10 Mao Shan Wang Durian Deliveries, Ranked From Worst To Best

When it comes to buying durians, sometimes the king of fruits is not the only thing getting ‘chopped’. From 8days.sg’s experience, scoring good durians requires a good relationship with the seller. When you have friendly ties with the stall uncle, you get better bargaining power, prices, and first dibs on the choicest durians (after all, uncle wants to keep his regulars coming back).

But with the Covid-19 outbreak still ongoing, it’s not the best time to throng your favourite durian stall now while the season is in full swing, or wash pongy hands in a makeshift basin with diluted soap. To keep up with the times, most durian sellers now offer delivery. All you have to do is place your order with the stall via a phone call, text messaging or, for the tech-savvier brands, its website, and the durians will be sent to your doorstep in conveniently sealed boxes.

Just like getting durians from a stall, the quality you get with durian deliveries is hit-or-miss. In fact, chances of getting a dud is even higher, since you can’t inspect the fruit beforehand. Still, everyone deserves to get bang for their buck. Especially if you’re buying Mao Shan Wang, one of the priciest durian varieties favoured for its balanced bittersweet flavour and lush texture. And that’s where this anonymous taste test of ours comes in – so you can make a more informed choice the next time you want the king of fruits delivered to your pad.

In the spirit of sussing out the best lobangs this durian season, 8days.sg sussed out 10 popular durian stalls offering delivery in Singapore. Our modus operandi: order a Mao Shan Wang durian from the shop as a first-time anonymous customer, have it delivered, try the fruit and assess whether its quality — and the service provided by the stall — is up to scratch and matches its price tag. The stalls are then ranked from worst to best.

While we’ve ranked buzzy foods like frozen nuggets in the past, where the contenders are rated only for their taste, we’ve tweaked our judging criteria this time round. To determine a stall’s ranking placement, we’re giving points (out of a total of 10 points each) to its durian quality and service standard respectively, tabulating the combined scores. Caveat: durian being a fruit and at the mercy of Mother Nature, its quality is also dependent on the season’s weather and other factors. So when deciding which stall to order from — you can also consider one which offers great service when its prices come down as the season peaks.

The higher the overall score, the better the stall’s ranking.

As any durian gourmand worth their salt will tell you, Mao Shan Wang is one of the varieties that deserves to sit on your waistline. MSW comes mainly from two Malaysian regions, Pahang and Johor (learn how to pick a good one here). The Pahang varietal is generally considered the superior one, as older MSW durian trees bearing quality fruit can be found there, with some growing in mountainous farms with good soil. Pahang MSW is characteristically bitterer than its Johor counterpart (which is sweeter), and boasts thick, buttery, golden-yellow flesh wrapped around a small, flat seed.

We also chose the Pahang MSW as it’s the varietal that’s currently in season (it’s usually in season from June to end July). A staff member from durian stall 99 Old Trees tells us that the shop currently only sells Pahang MSW as “it’s not the season for Johor MSW now”, while another staff member from 227 Katong Durian stall says that even the supply for Pahang durians is petering out, but “there will be a second season at the end of July”.

As the supply is now even more limited due to recent torrential rains in Malaysia (which perhaps resulted in more watery than usual flesh for a few of the fruit we tasted here), prices for MSW have remained high at around $20 to $32 per kg (when the supply was plentiful in the past few years, its price dropped to as low as $16 to $18 per kg). When we called Sindy Durian and Durian 36, we were also told that August is the best time to buy Pahang MSW “if you want to see a lot of durians”.

For logistical reasons, we ordered a MSW weighing around 1.5kg from each stall, pre-shelling (a durian of that size typically yields around 400g of flesh). The exceptions are stalls selling only standardised packs. As far as possible, we also opted for durians to be delivered in their shells (is there a better way to savour the fleshy seeds?). Important point to note: a couple of the stalls on this list receive their MSW stocks late in the evenings, and could only deliver the fruit to us the following day, which sometimes affect its quality. Do visit those stalls to tapow if you want your bounty screamingly fresh.

