Mantao, Bao, and Pork

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

Salted Egg Bao 101!

Beberapa hari belakang ini, gue lagi doyan-doyannya makan bakpao. Terserah mau isi apa, isi kacang merah kek, isi kacang hijau kek, isi telur asin kek, yang penting bakpao! Untungnya, cemilan yang gue idam-idamkan ini berhasil gue dapati dengan gampangnya saat gue di Surabaya karena maraknya restoran-restoran yang menyajikan masakan oriental. Berhubung sekarang gue sedang pulang ke Bekasi, gue berpikiran bahwa akan susah untuk gue mendapatkan bakpao enak di sekitar tempat tinggal gue. Eh, ternyata gue salah.

Siang tadi, sepulangnya gue menambal gigi di dokter gigi langganan keluarga, gue agak kaget dengan banyaknya restoran oriental di salah satu mall di Bekasi. Gue nengok kiri, ada Imperial Kitchen & Dimsum. Gue nengok kanan, ada Red Suki. Gue jalan lurus sedikit, di sebelah bioskop ada Eastern Kopi TM. Ada saat di mana gue sedang berjalan, tiba-tiba gue berhenti sebentar, ke pinggiran supaya nggak mengganggu orang yang jalan di belakang gue, dan berpikir keras, "Kalo mereka punya dimsum, otomatis punya bakpao, dong?". Langsung gue cek kelengkapan menunya melalui aplikasi Zomato di handphone gue dan ternyata mereka menyajikan bermacam-macam bakpao dengan banyak pilihan isi. Tanpa pikir panjang, gue datangi satu-satu restoran yang sudah gue sebutkan namanya di atas dan memesan satu porsi bakpao dengan pilihan isi yang sama: salted egg, atau telur asin.

Mari kita bedah!

Eastern Kopi TM

Mohon maaf, tapi penampilan bakpaonya sangat nggak menggugah selera. Ibarat perumpamaan "hidup segan, mati tak mau". Bakpaonya sangat gepeng, seperti kue bantet yang gagal mengembang ketika sedang dipanggang di oven, dan warna adonan rotinya putih kusam dengan adanya bintik-bintik dekil samar di permukaan kulitnya. Gue mengharapkan tampilan bakpao yang cantik, bulat, dan mulus, tapi semua kriteria ini nggak ada pada Bakpao Telur Asin Steam dari Eastern Kopi TM. 

Bakpao yang sudah agak lama keluar dari kukusan, kan, kalau menempel di bakpao lainnya atau di kertas minyak untuk alasannya, kulitnya akan robek sedikit, ya, kalau kita paksa tarik. Nah, kalau bakpao ini nggak hanya robek kulitnya, tapi robek sebakpao-bakpaonya. Makin nggak selera. 

Saking gepengnya bakpao isi telur asin ini gue sempat bingung mau melanjutkan bagaimana agar tampilan bakpaonya tetap cantik meskipun gue belah dua karena isi telur asinnya luber kemana-mana saat gue baru mulai membelah. Penempatan isiannya pun kurang simetris, di mana di sisi kiri bakpao yang tengah gue pegang berwarna agak kekuning-kuningan dan di sisi kanannya putih polos. 

Roti bakpaonya lumayan empuk, tapi teksturnya ketika digigit dan dikunyah itu mirip-mirip dengan tekstur roti tawar yang udah dianggurin selama tiga hari. Salted egg, atau telur asin, yang menjadi isiannya manis banget, kentalnya lebih kental daripada fla pudding garapan KFC. Teksturnya agak kasar (ibarat foto, tingkat grain-nya agak medok). Manisnya berat banget dan agak membuat gue mual, nggak terasa gurih atau asinnya sama sekali. Cukup membuat gue kenyang meskipun hanya satu buah yang gue makan. 

Red Suki

Nggak beda jauh dengan tampilan bakpao ala Eastern Kopi TM, kempes dan berkerut, tapi agak lebih mendingan. Bagian bawahnya agak keras dan padat ketika gue raba. Nggak terlalu empuk kalau dibandingkan dengan bakpao sebelumnya. 

Saat gue belah menjadi dua, gue disambut dengan isian padat berwarna jingga yang cukup padat. Tampangnya mirip dengan tampilan kuning telur asin sebagaimana harusnya. Nggak lumer sama sekali, which is nice for a change because I've had it with drippy fillings. 

