I’ve been eating baos at Dynasty Paradise for almost half a year now and never for once I tasted its’ salted egg bao. So, this afternoon, I made my way back to my favorite Chinese restaurant in Surabaya and dig in. Of course I didn’t just ordered the Steamed Salted Egg Yolk Buns. I also got me a piece of a samcan filled mantao and a plate of thai char pork, which is basically grilled sliced pork cheek.
Although it was passed lunch hour, as I was eating at around three in the afternoon, the restaurant was still jammed with locals indulging on rice and noodles. I always go for the outdoor seating so that I can smoke. It’s a good thing there were a few seats left. It took a while for my food to be served, as well as my simple warm tea in a glass, but all was well.
First, came a bamboo steamer filled with three of my Steamed Salted Egg Yolk Buns. They looked very different from the salted egg buns I had before as they were black in color and shaped rather small. Their sizes were only half of my fist! The buns felt very firm and solid, yet soft as well. I poked a hole on one of those buns and squirted the fillings out like those viral video of Gudetama buns spilling their fillings from their bums a few years ago. It was very amusing, yet torturing because I couldn’t wait any longer to taste the buns.
Paradise Dynasty went for a sweet approach for its’ salted egg bao. Each bao, despite its’ rather small size, contained just enough amount of salted egg fillings. It was not too much, but I could feel the splash of salted egg on my first bite. It tasted grainy on my tongue, which was not bad, and it had bits of the salted egg yolk inside the mustard-colored lava. The sweetness was okay. There was no bad, nor stinky, aftertaste after I swallow it.
I think this one is probably the best salted egg bao I have ever eaten, yet! I’m sorry Pao Pao.
Moving on to the samcan-filled mantao, with samcan being a slice of braised pork belly. I was expecting a warm food, yet I got a room temperature mantao on a plate. Maybe I left it too long since it was served because I was busy taking pictures and videos of my food.
I love the mantao very much. It was thin and soft, but also chewy and it had a slight sweetness in every bite. It went well with the braised pork belly, but not with the lettuce slice, so I had to take it away from my sandwich. The pork belly was very flavorful and dominated by sweetness. It wasn’t my favorite because the meat was not that tender and it had lots of layers of fat in it, which I don’t like. I managed to finish the pork belly first, leaving some mantao behind. Then, things got interesting from there.
Remember that I also ordered a plate of pork cheek? Okay. So, I grabbed a few slices of the pork cheek, stuffed them in between the leftover mantao, and I dug in. It tasted so much better!
The sliced pork cheek was very very crispy. The meat part, the fat park, and the skin part, all of them were very crispy and savory, and it had an intense level of umami in it. Slightly oily, but was still okay to munch on. The flavor combination of the soft and sweet mantao with the savory and crispy pork cheek deserved a standing ovation. I really really recommend all you guys to order this dish and indulge yourselves in it. You won’t regret a single thing!
I ate, and I ate, and I ate. I had me a warm tea with no sugar to end my late lunch. Didn’t manage to finish all the food, so I took it home with me for later at night when I feel like munching something.
Paradise Dynasty
Mall Ciputra World, 3rd Floor
Jl. Mayjen Sungkono, No. 87-89
Gunungsari, Kota Surabaya
Jawa Timur 60224
Opening Hours:
SUN - THU: 10AM - 10PM
FRI - SAT: 10 AM - 12AM
Contact:
(+62) 31 5120 0155
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