Wednesday 5 November 2008

ABC Wednesday - 'P' is for Pau of Tanjung Sepat





We visited a local Hainanese coffee shop called Hai Yew Heng in Tanjung Sepat that is famous for its steamed pau, or in English, steamed bun. Hainanese are Chinese people who originated from the island of Hainan in China. In Malaysia, they are usually involved in F&B trade, e.g. coffee shop or restaurant.

We had to call the coffee shop ahead of our arrival to order our paus. Most of my friends ordered by dozens. As I only plan to have them for tea time, I decided not to place an order ahead. We arrived at the coffee shop at 3pm. However, the whole coffee shop was filled up with a busload of tourists. We checked with the kitchen if the pre-ordered paus are ready but was told to return at 5pm. No pau was available for those of us who didn't order ahead!!! Arrgggh!! That meant no pau for me! Fortunately my kind friends offered me some.

The paus came with various fillings. For sweet fillings, customers have a choice between kaya (a sweet fragrant cream made of eggs and coconut milk), peanuts or green beans. For savoury fillings, there are pork, sengkuang (yambean, in English) and pork with preserved mui choi vegie.

I once heard a dim sum expert said that a good pau skin is supposed to be soft and fluffy, not chewy where it would get stuck in ones teeth. The steamed paus of Hai Yew Heng certainly have those qualities! And their mui choi pork & kaya steamed buns are fabulous!! I will certainly go back there again for more of these paus!!!

For other postings of ABC Wednesday, do visit the ABC Wednesday Round 3 portal hosted by Mr. Linky.

10 comments:

Belgrade Daily Photo said...

These look incredible. Can you please mail some to me here in Belgrade? :)

earthlingorgeous said...

Hey thanks for sharing this! Now I know the history of Pau ... although we call that one here Siopao! Yummy you made me crave for one.

My P post is here.

Jane Hards Photography said...

Very interesting andgood to see apost that is so specific to your area.

DeeJay said...

Wonderfully educational as I have never heard of Pau before. They look and sound delicious

Anonymous said...

Nice pictures of the making. Will definitely check this store out when next in town.

marLou said...

Those are yummy. In my culture, we call it siopao (sho-pow). I've also know it as steamed buns.

Your lotus picture is lovely.

ChrissyM said...

Very interesting post, thank you for sharing!!

Bear Naked said...

They look delicious.
Do they serve low-cal paus for those of us on a diet?

Bear((( )))

Pat said...

These are so DELICIOUS! I have them every time I go to the Pike Place Market in Seattle. Beautiful photos,too.

Jay said...

Wow .. you have to order ahead? They MUST be good!!

They sound very interesting. I don't think we have anything like it in England.

"Use your first smile, your first form of generosity, of love, of kindness—use it at home; start at home. And if there is something left over—if … your plate is just full of abundance of patience and goodness and smiles and joy, then by all means, you should go … and offer that to others. But we must begin at home." by Dr Robin Smith