As KFC launches its own egg tart, we subject it and five of its competitors to a blind tasting. By Parisa Pichitmarn, photography by Gregoire Glachant

Yamazaki

B28 per piece. G/F, Siam Paragon, Rama 1 Rd., BTS Siam.
What a bizarre look. Is this egg tart overdosing on calcium? The crust is really cakey, not crispy, and the filling has a whole lot of vanilla. More like a pudding, and with no bold egg flavor.

Kanom <WINNER>

B40 per piece. For a complete list of branches, visit www.ka-nom.com
We love how the top is browned nicely and that it actually looks how an egg tart is supposed to look like. In fact, our tasters eagerly queued to pop this cutie pie into their mouths. The flakey crust is nice and crunchy and you can really taste the egg in its thick filling.

KFC <RUNNER UP>

B25 per piece. G/F, Siam Paragon, Rama 1 Rd., BTS Siam.
The appearance is tip top thanks to the browned yellow custard. In fact, we like the KFC filling best, too—great texture and a smooth milky taste. The sour note is the crust which is obviously intended to be flakey but ends up being more clumpy.

BreadTalk

B28 per piece. G/F, Siam Paragon, Rama 1 Rd. BTS Siam.
Here we go again with that shortbread-like crust that we just hate. The crumbly dough feels undercooked but we must admit that this is the most eggy tasting tart so far—thought that might be too much of a good thing.

Mandarin Oriental

B35 per piece. G/F, Paragon, Rama 1Rd. BTS Siam
It may be an absurdly small tart but it definitely has the best crust thanks to a great blend of butter, salt and a crispy texture. It has a pleasant taste but tips towards being more of a Western dessert. The filling texture is that of lemon curd—minus the lemon, of course.

What’s an Egg Tart?

These pastries originated from Hong Kong in the 1940s in the cha chaan tengs, Chinese tea diners that serve affordable on-the-go dishes such as noodles, pasta and fried rice. Both short crust and flakey pie crust are acceptable but the latter is the choice of connoisseurs. We bet Hong Kong nicked the little tarts from Macau’s Portuguese community as they look just like the pastel de nata that have been around since the 1800s.

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