Among our 10 contenders are famous durian stalls Combat Durian, Sindy Durian, 717 Trading, 818 Durians, Dempsey’s ‘carpark durian stall’ Wan Li Xiang and Geylang’s Durian 36, as well as popular newer players like 99 Old Trees, 227 Katong Durian, 211 House of Durian and Durian Baby.

We would’ve included Tanjong Katong’s Leong Tee Durian (it doesn’t offer delivery) and Ghim Moh’s well-loved Ah Seng Durian, which used to do durian delivery. Unfortunately, Ah Seng has stopped taking delivery orders since June 15 due to logistical problems and more, as documented on Facebook.

Without further ado, here’s our ranking of the 10 stalls, from worst to best… (Latest MSW prices included at time of publication)

This well-known durian chain was founded in 1973 by Goh Kwee Leng, who roped in his son and daughter to help run and modernise the business with durian delivery service. They now have four outlets in Singapore. Besides fresh durians, it also sells durian pastries and cakes.

Service: We called the stall to place our order, and the female staff on the line was helpful and upbeat. She agreed to send us our MSW in its shell. “Don’t worry, we will chop it up for you,” she chirped, as if anticipating our unspoken concern. She readily included a plastic container upon our request to tapow the leftovers, and WhatsApped us a photo of our durian on a weighing scale before we made our payment via PayNow transfer. She also informed us, “Your durian has been dispatched and will arrive in about two hours” (the delivery was on time, though the fee is a wallet-hurtin’ $15).

Points for service: 8/10

Photo: 717 Trading

This MSW ain’t cheap (we paid a higher-than-average $26/kg). And unfortunately, the flesh falls short. It lacks the Musang King’s distinctive richness, and the texture isn’t particularly custardy. It’s also more sweet than bittersweet (which is what MSW is famous for), and, despite having the varietal’s characteristic star shape on its butt, tastes like another inferior durian type altogether. Could we have gotten a Johor instead of Pahang MSW? Or just a not-great batch? Your guess is as good as ours. It just left us with the nagging feeling that we didn’t quite get what we paid for.

Points for taste: 1/10

Total tally: 9/20

Call 6487-2777 to order or go to www.facebook.com/pg/717trading.

Durian 36 in Geylang has been around for almost two decades, and is popular among durian aficionados here. It’s run by friendly young towkay Teoh See Yong, who took over the biz from his family. It underwent a name change in recent years, and was formerly known as Fruits Top 1 Department Store. The stall also supplies large-scale events like Resorts World Sentosa’s annual Durian Fest.

Service: There’s very little human interaction involved when you order Durian 36’s durians for delivery. Among the 10 stalls, it has the most sophisticated online ordering platform, with an easy-to-navigate, well-designed interface listing the various durian varietals for sale. We rang up the stall to check which option we should choose for Pahang MSW, and was told to select the ‘Mao Shan Wang’ option (it also has a slightly pricier ‘Old Tree MSW’ pick), available in 400g, 800g and 1.2kg prepacked flesh. Upon ordering, an invoice was emailed to us. Smooth. Our order was sent in a super thick, good quality paper bag emblazoned with a hipster durian logo. “Wah, this paper bag is worth at least $2 of the price,” remarks our family member.

Points for service: 7/10

Fun fact: if you order Pahang MSWs, they are usually delivered in the evening to late at night, as the supply lorries have to travel up to seven hours from Pahang to Singapore, and arrive here around 6pm. It was perhaps a little ominous that our Durian 36 delivery reached us at 3pm, which meant the durian was likely to have been packed from a batch delivered the night before – pls check and get quote from them. And it does taste like overnight durian — watery flesh, albeit with a respectable bittersweet flavour. But it’s just not shiok as those that our colleagues raved about when they ate the fruit on-site at the stall over the years. Luckily, it’s not as expensive compared to the other options on this list. We paid $36.80 for our decently-sized 400g box of MSW.

