I’ve blogged about these steamed meat buns (bak pao)…
…before, several times perhaps and personally, I like these the most among those available here in Sibu and yes, I’ve tried quite a lot – all those that people tell me are very nice.
I get these, selling at RM2.20 each at this point in time, from the neighbourhood fruit & vegetable sundry shop in the next lane from my house and from what I understood from the people there, an old lady makes them and sends them over to the shop for sale every morning, together with some other varieties. So far, I have never bothered about those but perhaps, one of these days, I shall buy one of each to see if they are any good.
At one time, she stopped making so the buns were not available for quite a while. The lady boss said that she went for “an injection” and I exclaimed in shock, “She died?” The lady boss quickly said no and explained that she was feeling too hot and was thus unable to make those buns for the time being. It seemed that that was one of the side effects and hence, many roadside stalls sprouted out all over town like mushrooms after the rain, selling coconut water – I hear that would help.
Her pao skin is very old school, like the buns I grew up eating, soft and cushiony and not mushy unlike some that they make using some bleached, super white, over-processed pao flour. I do not like those. So far, my favourite pao skin would be the chai pao (vegetable bun) one that I blogged about the other day but their steamed meat bun did not tickle my fancy.
In this one, I like how the meat is not compressed into a ball…
…and with the soy sauce and whatever ingredients used in the cooking, it is very much to my liking. However, the old lady may need some quality control at times as I did buy some that were a bit too salty once or twice before.
A bone to pick would be how little egg there is in it…
This is one-eighth cut into two, so it is only one-sixteenth, so very little. I sure would not mind one bit if the old lady would give a bigger wedge in her pao and charge a bit more, just a little. I am sure at RM2.50 each, that would cover the cost of the extra bit of egg in it.
The big pao at the Open Air Market in Kuching was RM3.00 in 2014…
…but it was very nice and had a bit more egg. I wonder how much they are selling these now.
They certainly have nicer steamed paos there like the ones at Kenyalang Park (that go all the way back to the 70’s when I was living in Kuching and I used to go there and buy) and the other day, my blogger-friend, Rose, shared some photos on Facebook of the very nice ones, meat and char siew (with egg!!!) at Kim Joo – she did not mention the prices but if I can get those here, I will surely buy to try!
SWEE HUNG (2.316161, 111.840441) is located along Jalan Ruby, in the block of shops on the right – next to a hair salon at the extreme end.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
So far, most of the bak paos over here still have one-eighth cut of egg in it but unfortunately some doesn’t have at all. What is there to eat with one-sixteenth cut of egg. A kopitiam near my area sells nice bak paos with compressed meat in a ball, but without egg and selling for RM2.
RM2.00 is cheap, hard to find here!!! I wish I could try Kim Joo’s. The kolo mee and soup and the fried stuff there are all very nice.
The price for the paos is still very cheap compared here. Some are selling at much higher price. I also like the old school type of pao skin. At one time coconut water was selling like hot cakes because of the hot weather and many are taking coconut water before and after vaccination.
Yes, not so much now I see, since the vaccine thing has cooled off a bit.
The paos cost more there? I don’t mind – saw your big pao, so big and so much filling!
I can never understand why they give so little egg! A quarter on an egg would be a decent minimum I think.
Yes, 1/4 is good…and that costs around 10 sen only, not that expensive!
Having meat compressed into a ball to a point where you bite and it’s all just dough can be a bit.. depressing. haha
You should go to Kuching and try the very famous Fook Hai pao. Big with horrible yellow skin and one big lump of compressed minced meat inside. When you bite into it, the whole lump will drop out onto the table. Thank your lucky starts that it did not roll over to the floor!!! Brought a friend, home from the US there to eat – he was disgusted and could not understand why there was a crowd at the place!
Ha… this time the skin on top is a bit too rough and thick.
Would be nicer with thinner skin and more filling inside. 🙂
But this pork bun looks rather red, so I guess it’s char siew flavour?
We don’t get char siew buns with eggs in my little kampung.
Likewise, we only get 1/4 egg inside, never 1/2!
1/4 is good enough, 1/2 is a bit too much to fit inside the bun.
Our char siew pao here are the dim sum ones, no egg – they have egg in theirs in Kuching.
This local-style bun is not char siew – the brown colour is soy sauce.
I do not like too much filling, I like the skin if it is nicely made.
Vaguely remember they have char siew here – I may have tried one or two before,
pale orange colour, no taste of char siew, can’t remember got egg or not.
That is why I never bought them again.
Nice placemat/background. I went to a shop here and bought a slew of them specifically for picture taking. I need to get back to making dishes and taking photos and using them again!
Can’t wait to see yours.
Yeah you are right. She could have added a bigger portion of the egg right. Well…it is all about maximising your profits these days…
She can always increase the price a little for a bigger wedge of egg. I am not asking her to add more at her expense!
I am picky with my pork buns, its one of my favourite food so its important to have a really good ones otherwise it ruins the whole experience for me.
I have never had pork or whatever steamed buns outside of Malaysia.
In New Zealand, I only had the char siew ones at those yam cha places. Those are not the same as our old school traditional ones.
In fact, we never had those during my growing up years never heard of dim sum or yam cha then. So deprived!
Oh my goodness, your reaction, “she died!” Thank goodness, no!
LOL!!! At these horrible times, that’s the usual thing that will cross one’s mind.