There was this song by Rita Coolidge entitled “(Your love has lifted me) higher and higher” and come to think of it, my love for these tua paos (big/giant buns)…and for that matter, everybody else’s, has lifted the price higher and higher…
I think it was around RM1.50 or less long ago when the coffee shop, Loke Ming Yuen, was in the Li Hua Building (where Ngiu Kee Supermarket & Departmental Store is located) and then it moved to the Fortune Commercial Centre behind the Rejang Medical Centre, next to the main Sushi Tie outlet here. By then, if I remember correctly, the price had gone up to RM2.00…and then RM2.20…RM2.50…and now it is RM2.70 each.
I love it a lot, particularly the taste of the filling inside with the slice of hardboiled egg…
There used to be a coffee shop in the block of shophouses across the road from Bukit Bintang Plaza in KL that sold very nice tua pao – with chicken meat. That was around the mid-80s. I remember once I was stuck in a cab in a traffic jam around 6 something in the evening…and the cab driver nonchalantly took out his tua pao and started eating. Then he turned to me and said that it was VERY nice but I should not eat any as I was already so fat! Grrrrr…!!! This must be what they say in Malay, “Sudah jatuh ditimpa tangga!” or adding insult to injury in English. LOL!!!
There are cheaper buns around but then of course, they may not be as nice. Like the other day, I bought those at the MasterBakery at Rejang Park…
That’s the place that I usually go to to buy their yummy butter pastries. As you can see, they are relatively smaller in size. The ones with the green dot is the bak pao (meat bun) and if I remember correctly, they’re RM1.70 each…and they call it Hainan bak pao or something like that. I found that the filling had a bit too much of the taste of ginger to my liking…
…but on the whole, it was not too bad.
The char siew pao is cheaper at only RM1.50 each…
…and the filling is not too bad either. But I think the ones at the Big Thumb Bakery here are nicer…or I would much sooner go for the dim sum-type of char siew pao at Mitsu Tea House at more or less that same price, just that they are smaller.
Whatever it is, if you ask me, any pao is nicer than the ones at that place in Kuching with an obscene sounding name… LOL!!!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Wahhhh… yummylicious looking char siew pau… the filling looks very moist, I like!
Not bad…and RM1.50 only – big ones…not like the small ones at those dim sum places.
Cikgu ah, let me ask you a question… why ah, most of you entry title are song titles or a sentence from some song lyric? You sure know a lot of songs!
That is what I’ve been doing right from my first post – “Like a Virgin”. Something different for a change… But some titles have been used more than once.
LMAO…. suddenly noticed your peribahasa… lmao…. I think…time for a bit of BM class… lmaooooo!
Sikit-sikit, lama-lama jadi bukit… lol… originally you are not big sized. You’re so handsome and fit in your younger years. You must be the case of sikit-sikit, lama-lama jadi bukit. LMAO…
Pandai!!! What about children’s songs? “Injek injek semut…siapa sakit naik atas…” Muahahahahaha!!!! 😀
oh…pao.. :(…I love pao…and yes! that bit of hard boiled egg makes a world of difference…the whole dingy roadside stall/ pasar malam factor makes it extra special too i think..like seriously, the fancy paos in dim sum restaurants have nothing on old school pao..sigh..must.go.to.chinatown.lol
You’re like my daughter. She doesn’t eat the dim sum paos – says the skin like cotton wool. Would rather eat our local paos with the soft rubbery skin. In my case, it all depends on the filling!
RM 2.70?!!?!! GOODNESS GRACIOUS!!!
Eh, I suddenly recall, there used to be Pau & Son (what a name, aye?) shop next to Daily Bread in Pedada Commercial Center which sold really nice chicken pao. It tastes like the pork pao from Xiao Pao Wang (OMG! *drool*)
I used to attend Physics tuition class above Daily Bread and always bought 2 of those chicken pao for myself! Hahaha! And then they moved elsewhere (I don’t know where) and I had not eaten any chicken pao as nice anymore.