Points for taste: 3/10

Total tally: 10/20

Call/text 9889-4906 to order or go to www.durian36.com.

It’s not a coincidence that 818 sounds similar to 717 — its young boss is the son of 717’s founder. He had branched out from the family biz to start his own venture in 2006, and has since carved a name for himself in the local durian scene. Like his dad’s shops, his stall also offers mod durian pastries like durian puffs, and cookies. 818’s Facebook posts also shows the stall supplying durians for corporate clients like luxury Sentosa hotel Le Méridien.

Service: We ordered a durian that’s around 1.5kg over the phone, but what came was a 2.4kg hulk in the shell, nestled in a fancy huat red and gold paper gift bag. Our durian arrived at 10.30pm, as our address was the last stop on the delivery route (we were informed beforehand that it might as late as 11pm). The couriers, a pleasant young man and woman who told us they were 818’s contracted deliverymen, politely requested for us to transfer them the payment before they leave (unusually enough, 818 trusts its customers enough for them to only pay upon delivery).

Considering that our durian was a whopping $30/kg (the price quoted for the day we ordered), we voiced out about the excess cost we were stuck with. The couriers calmly called an 818 staff to address the issue. “We can’t control the durians, but I understand where you’re coming from,” the staff insisted to us in professional-sounding English, before offering to waive the $10 delivery fee. “We’ll still pay our deliverymen and investigate this,” he assured. Upon our pressing, he eventually charged us the price for a 1.5kg MSW, plus delivery fee. Good service recovery for a prickly situation, and saintly, patient couriers.

Points for service: 8/10

Photo: 818 Durian

Our jumbo MSW yielded a respectable 14 seeds of durians, though the flesh is sadly bland and dry, despite being fresh from the shell.

Points for taste: 3/10

Total tally: 11/20

Call 6493-9818 to order or go to www.facebook.com/pg/818durianspastries.

Hawker-turned-durian seller Wong Yew Loon started his durian biz as a makeshift stall only in 2008, but has since done well enough that he moved to a shophouse unit at East Coast Road. He specialises in the Johor D13 durian variety, though we’ve seen customers at his stall buying all kinds of durians.

Service: Upon entering 227 Katong Durian’s online store website, we’re bombarded with a terse list of T&Cs. Other than informing customers that they cannot choose their delivery time slot, the stall also charges a “$5 admin fee” for “any amendment after the order is placed”, which includes everything from a change in address to durian quantity. You will also be charged a “re-delivery fee” of $20 for a failed delivery “due to no answer or wrong address given”. So don’t play play when you order. But assuming that you’ve followed all the instructions, your order will be delivered in a sealed plastic box in a wet market plastic bag. Ours came at a reasonable hour, around 8pm, as promised.

Points for service: 6/10

If you like bitter MSW, 227’s durian flavour is wonderfully sharp, almost alcoholic. Pity the flesh is pretty dry.

Points for taste: 6/10

Total tally: 12/20

Call/text 9751-4828 to order or go to www.227katongdurians.com.

211 is a popular durian stall among residents in Toa Payoh, and is also known for its durian buffets during peak season.

Service: All was uneventful after we placed our order over the phone, like the transactional business deal it is. Our durian was delivered at around 8.30pm, earlier than the promised time of 9pm to 10pm. The loot is housed in a generic blank plastic container within an unlabelled, unglam red plastic bag. Some form of branding would be good, we think.

Points for service: 7/10

Photo: 211 House of Durian

The flesh is gloriously golden, but slightly watery although we were told it was shucked from a freshly delivered durian. Good, bitter flavour though, with a mix of big and small seeds in the approximately 500g box.

Points for taste: 6/10

Total tally: 13/20

Call/text 9108-3710 to order or go to www.facebook.com/pg/211HouseOfDurian.

This stall in a dingy Dempsey carpark lot is famous among durian lovers, who sometimes refer to the stall as “Ah Di” after its owner. Ah Di himself used to run the stall with his elderly father, who’s known as Lao Zheng.

