Inside…

I love steamed paos like the ones from Tanjung Sepat in the peninsula or the ones here but the trouble is when you want to buy, you do not know how good they really are. You can’t judge the texture of the skin merely by looking at it…or by pressing and you can never tell whether the filling is nice or not. You will just have to buy one to try and that was exactly what I did the other day at a bakery/coffee shop at Rejang Park here…

I ordered two – one meat and the other char siew at RM1.70 each.

I’ve tried them before but I cannot exactly remember whether they were any good or if they were, to what extent.

The meat one was very nice…

…with a bit of egg nestled among the minced pork filling. I love steamed paos with egg inside. However, I felt it was a bit strong on the ginger taste of which I am not quite fond of. Those who love xiao long paos would probably enjoy these as well.

The char siew one…

…was good too though it  was a tad too sweet for me. All in all, they were good enough and if I were to feel like eating steamed buns and I happened to be in the vicinity, I wouldn’t mind getting the ones here though I would not go out of my way to stop by here and buy. For one thing, they’re cheaper than what I bought from this bakery at RM2.00 each and they even charge 20 sen extra for the plastic bag that they seal the buns in. Tsk! Tsk!

And talking about that bakery, we did drop by last week to see what they might have that Melissa would enjoy. She picked up a few things that tickled her fancy and I bought a pack of these lung ngor/kay nerng kor (egg cake) to try…

Yes, they can do it very well – just like the original authentic ones that I grew up eating though I thought they could reduce the sugar as they were very good, just a bit too sweet for the likes of me. I can’t remember the price now but upon calculation, they’re a bit more expensive than the ones from Sarikei – my missus prefers those and would steadfastly insist that they’re the best.

I also bought their Portuguese egg tarts (RM2.00 each)…

…to see if they were any good and indeed, they were. I loved the fragrant crispy puff pastry and the egg custard filling was very well done too. Still, at RM2.00 each, I wouldn’t think I would be having them very often.

Sigh!!! Things certainly do not come cheap anymore these days and the sad fact is that at times, you may find that something does not meet your expectation after you have paid so much for it. Of course, it is not so bad if they’re really very nice, value for money – after all, there is no harm in pampering ourselves sometimes and I do mean sometimes!