And they say Foochow tua pao here very nice especially the one at Padungan. I beg to differ! Nothing beats those I used to have in Sibu (like those featured in this post) ‘Nuff said!
Hey! I didn’t know about Pau and son! Probably I wasn’t so much into eating in those days. Hehehehehe!!! Ya…the Foochow tua pao is ALL skin and not much better than the Hock Hai ones with its yellowish thick skin…and the minced meat filling in one lump that would drop out from the big hollow in the big pao!
I never liked the big buns… Still prefer the humble char siew bun anytime. And btw, it’s so big, I can never finish one on my own! You are great!
Can never finish? Goodness! I would need at least two in one sitting! LOL!!!
Sorry, Rachael, whoever you may be…but your comment seems to have disappeared in the course of moderation. As for the name, it is perfectly all right in Chinese…or the way we say it in Hokkien. Let’s just say it’s a case of getting “lost in translation”.
The first character is transcribed as “Fock” which I think is what it should be in pinyin or whatever they call it…but to the uninitiated, except for one letter, it certainly looks like a certain word in English.
As for the second character, it reminds me of the story in one of S.H. Tan’s book about an American tourist who went to a Cantonese tailor in KL to get a mini skirt made and she kept telling him, “More high! More high!” As for what that means and what happened next in the story, perhaps your friends who can speak the dialect can help you…
Aiyoh… Fock Hai also kena censored ka? hhaha. What i enjoy most from Fock Hai is the brown sauce and the chili sauce. Goes really well with tha pau and har kau.
Trying to be discreet mah! LOL!!! Not me! Whatever sauces cannot make up for the quality of the food items there – the sio bee which is one tough yellow lump of meat…and the skinless har kau (because the skin has fallen off somewhere else…) Eyew…
You make me wanna eat pau right now. 😀
Hehehehehehe!!! That’s the whole idea! 😀
The 3rd photo, pau with a green dot looks like a face.
LOL!!! Otherwise what does the pao look like? Muahahahaha!!!! 😀
Thank god our tua pao here still cost about RM2.20, but the size of it not really as tua as it claims to be……..as for me, if i have tua pau, i must always chase it with a cup of kop “O” kaw kaw, and thank god “kopi o” cost only RM0.70 cents here in Penang.
Take care now
I think it is also 70 sen here…but I must always have “peng” (ice) and those miserable ice cubes cost 30-60 sen, so the price of my kopi-o-peng may range from RM1-1.30 here. Must do what Gundot does! Order kopi-o…and when it is served, ask for some ice…and that’s free! Economy so bad, no choice! Survival mah!!! Victim of circumstance! Hahahahaha!!!!
I want to eat more tua pau then can become tua pui leh…..I am too skinny already! ha ha ha!
And I must keep on eating tua pao so that I can stay SUI-tuapui!!! Muahahahahaha!!!
KNB is right…d sauces as fock hai are nice…i like the big pau and ha kau. anyway, in sibu i hv told STP b4 about the pau place at hua kiew road. they sell their pau’s in front of their house at night. i think d filling for the pau at loke ming yuen looks the same as the one at hua kiew road and the ones at hua kiew road is RM1.60 only. their pau sayur is also good, better than other places in sibu. so STP u should try the hua kiew road pau, maybe i buy for you one of these days. im always away nowadays as u know hehehehe Cheers!
Yup…told me ages ago about the Hua Kiew Road pao…but until today, even the kulit tak nampak! Hahahahaha!!! The problem is they only sell at night…and good people like me hardly ever go out at night! 🙂
eeeee….i like the novelty of paus being sold right outside the house! What’s that hokkien phrase – “chiak pa bey pau”…
Never heard of the phrase – just “chiak pa bo su cho” or “chiak pa sio eng”, meaning too free, nothing to do (go and meddle in other people’s business). From some comments on my link in Facebook, it seems that there is a stall open from 2 pm onwards by the roadside on the way to Boulevard selling paos – they claim that they’re very nice and very popular!