Service: A bored-sounding woman picked up our call. “No delivery, but you can contact this guy, Edmund. He’s a freelance driver who can help you deliver the durians,” she drawled in mainland Chinese-accented Mandarin. She gave us the number to reach Edmund, an efficient fellow who agreed to do our next-day delivery for $10. Other than the slightly inconvenient extra step of contacting the courier, we just have to place our order with the stall itself via phone, and the rest is well taken care of. Like most of our other deliveries, this one arrived in a plain brown paper bag just after dinnertime, around 8.30pm. Good timing.

Points for service: 8/10

Photo: Wan Li Xiang

Ah Di attracts a certain well-heeled clientele, some of whom have been patronising him for over 30 years (urban legend has it that the Dempsey carpark where his stall is located is typically filled with his customers’ supercars). And we’ve heard rumours that the best durians are reserved for his regulars. As for first-time customers like us? We got an around 500g box of nicely bitter (its greyish tinge common in more ‘aged’ durians is a giveaway), but slightly dry and shrunken-looking fruit segments resting on a paper towel. Moral of the story: drive a Lamborghini to buy Ah Di’s durians next time.

Points for taste: 6/10

Total tally: 14/20

Call/text 9018-2853 to order or go to www.facebook.com/ahdi.dempseydurian.

Famed Balestier durian stall Sindy Durian was started by its eponymous owner, Sindy Lee, in 1983. She specialises in ‘branded’ durians like Mao Shan Wang, and is rather infamous for being extremely particular about her durians’ quality (she has been known to turn away customers when her fruits for the day are not good enough). The stall is also notorious for its brusque service, which our colleague has experienced firsthand.

Service: We texted the stall’s number to enquire about ordering durians in husks, and got an earnest, detailed response updating us about its very principled delivery process. The message explains that same-day delivery is not possible, as “MSW comes in around 7pm every day” and “it is also rather unfair to those who are queuing [at the stall] even though they have reserved”. Our order “will be packed the night before, put in the fridge and then send over [sic] to you the next day between 2pm-7pm. May also have changes if durians no good or delivery got any problems”.

Our durian only reached us at a very late 10.30pm in a plain plastic bag, though we’ve been warned. But to our delight, it unexpectedly came in its shell, like we requested. When we checked with Sindy Durian, it clarified that our order was “freshly arrived on that same day” and “the fresh durian [sic] from Pahang reach here around 8pm, that’s why send out late”. So we didn’t get a day-old batch after all. All a little stressful, though we appreciate how seriously Sindy takes its orders. And we got fresh durian, so the wait was worth it lah. Like 818, the stall only collects payment upon delivery.

Points for service: 9/10

Photo: Sindy Durian

We like that Sindy’s durian is intoxicatingly bitter, with deep chambers and a good yield of around nine meaty fruits with small seeds, though the flesh was a tad too watery for our liking.

Points for taste: 6/10

Total tally: 15/20

Call/text 9710-2427 to order or go to www.facebook.com/sindydurians.

This hip stall in Serangoon, which opened in 2017, is one of the modern ones with an air-con cafe serving ‘omakase’ durian appreciation sessions, and a durian seller from Raub, Pahang who looks like a Malaysian version of Bruno Mars.

Service: We ordered our durian from the stall’s well-oiled website, and got our delivery around 8pm without any fuss (for fresh MSW, you can only order a minimum of a 700g box). Tucked in with our box in a plastic bag was this flyer (pictured). “If it’s good, tell your friends. If it’s NOT good, tell us, and we will exchange your durians promptly,” declared a tagline printed beside a picture of a remorseful durian seller kneeling on durian shells while pulling his ears. Dramatic, but funny.

Points for service: 8/10

Our box came with a snazzily designed plastic seal, on which are printed more quality assurances like “soft & creamy”, “bittersweet” and “small seeds”. The MSW lives up to its first two counts; we thoroughly enjoyed the deliciously bittersweet, custard-like golden flesh that practically oozes off its seed. Now, about the seed. Contrary to its promise, our box contained mostly oversized seeds. We almost wanted to call up 99 Old Trees and make Pahang ‘Bruno Mars’ kneel on durian shells. But luckily, the huge seeds were redeemed by the thick, rich flesh wrapped around ’em.