Gue sangat kecewa dengan rasa dari telur kuning yang menjadi isian bakpaonya. "Rasa gula merah," jerit gue sendirian di meja makan. Benar-benar nggak ada rasa telur asinnya sama sekali. Hanya ada rasa gula merah yang mengingatkan gue pada Kue Putu. Bakpaonya nggak empuk sama sekali, cenderung kering, dan teksturnya beda tipis dengan roti tawar biasa. Kalau dikunyah, keseluruhan roti dan isiannya menjadi sangat lengket dan menempel di gigi dan langit-langit mulut. 

Definitely not my favorite. 

Imperial Kitchen & Dimsum

Dari tiga bakpao yang gue beli, Bakpao Telur Asin dari Imperial Kitchen & Dimsum lah yang penampilannya paling cantik dan menarik perhatian. Bakpao lain berwarna putih, tapi bakpao ini berwarna jingga. Bentuknya sangat bulat dan permukaan bakpaonya mulus. Teksturnya lembut dan empuk saat gue raba, tapi kulit bakpaonya agak susah untuk dirobek. Ketika gue tusuk pelan-pelan dengan ibu jari gue, bakpao itu sempat kempes sesaat, tapi kemudian kembali lagi ke bentuk awalnya yang bulat dan menggemaskan. Meskipun kulit luarnya agak keras, tapi roti di dalamnya sangat sangat empuk. Langsung nyeess~ ketika dikunyah. Very fluffy, squishy, and well inflated. 

Sayangnya, isian telur asinnya agak susah untuk bisa dinikmati karena baunya yang menempel terus bahkan ketika sudah gue telan. Bau, asli bau banget. Seperti bau kuning telur asin itu sendiri, tapi lebih nggak enak lagi.

Rasanya nggak manis, lebih ke gurih dan mirip dengan bagaimana telur asin itu seharusnya terasa. Tingkat kekentalannya paling rendah kalau dibandingkan dengan dua bakpao lainnya. Lumer banget, saat gue robek bakpaonya aja hampir muncrat ke luar. Perbandingan banyaknya roti dengan isiannya adalah 2:1, di mana isiannya nggak terlalu banyak sehingga gue nggak terlalu tersiksa untuk menghabiskan satu buah. 

Dari semua bakpao yang gue coba siang ini, nggak ada yang menjadi favorit gue. Semuanya sama-sama kurang bisa gue nikmati dan lebih banyak nilai minusnya daripada nilai plusnya. Rasanya sama-sama mengecewakan dan nggak ada yang enaknya nendang. Tapi, ya, yang pasti adalah bahwa indra perasa setiap orang berbeda, jadi mungkin kalian yang udah mencoba bakpao-bakpao ini duluan memiliki opini yang berbeda dengan gue. Pencarian gue akan bakpao telur asin terenak nggak berhenti di sini. 

Grand Metropolitan Mall

Jl. K. H. Noer Ali

Pekayon Jaya, Bekasi Selatan

Bekasi 17148

Telur Asin Sedap Rasa

Today, I received a souvenir from my classmate named Dhedy. It was a box of salted duck eggs originated from his hometown back in Sidoarjo. Telur Asin Sedap Rasa, its' name is, produced by a man named Khoiron at Desa Kebonsari, or Kebonsari Village. 

Telur Asin Sedap Rasa

Care for some eggs?

The salted eggs were different compared to any other salted eggs I have ever eaten in my life. Instead of the usual bright blue color, the color of the egg shell was brownish black; and they were slightly bigger. The eggs were smothered in salt and was smoked, hence the burnt shell producing the dark color. You can even smell the familiar scent of charcoal sticking on them. 

I crack open an egg and was welcomed with a broken white color of the egg white and bright orange yolk in the middle. Like any other salted eggs, the texture of the eggs were very firm, gelatin-like, and very rubbery. The texture of the egg white was less firm than the yolk, yet both are slightly crumbly. 

I shared the duck eggs with my dorm mates, Gita and Ambar, and we finished the whole thing in just 15 minutes. Every bite of the egg was heaven on earth! They didn't tasted as salty as regular salted eggs do, which was nice and enjoyable for a person who's just not that into salty food like me. I just love how the thick yolk would stick onto your teeth as you chew it. Those eggs tasted so good. Too good we ended up devouring all of it instead of saving them for later. 

Don't get fooled by their covers

The yolk is the best part

P.S. Dhedy, if you're reading this, thanks a lot for the eggs. They were overwhelmingly delicious!