Pau! I love pau! I love dim sum soft soft char siew pau, i like tua pau too, but not pau with coconut inside.
Rejang Park got char siew pau? Ok, noted, will go there and get char siew pau. 😀
The char siew pao at Big Thumb is very nice – much nicer than this…but I haven’t gone past that way lately, so I did not manage to buy and feature in this post. Tunku Osman, opposite Ta Kiong – same row as MAS office, next block of shops. The dim sum paos – the ones at Mitsu Tea House, now renamed Mitsu Shabu-shabu – are very nice – RM4.50 a basket of 3, I think…but the standard of the other dim sum items have gone down, not as nice as before.
Lol, you should come to Ipoh more often. Nothing beats Ipoh dim sum paos at the ungodly hour of 6am in the morn ! 😀 (how anyone can manage to stuff food into his/her sleep deprived system is beyond me, but delicious fluffy paos are the exception here!)
If you ask me, anytime I can eat!!! When we were young, my dad would go to the movies and come home around midnight with fried noodles…and he would wake us up to eat! No problem at all! Hahahahaha!!! No wonder my shape and size hor! 😀
If u know Cheras is famous of this Pao called ‘Yip Chi Mei Tai Pao’ – giant pao….hehhe. When my hub happens to pass by this place he surely will buy. I dun think what so nice about it probaly it’s just so big than normal one about 6 times…Probaly he wants my baozs become big as that..hehehehe
SIX times? Any filling or not? Here in the restaurants, they have such big ones – for 10 people at the table. They either bake it or fry it for a nice golden crust – eaten with curry fish or prawns…or cooked Portuguese style. Nice! Love those buns!!!
i love char siu pau..hmm..i’m thinking of having one for breakfast tomorrow. Giant pau? Well it’s just too gigantic to me..cannot finish it alone. 🙂
Aiyor…all such small eaters. If we go out makan, sure I’ll go back hungry one! All nibble-nibble, bet I would be too shy to eat… Hahahahaha!!!
STP, now I am craving my no-class chai pau!!
Hah!!! That’s the brother/sister of the mostly-mangkuang very little meat bak pao that KNB likes. I think I prefer those as well – not really a fan of the chai pao. Will be going to Kuching mid-April, so I can bring some over then…
Those pau are getting expensive these days. Filling also decreases. Hubby also love tua pau because of the ‘mengkuan’ and egg being added. I prefer char siew pau.
Mangkuang? Eeeee….!!! I want all meat, or mostly meat at least. We have nice paos here too with mostly mangkuang and very little meat but they’re cheaper and quite small. Last time I bought, I think it was 70 sen each, 3 for RM2. Not bad, quite nice…and for that kind of money, no complaint! Hahahahaha!!! 😀
Hi STP,
ohh…i know which shop it is..i thought it was Hock Hai? And not Fock Hai? lol…
Maybe some difference in pronounciation..
Their paus taste alright but looks super hideous.. Though ive this one relative who loves their pau and will buy them back to where ever he came from by the dozens!
I think the other pau shop down the road on the same row of shops is better? Cant quite remember the name. Its a corner shop..
Most pau nowadays are made with baking powder i think..they get stuck to the top of ur mouth (lelangit). Now, thats just gross. Rubbery pau skin’s the best! haha 🙂
Ah! Glad you’re back! Yup! We pronounce it as “Hock Hai” but if I’m not mistaken, the spelling on the signboard is different and they call it dim sum some more – when they only have the pao, sio bee and har kau and all are a far cry from the real dim sum stuff. Yet they are VERY popular. I know many who MUST go there to eat whenever they go to Kuching and many will buy home by the bag or box!!! Not me! Like there ARE people who love the sio bee at Open Air! Eyew…. LOL!!! 😀
Same row of shops? Maybe you’re talking about the Foochow pao – which is all skin and not much better. Try “Siao Pao Wang” – the other end of Padungan from fire station side, 1st block on the left, last shop. Love the char siew pao…and the ham with sour cream buns are very nice too!
