Rong Yi Local Handmade Pau (榮意本地手工包點): Award-Winning Big Pau & Aromatic Coffee Pau In Old Airport Road Food Centre

Every time I’m at Old Airport Road Food Centre, I’ll always spend at least 10 minutes wandering around. With so many stalls there, it’s hard to decide on one.

The last time I was there, one dim sum stall caught my eye.

Tucked away in a corner of the hawker centre, Rong Yi Local Handmade Pau (榮意本地手工包點) serves up handmade dim sum. They have a total of five outlets islandwide, with the main one in Bedok.

While waiting in line to order, we heard the staff raving about their Big Pau 大包 (S$1.60) which is their award-winning signature dish. This made us all the more eager to try it.

Look at how big it is! This Big Pau came with skin that was pillowy and delicately thin.

To our delight, the skin tore apart effortlessly and revealed the glistening chunks of chicken meat inside. With a luscious coat of gravy oozing out, the pau looked promising.

As we expected, the chicken meat was succulent and juicy. Not only that, it also had an umami flavour that balanced out the subtle sweetness of the bun skin. The pau also had a hard-boiled egg inside, a must-have ingredient in every Big Pau as far as I’m concerned.

With every bite being wonderfully warm and juicy, it’s no wonder their Big Pau is so well-known.

The staff also recommended the Coffee Pau 咖啡包 (S$0.80). I was looking forward to this in particular, following the showstopping Coffee Ang Ku Kueh I had from Poh Cheu.

The pau‘s irregular shape also reaffirmed the fact that Rong Yi’s paus are all handmade.

As we tore it in half, the distinct and satisfying aroma of coffee wafted to our noses. As coffee lovers, we also appreciated that the coffee paste was very smooth and abundant.

However, we felt it’d have tasted even better if the fragrance of the coffee paste been slightly stronger. We also wished that its decadent and slightly bitter taste had lingered on longer. Still, it was definitely one of the better coffee food items I’ve tasted.

Moving on, we had the 3 in 1 三合一 (S$1.10). This interesting pau looked just like any other regular pau, but the fact that it apparently has three fillings in it piqued our curiosity.

We could identify the three fillings: red bean paste, lotus paste and salted egg yolk. These three fillings are common pau ingredients, but having them together in one pau? It was definitely a first for us.

Surprisingly, they complemented one another perfectly! The chalky texture of the salted egg yolk contrasted the silky smooth pastes very well. Not only that, the strong salty flavour served as a good counterbalance to the combined decadence of the two pastes.

Though the red bean and lotus pastes are very similar in texture, the former was slightly coarser. We were also able to taste their varying degrees of sweetness as the lotus paste was significantly sweeter.

As such, every bite we took was a harmonious party of flavours, as well as complementing textures. This pau is certainly one of its kind!

Since Rong Yi is, after all, a dim sum stall, we had to try their other dishes apart from paus. We decided to go for their Glutinous Rice Chicken 糯米鸡 (S$1.80).

Right off the bat, I noticed that there wasn’t much chicken meat on the lo mai gai. Nevertheless, the chunks of chicken meat were pleasantly flavourful, though a bit tough.

I personally liked the chewiness of the glutinous rice. However, objectively, it was a tad bit too grainy as most lo mai gai dishes come with much softer rice.

Sadly, it was also rather mild in flavour. I’m a fan of bold flavours, so I was hoping it’d be a little saltier. Luckily, the chilli sauce that they provided managed to salvage the dish with its spicy kick.

Overall, the dim sum here at Rong Yi Local Handmade Pau is definitely better than average. There’re also not many dim sum places that make their Big Paus well. I’m glad I finally came across one that’s sizeable and flavourful.

While we usually consider dim sum as breakfast items, Rong Yi actually opens throughout the day. Therefore, you can definitely satisfy those dim sum cravings of yours here at any time of the day!

Expected Damage: S$0.60 – S$2.20 per dish