Nam Kee Amy Yip pau for lunch

We were at the Grandstand in Bukit Timah (the former Turf Club premises) when we saw this queue at a shop called Nam Kee.  On checking it out, we saw that it  sells a limited number of dim sum items like the usual char siew pau, siew mai  and lor mai kai.  But the thing that caught our eye was the first thing on the list – the Nam Kee Amy Yip pau “叶子楣包”.

There is the usual char siew bao at 90 cents. Listed above that is the “big pow” at double the price – $1.80. The “Amy Yip Pau” is bigger than the big pow and costs $4.  We wonder how big that would be? Those of us born before SG20 might remember Amy Yip.  We had not seen her in a while. Now that our fond memories (pun intended) of her had been rekindled, we just had to buy at least one to try. And so we did, and two regular ones for comparison.

Nam Kee appears to have originated from Johore Bahru. The paus were packed in a box which was colorfully decorated with a ‘Malaysia Boleh’ slogan. So how big is the Nam Kee Amy Yip pau?  As this is the question on many of our readers’ minds, we thought we should be scientific.

The answer – 14 cm in diameter.  The two regular char siew paus were dwarfed by the massive Amy Yip pau. The next question is what is inside Amy Yip pau?  To answer this question, we dissected it.

This is the cross-section of the Nam Kee Amy Yip pau.  The dough covering was rather thick, although it understandably has to be to keep the whole structure perky.  The fillings are a lumpy mish-mash of various things. There is half a hard-boiled egg, some pieces of meat (we think it is chicken) and other things we can’t identify precisely. The overall taste was good, like a soy sauce braised meat taste, although a tad salty.  As you can see, there is quite a bit of sauce inside the pau so we recommend you eat it quick before it turns saggy.

The massive Amy Yip pau takes up a whole dinner plate. I would estimate that it holds the same volume as five normal char siew paus. It is too much to eat for one person.  Overall an unusual item not to be eaten too frequently as who knows what is in there. But it could make a great surprise gift or a booby prize, in the right circumstances of course.

Ratings:
Food: 3
Value: 3
Service: NA
Atmosphere: NA
Overall Rating: 3 TOPs

Nam Kee Handmade JB Pau
#01-09 Grandstand
200 Turf Club Road
Singapore 287994