tanjong rhu pau - the best paus?

Tanjong Rhu Paus are good. They are very very good. This is despite Daphne's mother's appalled reaction to them because the men are always shirtless and wet with perspiration while making these nuggets of absolute ambrosia.

Sharon and I decided to stop by the Thomson branch today. We bought many paus. A total of 5 different types of paus to try. Da Bao, charsiew, lianrong (lotus paste), red bean, and yuanyang (lotus paste and red bean).

For some odd reason, Sharon likes this picture. She thinks the charsiew paus are queueing up to be eaten?!

This, my dear reader, is the average size of the paus here. It's tinyyy. A midget pau. I wonder if that's why the paus taste so good though; because it's so small, the proportion of filling to skin seems to be higher. Also, these are small enough to pop in your mouth, so they make for a good tapas-like snack. Not to mention that when you do pop the whole thing in your mouth, all the flavours and juices explode at once on your tongue.

The paus are expensive for the size but somehow, I keep going back for more.

First up, the red bean pau. The skin was a tad bit hard and dry, but the paste was commendable. It was extremely smooth and just a little bit granular. The texture was just right, I liked this, with the exception of the dehydrated skin. The paste was also a nice mellow sweet, which I enjoyed.

The lianrong pau suffered from the same dry skin as the red bean pau. We noticed that the non-meat paus are all like this. For some reason they also peel off in layers whereas the meat paus skin don't. Anyhow, this lianrong was also nice and smooth. I prefer the red bean one though. And while these two paus were good, I'm sure there are better ones out there.

This to me, is the star of Tanjong Rhu. Their charsiew paus. I know people like the Da Bao but I really really really really really (get the point?) like the charsiew paus.

The charsiew sauce is amazing to say the least. It's like a stunning red velvet gravy that envelops the meat and fat so lusciously. The marinate is just wonderful. I've never had such good charsiew paus before. I've tried handmade paus from other places but none compares to this one. The charsiew taste is a lot more intense than normal charsiew paus and more fragrant too. You cannot stop at one, you just can't.

The pau's skin is a bit tough at the top. For some reason, you can't readily break the pau apart from the top. We normally break it apart from the botton where the skin is thin and moist. Apart from that, the skin is sweet and the texture is great. It's not powdery nor oversteamed. It was purrrfect.

Can you see just how juicy it is? And the charsiew taste is extremely intense. The sauce is a wee bit gelatinous too so that it blankets and clings onto each and every piece of meat/fat relentlessly and entirely. There's not a lot of fat in it, but just enough to give it the fragrant, wholesome burst of flavour. Many handmade paus I've tried are made from overly fatty parts of the meat without any real lean meat at all. These normally turn out extremely oily, and the oil usually soaks through the box it is kept in. Tanjong Rhu's charsiew pau is not cloying at all. It's.. divine.

We forgot to take photos of the yuanyang pau. But we did play with the four paus and took pictures of their cross-section areas. Basically, the yuanyang pau (third from left) has both lianrong and red bean paste. They also add a salted egg into it. I've tried it before and I'm not a fan. But that's also probably because I don't like salted egg. Sharon likes this one though, she think's its unique.

I must also add that this is a big pau compared to the other paus. Compare the size! It is however, just a normal-sized pau, just big enough to fit into your palm.
Lastly, we have the famous Tanjong Rhu Da Bao. I don't really like Da Bao and neither does Sharon, but she likes the Da Bao here. It's definitely very pang and more tasty than other Da Baos I have tried. The meat is deliciously scrumptious. The savoury and the sweet of the pau is a winning partnership. Da Bao lovers will adore this one. I'm not so sure that I am a Da Bao convert because of this though.

Is Tanjong Rhu Pau the best there is in Singapore? Based on their charsiew pau, I'd say yes a hundred times.

Tanjong Rhu Pau
72 Thomson Rd
Singapore 307589