The siopao that will change your lifestyle...

We used to simply pass by a store where we noticed many people queued on the ordering counter while others waited for their numbers to be called. To us, it’s just like the long line in Mister Donuts and Dunkin Donuts which we find quite strange and we didn’t want to wait that long to get donuts as we find nothing really special on them. On other occassions, we notice that the line is short but unsure of what the store sells, how to order and what to order, we just head to the nearby coffeeshop. On one Wednesday night however, after bringing Jade to the clinic for one of her vaccine shots, we had to find a place to eat our dinner. Seeing food stalls on the other side of the road, we crossed and noticed that there’s no line in the store. We got the chance to look at the goods they sell and figured out they sell siopaos, colorful and variety of them. Looking at the store’s name, it showed “Mr. Baoz”. There are product portfolios at the counter and we eagerly grabbed them to check the list. To our delight, the prices were also listed and it turned out that one siopao costs around 25~30NTD, price for one donut. There are packages for a single piece, 3pieces, 6pieces and 12pieces. Excited yet quite wary of the taste, we opted to get a package of six.

It's actually the box which says "This food will change your lifestyle."

I bet it will. BTW, bao (or pao) means steamed bun.

While waiting for our order in the noodle house where we settled for dinner, I grabbed one which turned out to be topped with some sweet creamy paste and stuffed with black beans (or was it actually sesame seeds). Upon seeing me bring out the siopao from the box, Jade kept on exclaiming “Eat! Eat! Eat!” I took the first bite which right away made me learn why people queued for it. I gave Jade her share followed by succeeding bits and pieces of the “dough”, stuffing and topping. Dennis was the last to have a bite and was almost tempted to get another one. He was able to control himself and waited for the noodles instead. When we reached home, we left 3pcs for our friends while we brought two for our packed breakfast. The next day, Dennis and I exchanged phone calls at work to describe how our shares tasted. Mine was better I think; I chose the chicken while he had the curry flavor. More to that, our friend said they really liked it. They had the strawberry, squid roll (w/ wasabe) and steak flavors. We thought that we should have bought a dozen instead of just six.

This package of six is called Jewelry Box

Single piece: Dear Me

12pcs: Choose from Forest Box, Royal Sharing Box and Champion Box

For our New Year celebration, we planned to buy a box of 12 so our other friends can have a taste of it but didn’t get any chance to go to the nearest store in Shipai, around 5minutes walk away from the MRT. It remained a plan thus making us crave for several weeks until hubby got the chance to go to Taipei. I asked him to drop by the store on his way home and get us a box of 12. Later in the afternoon, he called me to say that he only had 200NTD in his wallet and there was no ATM machine he can withdraw from. That meant he can only buy 3pcs as he still needs some amount for his fare but at least we can satisfy our craving. When he arrived, I was surprised to see him carrying a box of 6pcs, just like what we bought for the 1st time. I asked how come. He said his MRT/bus card is still loaded. Without worrying of not having extra amount and thinking of the “trouble” he had to go through to get to the store, he better had a full box of six than only three. Good decision he made! We ate three pieces that night, not for dinner but for our evening snack. We brought two again for breakfast the next day while he consumed the last piece for dinner.

Bao pictures collected from the store's website

The first five are part of the Jewelry Box and we tasted all of them.

The sixth one, is something I look forward to eat

We will definitely try other flavors if we get the chance to go to Shipai. I want to try the ones stuffed with icing or ice cream and topped with chocolate flakes.