Thursday, August 09, 2007

Bao Zai, ABC Brickworks Market & Food Centre

The missing ones on the right went right into our bellies

We were told that this Chinese baozi shop was one of the best places at this hawker center (6 Jalan Bukit Merah #01-135), and it wasn't hard to find given the long line this morning. Fortunately, the wait was rather entertaining as we watched the three-man operation roll the dough, add the meat stuffing, and then steam away in a huge stackable contraption. They had quite a few varieties available, including tiny little chashu bao, sweet red bean paste-filled ones, and even some shumai on the side. It looked promising indeed.

The basic meat (pork?)-based bun didn't necessarily strike me as anything special, but we had better luck with the chashu bao, whose mildly sweet stuffing gave much more of a rich flavorful kick. The piping hot dough was refreshing, and the tiny racquetball-sized buns were nicely bite-sized too.

Actually, the line forming at this stall may not have all been due to heavy demand. The lady in the front was doing double-duty in both sales and production, so she had to stop taking orders every few minutes to help the rest of the team assemble the goods, thus holding everyone up. Well, I may not necessarily miss this place, but the chashu bao was enjoyable, and was one of the better ones that I've had.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

HAve you tried Tanjong Rhu Bao before? They have branches along Geylang Road and Novena, besides their original shop. They are bite sized (literally) and pretty tasty.

Anonymous said...

This looks good. In fact, I've been eating this ever since it was there, before ABC market is renovated.

There's another one nearby ABC market, that's Alexandra Market, where there are 2 stalls of "Dim Sum". One of them has pretty good Bao.

PS: Btw is it ok if I link your blog into mine? ^_^;;

Cheryl said...

This place is one of my favorites! Of course, I'm biased because the couple that owns the place is so friendly and warm. The pork with scallion is my favorite, I don't know the chinese name. I always go back to work with lots of little baos to distribute to hungry coworkers. A real treat for all.