The Best Steamed Buns In Miri

Where can you find the best steamed paus (buns) in Miri? A lot of Mirians will tell you it is Sau Pau Bakery Café. But I beg to differ.

I do like the pau at Sau Pau Bakery but my top choice is the buns sold at the makeshift stall in front of Toni & Guys Unisex Saloon near the Piasau roundabout.

The stall selling the bao in front of Toni & Gus near the Piasau roundabout

The stall selling the baos in front of Toni & Gus near the Piasau roundabout

The stall usually starts selling at about 12.30 pm. If you go at around this time, you will often see a queue of people patiently awaiting their turns to buy the buns. Sometimes the queue can be quite long. The char siew buns (RM1.60) usually sell out fast and you then have to wait for the next batch to arrive. They make their buns in a few batches each day so you can rest assured that the buns are super fresh.

The queue

The queue was quite short when I went there last week

The stall owner

The stall owner

You often find a queue of people awaiting their turns to buy the paus. The char siew pau is their top seller as it is probably the best in Miri. They also sell mushroom meat pau (RM1.90), vegetable meat pau (RM1.90), red bean pau (RM1.20) and butter milk pau (RM1.20).

The prce list of the baos

The prce list of the paus

Even though it isn’t flawless, the char siew pau will delight even the most finicky tasters’ palates. The BBQ pork filling is moist and tender and has a savoury and slightly sweet taste. My only complaint is that occasionally I do find the char siew buns a tad too salty.

Char Sau pau

Char Siew pau

The mushroom meat pau has a big lump of minced pork with mushroom whereas the vegetable meat pau has a filling that is predominantly shredded strips of jicama (turnip), some minced meat and a small portion of a hard-bolied egg. One thing about the paus at this stalls is that they all come with generous fillings, whether it is red bean paste, butter milk, or shredded BBQ pork and the stall only sells steamed paus.

Mushroom meat pau

Mushroom meat pau

Vegetable meat pau

Vegetable meat pau

You can rest be assured that their paus are very fresh. They sell their pows in batches, starting at about 12.30 pm till 5.00 pm or until the paus are all sold out whichever comes earlier.

This Miri pastry is a definite must try!

10 comments

  1. I find these buns extremely extremely over-rated. Once, i queued and bought the different fillings. They were all over the top salty. Bought again thinking that maybe that batch was bad. And again, super salty. Which part of the buns make them so special? The buns itself or the out of this world salty fillings?

    • Yes, I do agree with you that the char siew buns sometimes are a tad too salty. The other buns are pretty fine.

    • Agree with you..totally overrated. and knowing Mirians are super kiasu people..when they see people queuing up they also curious to know what the hype is about. The queue are shorter these days… i guess the hype has toned down. If you want my opinion which place sells the best bao..try House of Buns at waterfront. Same row with Dr. Teo Clinic. Best chicken bao ever..yumms! they got pork bao also. sells out fast too!

      • Hi Janice, thank you for your recommendation. It is good to get feedback. I have tried quite a lot of steamed buns in Miri and most are lousy. I rate the buns in this blog post as the best from my personal experience. I know there are probably better buns in Miri that I have not tasted yet. I will try out the House of Buns. If the buns are as good as you said, I will write another blog article on them.

        • First off, the bao you mentioned selling at GK is only so so to me.. Definitely TOO salty! Secondly, they are illegal hence they do not have approval for health and hygiene standard, you should NOT encourage such an outlet. You never know what they put in their ingredient and where they cook their food! Look closer at the van and the container they use to deliver the bao all the way from Taman Tunku.. They do not have license hence no one go to check their kitchen and no control over hygiene. Eat at your own risk.

          Personally I still think Shao Bao still the best in Miri. Mind you, lots of ppl confused the Shao Bao Miri with New Sau Pau in boulevard area. There are only one Shao Bao shop in Miri, the original one which is located in city center, very close to Imperial Shopping Mall. The New Sau Pau is NOT the original one. So don’t get confused.

          • Like I said, taste is relative. Based on what you said, then we should also not eat a lot of food as we do not know what they put in their food and whether they are produced under hygienic conditions. Just because this stall sells their buns at a roadside stall does not mean that they are unethical or pose a health risk. I do agree that their buns are sometimes a tad too salty but I like the overall taste of their buns. I will continue patronising them.

            I am aware of the Sau Pau in Miri as I used to buy buns there quite often. The towkay neo is a friendly lady and her pretty daughter often helps out at the shop.

            Someone commented that the best buns in Miri are the ones sold by the House of Buns near Dr Teo Clinic. I have not tried those buns so I cannot comment. But I will definitely buy some to try soon.

  2. I agreed and strongly recommend the paus at GK cos it tastes good.

  3. Have you try pau at pasar malam saberkas?