Tiong Bahru Pau (中峇魯包点), established since 1969, is a longstanding Singapore chain famous for its handmade, traditional steamed buns, with soft, fluffy skins and flavourful fillings, and also snacks and dim sum. The brand operates several outlets in Singapore, including its original stall at Tiong Bahru Market and head office at the Outram Road outlet (take-away only). They also have stalls in People’s Park Food Centre and in Jurong East.
All Tiong Bahru Pau outlets offer their signature steamed pau (or buns) — including chicken bun, pork bun, chicken & pork bun, red bean bun and lotus paste bun — and a series of fried snacks, popular dim sum dishes (siew mai, shrimp dumplings, glutinous chicken rice, fan choy, radish cake, etc) and traditional egg tarts.
The outlet in Sam Yat Eating House (日记餐室) in Jurong East, right next to Yuhua Village Market and Food Centre, offers much more dim sum items than the Tiong Bahru Market outlet — and is called “Tiong Bahru Pau & Snack”. The additional items include century egg congee, steamed pork ribs, braised chicken feet, chee cheong fun, etc.
Top-left: Picking some traditional snacks to pair with traditional kopi-O is one way to try more items from Tiong Bahru Pau (& Snack). I have curry puff, phoenix egg, fried yam puff and egg tart.
Top-right: The fat Curry Puff (咖喱卜) has light crispy, soft skin fully stuffed with mashed potatoes, chicken meat and hard-boiled egg in dry curry sauce. It has nice curry flavour and non-spicy.
Bottom-left: The fried Phoenix Egg (凤凰旦) contains pinkish lean pork and half a hard-boiled egg in golden-brown, soft dough skin, which carries a hint of savouriness. This is rather unique and nice too.
Bottom-right: The Fried Yam Puff (油炸芋角) has a crispy, golden-brown deep-fried skin made with yam and filled with crunchy vegetable ingredients like green peas, carrot, turnip, etc, in delightful sauce — the fillings may be different at certain outlets or on different days. Regardless of the fillings, the yam puff will always have a nice yam flavour with crispy texture.
The Egg Tart (旦挞) has creamy egg custard in crumbly shortcrust pastry. It has low sweetness, as expected, and nice to go with coffee.
My rule of thumb is always to eat hot dishes / fried snacks on the spot and take-home some steamed buns, as they are easier to re-steam at home without changing the intended texture.
Top-left: A freshly-steamed Chicken Big Pau (鸡肉大包) and a smaller Oyster-Sauce Char Siew Pau (耗叉烧包) with an orange mark on top. (Not in the photo) The Sliced Pork Small Pau (片肉小包) has similar appearance as the Chicken Big Pau except smaller in size.
Top-right: The Chicken Big Pau (鸡肉大包) has really soft, fluffy skin with meaty, succulent chicken filling. It has a smooth, well-balanced flavour between sweet and savoury. And, it is big enough to make a meal by itself.
Bottom-left: The Oyster-Sauce Char Siew Pau (耗叉烧包), in similar soft-dough skin, has dark-coloured, barbecued pork filling with a sweet-savoury flavour from oyster sauce — unlike typical sweeter, red-coloured char siew buns. It exudes a nice aroma when slightly hot after re-steaming. The barbecue pork are much leaner than most char siew buns that I had eaten.
Bottom-right: The Sliced Pork Small Pau (片肉小包) has chunky meat — probably slices of lean pork but appears chunky after being compressed tightly with other ingredients — in the filling rather than minced meat. It has a mellow savoury flavour with firmer, yet tender texture and juicy.
Tiong Bahru Pau (& Snack) stalls are great spots to eat-in with snacks and pastries with coffee and bring home the steamed buns. I will try their dim sum at the Jurong East outlet next round.
Social Media:
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Main Outlet:
Tiong Bahru Market & Food Centre (中峇鲁巴刹及熟食中心), #02-18/19
30 Seng Poh Road, Singapore 168898
Opening Hours:
5am to 7pm (Sun till 3pm) | Daily
Jurong East Outlet:
Sam Yat Eating House (日记餐室)
252 Jurong East Street 24, #01-107, Singapore 600252
Opening Hours:
6am to 2pm | Closed on Monday
Nearby:
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