Points for taste: 8/10

Total tally: 16/20

Call/text 9822-2495 to order or go to www.99oldtrees.com.

Combat Durian in Balestier has been around for some 60 years, making it one of the oldest durian stalls in Singapore. It was founded by the mild-mannered Ang Seck Puan, who was known for his friendly service and delicious durians that attracted celebs like Chow Yun Fat.

Service: We contacted Combat Durian via WhatsApp to order, and was told its standard box was a 2kg MSW “after dehusk is 600g [of flesh]”. As Combat only delivers between 1pm and 5pm, Pahang MSW orders are usually pre-packed and kept in its fridge overnight for delivery the next day. When we enquired about getting a 1.5kg durian, the staff acquiesced but cautioned: “Eh it might look very little in the box”. We were expecting a sad-looking, fridge-battered box when our order came just past 3pm, but surprisingly, it was way better. Instead of being carelessly thrown in, each Pikachu-yellow seed is lovingly laid in its plastic bed. Nice.

Points for service: 9/10

Despite being refrigerated overnight, Combat’s small-seeded durian boasts smooth, rich chunky flesh that’s intoxicatingly bitter and somewhat boozy. In fact, it’s better than some of the fresh-out-of-the-shell MSWs we’ve tried so far this season.

Points for taste: 9/10

Total tally: 18/20

Call/text 9278-9928 to order or go to www.facebook.com/Combat-Durian-Balestier-Singapore-159016387480898.

We were tipped off by foodie friends who raved about its Mao Shan Wang fruits and decided to give it a try at the last minute. We’re glad we did. There’s very little information online about this obscure online-based durian biz, but that’s ’cos it was started only in June this year by husband-and-wife Esmond Kan, 34, and Cynthia Tan, 38. The couple have a full-time job running their own recruitment and maid agency, and branded the durian biz after their nine-month-old son (pictured).

But Esmond, an avid foodie, has a sideline for the past few years supplying durians “from a famous stall”, his personal favourite, to family and friends (Cynthia declines to reveal the stall’s name). “We have a good relationship with the stall owner, and he never gives us bad durians. Our friends might not get the same VIP treatment if they go to the stall themselves,” she explains of their decision to become a ‘middleman’ durian supplier. Initially, they supplied their durians at the same price as the stall, and only took a cut from the seller to cover petrol and other costs for deliveries to their inner circle. But due to the Covid-19 outbreak, they were forced to open up their sales to the public. “We had zero income and three kids. We really, really needed some income,” says Cynthia, who now plans to continue Durian Baby as “we have gained traction and followers”.

Service: We called the number as an anonymous customer on its Facebook page, and spoke to Cynthia herself. She asked us where we had heard of her shop, and we carelessly replied we had heard of them through a friend. “Oh! Did your friend give you a promo code?” she chirped. No, we muttered. We were then directed to submit our order via an online form. We decided to boldly ask Cynthia for a promo code. “Leave it blank, I’ll work out something for you in a while,” she replied coyly. She later offered to absorb half of the $10 delivery fee while trying to get us to buy more durians for better discounts (she eventually accepted our modest 500g order graciously). Our plastic bag came with a box of durians wrapped in double plastic layers and two free bottles of Yeo’s coconut water. Not bad at all.

Points for service: 9/10

Photo: Durian Baby

We weren’t sure what to expect, but we were very surprised to discover how yummy our MSW durian was. Flat, small seeds are buried within thick folds of shiny, plump, creamy durian flesh with fabulous bittersweet notes. If there was ever a model Pahang MSW, this is possibly the standard.

Points: 10/10

Total tally: 19/20

Call/text 8778-7780 to order or go to www.facebook.com/pg/durianbaobao.