Eng Cheong Pau: Improving the standard of Kopitiam Paus
There was a period of time when the standard of our Paus really went downhill. A lot of the commercially available paus that are still being sold in our coffeeshops are very much still at the bottom of the hill, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
There is a resurgence of the handmade pau as opposed to the factory made ones. Somehow they still haven't been able to built a machine that can make random folds on the bun as good as the Pau Uncle or Aunty. That is a relief, cos if the day ever comes that we can't differentiate handmade and machine made paus but its outward appearance, we are all in trouble.
The light at the end of the tunnel is the fact that there is an emergence of small scale handmade paus that are being shipped to our coffeeshops which I hope will improve things for all pau lovers out there.
This little stall in Upper Paya Lebar Road sells the paus at the premises but also sells them in several coffeeshops around Singapore. The interesting little background is that they used to be owned by the people from Tangjong Rhu pau who sold the business to the current owner with the assurance that they will pass on their recipe to them. As a result the meat filling is quite similar to Tanjong Rhu pau which is still the best pau in Singapore in my books. (The only complaint is that for $1, the large pau is the same size as most small paus)
There is however one drawback. Because the paus have to be displayed in a steamer for the whole day, the skin is made necessarily more resilient which means they are not as soft and supple as the ones sold at Tanjong Rhu. No matter, they still beat thost horrible K___ G____ paus handsdown anyday! 4/5
Conclusion
If you happen to be looking for Paus in a Coffeeshop, look for the Eng Cheong label. It's one of the better "outsourced" paus around. Have a taste of the filling, doesn't it remind you of Tanjong Rhu's?
Eng Cheong Pau
416 Upper Paya Lebar Road
S534995
7am to 7pm daily
68583652
15 comments:
Agree. I too lament the disappearance of good pau. The Tanjung Rhu cha siew pau is ok, but too small. I kind of like the Tanglin Teck Kee varietals better, be it the cha siew pau, or the tai pau, or even ling yong pau.
Yeah, that's one that I haven't managed to blog yet. Is there one stall which is better than the rest?
Also have to do Tiong Bahru one day for the sake of completeness.
When you talk about big pau, I remember some people said the Pau somewhere near KL are so huge, they name it Ye Zi Mei.
The biggest I had was visiting a colleague in Kuching for his wedding. He brought us to this shop in Kuching that had huge paus and they sell out very quickly.
Do you realise many homemade paus have different skin texture? They look like old people's skin, but they taste good somehow.
are you getting them to make iEatPau? :-p
I have been happy with the Killeney Road branch for Tanglin Teck Kee. Not tried others though.
I will give it a try. How much does each pau cost?
Phil
philliang.blogspot.com
Agree with you totally. Not many good paus nowadays and only a few places could satiate my pau cravings - Tanjong Rhu Pau opposite United Square and Tiong Bahru Pau along Outram Road.
Not forgetting the Godzilla Pau when i'm in the area :)
a customer of mine bought some char siew paus for us from HK Tim Sum stall at Smith Street FC, one of the better char siew paus I had!
I hope someone here makes one of those huge Malaysian paus. When you cut it, the gravy oozes out. Oooohh. Tastes so good.
Catuskits, it is already here at Pasir Ris. Pls see ieat's blog Godzilla Pau.
Got gravy oozing out type? : )
If so, must go try!!!
Teck Kee not cheap. It's so near me but I hardly eat it. Local baos very hard to compete with the taste if those turned up fluffy baos from dimsum places for me.
Those are hong kong style. I prefer those too. Soft and fluffy...
Not me, I prefer the local style pau! Never tasted a good fluffy bak pau, always comes out too dry.
the ye zi mei(YZM) bao is also sold at a kopitiam (non-aircon), near the 4-D shop at tampines mart. the stall only sells the YZM bao on wkends. Priced at $2.80 each (the last time i bought it, i think early this year). it's actually quite messy eating it though it tastes reasonable gd. the meat bao n the fan choy sold there r oso quite gd.
Anyone who stays at clementi ave 2 will also know of a super good pao place. they serve the most delicious chicken pao and lor mai gai! go somewhere near blk 330 and you will find this wonderful treasure!
Post a Comment