Guanpoh Longevity Buns... with Lotus Paste

These lotus paste buns are another frozen Kam Man special. The brand Guanpoh makes only vegetarian foods, so it's becoming a new standard at our house. These buns have a bright color wash on them, but it imparts no flavor, so this is basically just a fancy looking regular lotus bun. I will give them high marks, though. The filling is smooth, sweet, and in good proportion to the bun dough. The dough is right, pretty smooth and spongy, with a little bit of a skin.

Score: 4/5 - Nothing remarkable, but very pleasant lotus bun. Textures good all around.

Guanpoh Vegetarian Char Siew Buns

Vegetarian roasted pork buns? Sign me up! These Guanpoh Vegetarian Char Siew Buns are medium size buns, with that sort of pinched texturing at the top. The dough is soft and fine, as expected, but the stand-out is the filling. The fake pork is textured to be a little chewy but not rubbery, and the pieces of it are small. The barbecue sauce is sticky enough that the pieces of pork stick together. The flavor is sweet and salty as expected, but not overwhelming in either direction, with the sort of orangy-pinky-brown color that is a little under-represented in the picture on the package. (Otherwise, I really like this packaging, the green and gold scheme looks really good.) Overall, this is one of my favorite buns. I used to buy these buns at the Super 88, but they stopped carrying them for years. Now that our local spot has changed into a Kam Man, they are back!

Score: 5/5 - What can I say, I like fake meat barbecue!