My sister dropped by my place one day to give us some frozen paos (steamed buns) from West Malaysia. She certainly sounded real enthusiastic and was full of praises for them.
There were these small char siew paos…
…which I steamed and ate while they were still nice and hot…
…and yes, I thought they were really great, better than most that we can get around here!
It is quite obvious from the photograph how nice the char siew filling was…
…even though I did feel at the time that I wouldn’t mind if it had been a bit less salty. The ladies in the house did not complain so I guess it was just me and my tastebuds that seem to be going somewhat haywire these days.
Another plus point about these paos is the fact that they are rather cheap! A pack of 6 is only RM14.20 so that would work out to around RM2.30 only. I think that was what I paid for the ones here, the last time I bought some, cheaper than the ones here, but the way things are going, they probably have gone up in price some more. I certainly wouldn’t be surprised, not at all. Needless to say, no prize for guessing which I would go and buy, should I feel like buying some char siew pao to enjoy.
My sister also gave us these big paos…
…RM16.70 for a pack of 4, around RM4.18 each. Ouch!!! Yes, they are not cheap but they are HUGE and goodness, there was so much meat inside.
I encountered a bit of a problem with those though. They came packed in plastic with no instructions whatsoever so I was not sure whether I had to defrost them first before heating them up or not. In the end, I just steamed them for a very long time till I felt they were good and ready…
The smaller char siew ones turned out perfect but when I cut open one of the big ones, I found that it was still as hard as a rock inside! It was still frozen, ICE!!!
I put it back into the steamer to steam some more and it was probably due to the over steaming that the skin became soft and soggy and mushy and when I picked it up again with a pair of tongs, it just fell apart…
I was so heart-broken. I loved the big pao from a coffee shop along Bukit Bintang in KL before they decided to “upgrade” the street and turned it into something not unlike some place in Bangkok, Thailand with all the massage palours left, right and centre! I remember enjoying it so much (I think it was chicken but it was very nice!), with the fat oozing out and streaking down my hand so I was hoping this would be something like that as well.
I shall not say anything more about the skin that was completely ruined but the filling was very nice – no, it wasn’t like anything that I had eaten before. The taste was quite different but it was nice and was virtually ALL meat and yes, there was a bit of egg inside. My missus had the other one and no, that one did not suffer the same fate under my destructive hands and turned out all right – she said it was very nice and yes, she did enjoy it!
FRO7EN (2.297068, 111.825717)…
…is located in the block of shops, somewhere in the middle, to the right of Kin Orient Plaza (the old Sing Kwong) with NicaPlus at the end of the block on the left.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Good to hear you enjoyed the pau-s! /They look moist enough, I mean the small ones and yes, price is very reasonable. Perhaps if the big pau is defrosted properly then you would have enjoyed it more!
Yes, my missus had the other one, no damage done to it and she said it was good. RM4.00 plus for a pao is not cheap though, by our Malaysian standard. I guess that is less than USD1.00 so it is dirt cheap for people in the States. LOL!!!
Certainly the char siew paos fillings looking enticing, the way I like it. If the big paos are huge and packed with meat as claimed, then I think RM4.18 each is still reasonable considering all prices of things are going up.
I guess it is reasonable but at over RM4.00 each, I do not think I will go for it all that often. The char siew ones are ok, more affordable.
I love char siew bao. Especially with egg in it. Yum yum.
Where your sis bought the bao??
There, at that shop selling all the frozen stuff. It seems that it is a branch of a shop in the Sibu Central Market area, very popular for frozen goods. My missus went to this outlet once and bought the grass fed New Zealand lamb and Australian beef.
Yes, the char siew baos look good and the filling looks delicious. Glad the 2nd big bao did not suffer the same fate as the 1st one. The big bao from the dim sum restaurants will cost about RM6 and the char siew bao will cost about RM2.60 in some places.
Good grief!!! So expensive! And I thought over RM4 was a bit too much. Sigh!!! The day will come when we can’t afford to eat anything.
The amount of fillings in that char siu pao is a lot!
Yes, the bak pao too! ALL meat! Ours here are pale shadows of it, not so much meat, dunno what they stuff the pao with…sengkuang, cabbage, whatever.
One of my favourites, I love a good bao
We have our own good ones here too, same size but not that much meat and cheaper. Around RM2.50, NZD1.00 only These are too expensive – I really don’t mind a little less meat in my paos, more particular about the quality of the skin.