I went to this bakery in the centre of town that day because I wanted to buy the mee sua.
Sure we have a lot at the shops round the corner from my house, factory packed in plastic with all kind of brands or those nameless ones sold in plastic bags. I usually buy one of those, some are good, some are all right and some may chao hoon – they have that stale smell of flour that has gone a bit off and of course, I would avoid those.
I never bought any from this bakery though and I did not know how it got into my pantry and I only saw it when it was about to expire at the end of the month. We probably got it from my sister for somebody’s birthday – they would give us the chicken soup plus the noodles and the eggs, uncooked and we probably had our own mee sua at the time so we just cooked our own.
I bought two big packs, expiring at the end of March next year – that should last for quite a while and at the same time, I grabbed two packs of these honey puffs…
…that my girl enjoys a lot. Oh? No butter in those? Never mind! They taste really great and are soft and cushiony…
They should be a bit careful when placing them on the racks after baking though as those lines look rather unsightly…
– they never had those before, always nice and smooth and round, absolutely perfect.
I also bought this flavour…
…and it was good too. They have durian as well but I don’t think anybody in the house would enjoy that.
I bought their bak pao (steamed meat bun) with egg (RM2.30)…
…once at their branch in Ulu Sg Merah, RM2.00 each only at the time and the filling sure looked a whole lot nicer. It was all right, still, a little peppery but nice – the egg was definitely a lot bigger than what you can find in paos all around town but no, I did not think it was anything to get me going back for more.
The char siew pao (RM2.00)…
… was nicer but smaller and did not have any egg inside. Wowww!!! That was only RM1.40 ten years ago in 2010. Personally, if I were to pay the same, RM2.00 each, I would much sooner go for the dim sum-like char siew paos from here – same price and so much nicer!
I saw these packs of chai kueh (RM4.50 for a pack of 5, 90 sen each)…
…on the counter beside the cash register and I asked the old lady manning the counter if they made those themselves but she said no – they were homemade and left there for sale. I asked her if they were good and she unconvincingly replied that they were quite all right.
My girl loves these but we do not get very good ones here – the skin especially is not quite there and they are never generous with the filling. Anyway, I decided to buy and try and there were two packs left so I took both.
I tried one when I got home and was VERY impressed. My missus tried TWO and started praising them to the skies. My girl was going out with some friends for dinner and did not want to try so I put them in the fridge and steamed them…
…for breakfast the next morning. The skin was so soft and smooth, so translucent that one can see the filling inside so clearly and there was hay bee (udang kering/dried prawns) in the filling too, not too much and too over-powering like the ones my cousin brought for me me once from Kuching – more like those Lulu Nyonya Kueh ones in KL that I enjoyed very much too, definitely a whole lot nicer than these more expensive ones that I bought from another bakery here – those aren’t worth a try even, I assure you.
I had another one that morning and I dunno how many the mum had but when my girl woke up and was through with it, there was none left. In her own words, “Now we know where to go and buy very nice chai kueh!”
BIG THUMB BAKERY (2.293889, 111.826492) is located at No.71-73, Jalan Tuanku Osman.