One of the most famous tau sar paus in Singapore comes not from a hole-in-the-wall hawker stall, but shabby chic café Forty Hands. Yes, that unapologetically trendy coffee specialist by the Spa Esprit Group that kick-started the hipster movement in Tiong Bahru. The bun caused a mini stir in the makan world back when it was launched almost a decade a go. Not just because a cool angmoh-style eatery was serving this traditional Chinese snack alongside cups of single-origin Arabica kawfee, but also ’cos it was bold enough to sell the humble snack at a rather pricey $2.50 each. As a rough comparison, Tiong Bahru Pau and Nam Kee Pau sell their versions for 80 cents (albeit smaller ones) a piece.

Still, local café hoppers who don’t bat an eyelid at paying $6.50 for a cup of flat white had no qualms about forking out $2.50 for Forty Hands’ pau. Mainly because it was (and still is) very delicious. In fact, it’s our favourite tau sar pau in Singapore. It’s also unique because of the way it looks: larger than a garden-variety tau sar pau, flatter and closer to the top of a burger bun than a petite orb. Then there’s its taste: the dough is exceptionally light and soft, its filling extra smooth and tasty.

Photo: Forty Hands

We heard back then that the Forty Hands folks have an exclusive deal with a Malaysian pau supplier. Which could explain why we’ve never seen this disc-like red bean pau sold in Singapore outside of the café, aside from super brief appearances at obscure places like a stall in Lor Ah Soo market years ago. Some eagle-eyed netizens suggest Forty Hands' buns might be supplied by Restaurant Yun Lai Dim Sum & Homemade Noodles, which first opened in JB and boasts over 20 outlets across Malaysia. It’s famous for its flattish handmade red bean bun. In 2014, its co-owner (pictured) told Malaysian newspaper The Star that the red bean filling is cooked in huge batches for seven hours daily in Johor. He also told the paper back then that they sold 20,000 of those buns (which costs RM1.80 each; just SGD$0.60) daily in JB alone.

Photo: The Star

As fate would have it, we recently saw a flying saucer-shaped bun similar to both Forty Hands’ and Yun Lai Dim Sum’s on our Instagram feed. Are they all from the same source? We reached out to Yun Lai via its Facebook page and showed its spokesperson photos of the tau sar paus from both Forty Hands and Bao Now. He told us: Look like mine, but not too sure of this brand [sic] . Is his red bean bun sold at all in Singapore? Just at Tiong Bahru — that is ours. We did not know who is the person [sic]. They just pick up [the paus] themselves. The packaging [of Bao Now's packets] is also their own [so he can't say for sure if those are is buns], he replied, adding that he now produces 30,000 pieces daily. He claims to be the only producer in Malaysia to make these uniquely flat tau sar paus. However, he declined to share more. Well, Forty Hands' flagship cafe is located at Tiong Bahru. Interesting...

But back to the pau Insta post. It was from online Singaporean pau shop Bao Now. What piqued our interest even more was the fact that chef Malcolm Lee of mod Peranakan joint Candlenut follows its IG account. That’s endorsement enough for us to whip out our credit card to buy some to try.

The site sells paus with three types of filling: red bean, lotus paste and salted egg custard. The only catch: there’s a $12 delivery fee unless you make a minimum order of $80. $80 worth of paus is… a lot of paus. The fee is waived if you go down to People’s Park Complex to collect the frozen buns yourself. Feeling lazy, we took a leap of faith and bought an embarrassing number of packets via delivery. The online ordering process wasn't exactly smooth sailing. After filling up our particulars and desired quantity, there was only an option for self-pickup. We ended up having to text the mobile number on the site. Luckily the person was responsive and told us to just go ahead and make payment online and she’ll deliver it to our place. True enough, in a coupla days, a lady in office wear showed up wielding a giant plastic bag of paus.

That lady turned out to be the towkay neo of this online biz, Eva Wu, 32. She has been running this pau outfit on the side with her husband since 2018. Both of them have day jobs — she works as a travel agent for SA Tours (hence self-pickup of paus is near her office) while her hubby is in banking. “It sort of came together when my husband was in between jobs and we were exploring opportunities. I’d actually been eating these paus for years in Malaysia and couldn’t find them easily in Singapore, so I wondered if I’d be able to bring them in. We asked the staff at the JB coffee shop we normally bought the paus from if we could speak to the manufacturers.” And a mini biz was born. Question is: are these the very same tau sar paus as those from Forty Hands? “It certainly looks similar! I believe we work with the same manufacturers, but I can’t confirm that,” says Eva. The couple plan to continue selling buns on the internet instead of opening a brick and mortar store. “We thought about it and came really close to setting up a shop, but financially, it didn’t make sense and I’m glad we didn’t for now. The online marketplace works really well for us,” she adds. She says business has especially picked up only in the last three months because they only do marketing via their Instagram account.

These look like the Forty Hands pau’s doppelgänger. Down to its shape, size (the Bao Now website says it measures “approximately 9cm in diameter and 3cm in height”) and protruding belly button-like dimple in the middle. The preservative-free, factory-made buns come frozen and cooking instructions say to steam them for 10 minutes or till soft. The snowy dough is fine-textured and feathery, but the star is its exceedingly silky, glossy filling that’s oozy unlike the stodgy ones found in most traditional red bean pau filling. It’s also more subtly sweetened, and perfumed with an irresistibly lemak, earthy fragrance. It's so light and yummy that it's easy to wolf down an entire bun quickly even though it's sized like a large palm.

It works out to about $1.30 a bun if you buy a packet, which is cheaper than buying one in a cafe along with a cup of artisanal coffee. But of course, there’s the hassle of breaking out a wok/pot to steam this — don’t ever microwave it unless you want unevenly cooked, parched dough. Its shelf life is relatively short: one month in the freezer (each packet takes up a lot of space), which means it probably isn't wise to hoard too many.

Eva brings in about 100 packets of these from Malaysia weekly and they sell out quickly. She's looking to increase quantities soon.

Smaller than the red bean bun, but also cuter, like little peony buds. We normally find lotus paste buns cloying and dull, but this one is pretty good. The golden-brown heart has a luscious satiny mouthfeel and nutty depth that makes the usually one-note sweet paste fragrant and interesting.

Incidentally, the dough for this is also plush and lovely.

The lotus paste pau is worth trying once (more if you're a fan of lian yong), but we think our calories and cash are better spent on that dreamy tau sar pau in future.

Despite being the most expensive among the three buns sold on the Bao Now website, this is a dud. The salted egg custard filling doesn’t flow out like those from buns at a Chinese restaurant — its consistency is more firm kaya than liu sha. This, we can still overlook if the flavours were sound. However, the custard tastes mostly of salt and a niggling hint of what seems to us like margarine (this is no longer the ’80s, people — back when folks choked down plasticky margarine as they misguidedly thought it was healthier than butter). Skip this and load up on the tau sar pau instead, obviously.

To order, visit https://www.baonow.sg/ or WhatsApp 96701287.

Photos: Florence Fong