Pan Fried Pork Bun (foreground), Pan Fried Prawn Bun (background) It seems that the West is finally buzzing again when it comes to its game in the local F&B scene — whilst Jurong West Hawker Centre had previously closed down under the previous operator, the hawker centre is now known as JW50 Hawker Heritage after its operations have been taken over by Chang Cheng Mee Wah; a rather familiar name in the local F&B scene considering the number of coffeeshops which the name runs all across the island. Whilst the revamped Jurong West Hawker Centre has seen familiar chains opening up stalls in the hawker centre itself (think names such as Bai Nian Niang Dou Fu 百年酿豆腐 and Shi Nian Pig Leg Rice 石年猪脚饭, as well as GoPizza just to name a few, there are also some rather interesting tenants that are new in the local F&B scene in general. One such stall would be Xiangyu Pan-fried Bun 香遇生煎包; a stall that is located at the second level of the food centre just right beside the dessert stall. There does seem to be an uprising of establishments serving up Chinese pan-fried buns of the late; this includes stalls that are located in Maxwell Food Centre, the Food Republic food court at Parkway Parade, and Chinatown Complex Food Centre. Much like other establishments that serve up Pan-Fried Buns, Xiangyu Pan-fried Bun also serves up a good variety of other dumplings and Chinese-style noodles — some Irene include Xiao Long Bao, Chives and Pork Dumpling, as well as Prawn Wanton in Chilli Oil Noodles in both dry or soup format.
Being a Sheng Jian Bao junkie, it is needless to say that it was the Pan Fried Pork Bun and Pan Fried Prawn Buns that made us decide to dine from Xiangyu Pan-fried Bun during our visit to JW50 Hawker Heritage during our visit there. Some disclaimers that we should probably include is that we did spend quite a while waiting for our order; from the queueing to us getting buzzed to collect our food, we spent a good 1.5 hours to get our Pan Fried Pork Bun and Pan Fried Prawn Bun. The waiting time can be attributed to how there is typically a waiting time involved for the preparation of an entire batch of Pan-Fried Buns, and the extreme crowd level that was visiting the hawker centre on the very first weekend that they had opened their doors. The Pan Fried Pork Bun and the Pan Fried Prawn Bun are best to be had when they are still piping hot — we noticed how the skins for both the Pan Fried Pork Bun and the Pan Fried Prawn Bun are actually pretty thin and delicate; leaving them out for a while would see the skin absorbing much of the broth in the filling itself. Taking a bite into the Pan-Fried Buns, the broth instantly squirts out of the bun; the buns being really well-filled broth. Between the Pan Fried Pork Bun and the Pan Fried Prawn Bun, it was hard to make an accurate call on which would be the better one out if the two — we liked how the Pan Fried Pork Bun comes with a good portion of meat filling; the broth carrying a savoury bite with a gingery undertone which made it really refreshing and easy to have. On the other hand, the Pan Fried Prawn Bun seems to consists of a mix of fish paste and prawns; its broth carrying a significant hint of sweetness that was also cleaner and lighter tasting in comparison. Truth to be told, the Pan Fried Buns from Xiangyu Pan-fried Bun are some quality stuff with consistency that is able to rival that of other establishments serving the same in town; that being said, perhaps it is best to probably give them a try only after the hype of the entree hawker centre had died down to skip on the long waiting times which we experienced.