I just heard about a roadside stall on the way to Boulevard. They say it’s very nice…but I wouldn;t know as I’ve never tried!
Aiya! U! Long time I haven’t make pau. Hope my Panasonic Bread machine still working,so can get it to knead the pau dough one of these days! I still like the hock hai pau from kuching though..Yum!
Hahahahaha!!!! No wonder you complained on Facebook that reading my blog makes you spend more on food! Nope, Hock Hai’s not for me!!!
Stella….. everything also u can make ka? Boleh tahan! haha
Why do you think when they first got married, Simon was Le Bon(e)…and now, he is Simon no-longer Le Bone(e). Hahahahaha!!!! Thank goodness it doesn’t show one bit on their daughters.
KNB,what to do,here can’t buy all those yummy food must made the effort to try and make them myself lo! ‘Lepak’ at STP’ s blog even made it worst, I started cooking most recipes he put up almost like the movie Julie n Julia. Slowly but surely I am also turning into STP too! 🙂
Hahahahaha!!! There! I just mentioned how you were blaming me on Facebook for your increasing food bills! Hahahahahaha!!!! Haven’t watched that Julia movie yet. Was supposed to watch with Melissa but never got down to it – now that she has left, I guess I’ll just have to find some time to watch it alone. Sobs!!!!
got some hock hai big pau from a friend last week – so yummy. I also like the chai-pau from Sibu Opp. the old palace theatre-guess thats the one Gerrie mentioned. Would like to try the Rm2.70 pau next time I go to Sibu–for the Ching Ming festival.
Yup! That’s the chai-pao that Gerrie’s craving for…and the mostly-mangkuang very-little-meat bak pao that are quite good too. The old lady sells them at the Sibu Central Market now…but you would need to know which pillar she is stationed at so that you will be able to buy the right ones. KNB bought from the wrong stall once…and of course, they’re not nice at all! LOL!!!
P.S. Call me when you’re back here for Ching Ming!
Eh, i thought you love hock hai pau and it’s “dim sum” stuff. Didn’t you guys always tapau them back to Sibu? I’ve always hated them and think they have the worst pau/siobee/har-kau. Hehehe.
Me too! Don’t like them at all. I never buy those – but my sis does, I think…and some folks coming to Sibu will buy for them! My last trip to Kuching with Melissa, Sabrina wanted to take us there for breakfast on Sunday morning – Eeeee…..no, thanks! Hahahahahaha!!!!
Wow… looks super delicious! I love paos too… but the prices soaring high these days, back on those days (when I was a kid), char Siew Pao only selling for 50 cent each! Missed my old days…
And the veg pao was 10 sen each… Now, 40-50 sen! SIGH!!!
yaya..i meant the foochow pow shop.. its not too bad but not that great either. after i saw them making the pau once, abit disgusted to eat it again. Its like they have this whole barrel of meat which is not kept in the fridge and they make the pau one by one.. imagine when they get to the bottom of the barrel..the meat would have been stinky by then..what more in this kind of hot humid weather?? yucksssssssss!!!
hock hai’s har kau is the worst. its like u either eat the skin or the prawns..but not both together. lol!
siao pao wang is not bad..but exp i reckon? the char siew pau so small sized..
make ur own the best la. hahaha!!
Dunno how to make. Siao pao wang’s paos expensive? Dunno…so far other people bought and gave to me! Hehehehehe!!!! Agree with you about the Hock Hai har kau!!! And the skin’s SO thick!!! LOL!!!
n about the roadside stall on the way to boulevard..if we are refering to the same one…someone once bought a bag of it n raved that it was sooooo damn good..
erm…in my opinion..its not la..
it all boils down to individual taste buds. One mans food can be another mans poison 😉
That’s true. Just that a friend of mine was praising it to the skies on Facebook. Like how some people seem to love the Hock Hai paos…but not me!
I’m a big fan of char siew pau 🙂
That makes two of us! 😀