chicken and bulgogi-style beef.

Lucky Bird by Privé
The Privé Group is launching a new concept called Lucky Bird, which specialises in Southern-style fried chicken served with buttermilk biscuits. Sounds like Marina Bay Sands’ Yardbird Southern Table & Bar to us. Interesting.

Wursthans Switzerland
This Swiss casual eatery serves “authentic Swiss sausages in a contemporary all-day dining setting”.

Paya Lebar Quarter Mall, 10 Paya Lebar Rd, S409057. www.payalebarquarter.com.