The New Richmond Durian Shop Liu Shang Pin

“Have you seen the new Richmond Durian shop?” a friend texted me, with a link to a local news article.

A few minutes later, my phone pinged again.

“Look what just opened down the road from me!!!” another friend texted.

In my Instagram, someone sent me a Google Maps link. “I haven’t been yet, but I’m planning to meet friends here on Saturday,” they said, with a few emojis for extra excitement 👀🤩🤤

About 20 messages later, I was making plans myself to visit the new Richmond Durian Shop called Liu Shang Pin, which had opened up in the 99 Ranch shopping complex on Pierce Street.

Our visit to the New Richmond Durian Shop

We wandered into the Liu Shang Pin Durian Shop around 5pm on a Sunday evening, on our way back to Oregon from the Bay Area after a Durian Tasting at Damansara Co.

We parked in front of the 99 Ranch and walked through door to discover that this was a kind of old, kind of grungy-feeling shopping mall dominated by the 99 Ranch asian grocery store, which is a chain I have visited before in Los Angeles.

Inside the old mall, the new shop sparkled with a fresh minimalism – newly painted walls, clean geometric lines, and an open and spacious flooring sprinkled with cutesy durian paraphernalia and flowers.

The plastic grass lawn had fake durian trees sprinkled with oversized durian fruits, a big statue for posing with for selfies and IG photos, and a super soft and cozy couch with durian throw pillows – also good for IG photos – and plenty of durian merch for sale.

It felt like the kind of souvenir shop we could find at an airport in Taiwan or Beijing – but honestly, it didn’t have the “Malaysia” vibe.

But maybe that’s because Liu Shang Pin was designed with the very large Chinese-speaking population of the East Bay in mind. Here over 250,000 people speak either Cantonese or Taoisanese as their primary language – and if you’ve followed the news media at all, you know the Chinese in China are the biggest consumers of durian in the world. So it makes sense that the cultural excitement over durian might have hopped across the ocean through social media channels, family, and peer pressure.

But whoever they think their key audience is, this is definitely the type of shop U.S. durian lovers have been waiting for for a long, long time. The shop was crowded with curious soon-to-be durian lovers and excited old hands.

I totally get the excitement.

This is the first time durian is being sold as it should be – as something special, a high-end, premium treat with staff on hand to answer questions and make suggestions for which variety a customer might like the best – rather than being left out out in open-top freezers to turn into abused rubber like many other shops that just so happen to have durian in their freezers.

It was a beautiful sight to see all these durians, labeled by variety, in their own dedicated freezers, with people around as excited as us to talk about them.

6 Special Malaysian Durian Varieties

On the day we visited they had 6 types of durians, each with a different price. They only sell whole durians, no packets. The prices are generally not posted, so we reviewed the different varieties and prices with one of the staff, who explained the flavor of each type.

• 1. D18 – “Sunset” ($16.99 per lb / Rm163 per kilo)
• 2. D168 – IOI or “Mas” ($16.99 per lb)
• 3. D175 – Red Prawn ($16.99 per lb)
• 4. D175 – Musang King ($20.99 per lb/ Rm201 per kilo)
• 5. D200 – Black Thorn ($23.99 per lb / Rm232 per kilo)
• 6. D208 – Ganghai ($19.99 per lb / Rm192 per kilo)

The staff didn’t know which region of Malaysia the durians had come from, but from the varieties offered it was pretty clear to us that these were all from Johor. We have tried all of them in Johor and various parts of Malaysia.

After some deliberation, we decided to go for a Red Prawn. We were curious if this would be a real Johor D175 Red Prawn or a “Johor Red Prawn” in quotation marks.

How to identify D13 vs Red Prawn D175 at Combat Durian, Singapore

In Singapore and Johor, it’s fairly common practice that D13 also goes under the name of Red Prawn.

“It’s not the same as Penang Red Prawn,” one shop owner on the nefarious Geylang Street defensively told me when I asked about his pile of D13. “This is Singapore Red Prawn. Every part of Malaysia got their own Red Prawn.” At the time, I rolled my eyes but kept my mouth shut.

Finally, I got the real answers from Combat Durian in Belastier, who helped me to identify the Penang-style Red Prawn grown in Johor versus D13 Red Prawn. Spoiler: D175 Red Prawn grown in Johor still looks different on the outside from D175 Red Prawn grown in Penang. Check out that blog post for all the details.

So we wanted to know – which Red Prawn did they have? The D175 Red Prawn from Penang, D175 Red Prawn from Johor, or the “Singapore Red Prawn which is really D13.”

The shop only sells whole durians – nothing in packets – which brings up the price of each durian considerably.

Our one whole Red Prawn weighed 4.99lbs (2.26kg), which at $16.99 per kilo came out to $84.78 (RM370), which I was surprised to see actually included California’s state taxes. No extra % on that purchase, whew!

As I swiped my credit card, I was thinking about we did a Clement Street Durian Hop in 2021. I know it was before inflation, but back then we bought 4 packets of 400g durian pulp and one small whole Vietnamese Ri6 for $61.99 total.

Before leaving, we noticed there was a Musang King sitting on the counter, thawing. The staff told us they were pre-thawing the durian for repeat customer, who had contacted them via WeChat to pre-order and request a thawing and opening service so that when they showed up to pick up their order it would be ready for munching.

At the time of writing, the only channel to contact Liu Shang Pin to pre-book durians is WeChat, which is an app Richard and I have on our phones just for contacting friends in mainland China and a few people in the Chinese-speaking community in Malaysia. I’m not sure if most people in the US are familiar with this App or not.

We asked the staff if it would be possible for groups who want to meet up at the shop for durian parties can pre-book the durians so they will be thawed when they arrive to the shop.

The staff tentatively said yes – but that this service was mostly for repeat customers who were already familiar with the quality of the durians and the types they like. If you haven’t visited the store before, they still recommend that you come in first and get an educational briefing.

It makes sense – but I can see a venue offering durian parties being really really popular, so I hope as they get more experience they open up that option!

After all, half the fun with durian is sharing it!

We left the shop with our Red Prawn trophy, excited to go bring this home to Oregon and open it with my family.

Although we eat A LOT of durian together as a family (hehe, we also ship durian on this site so the temptation is not far away),but this would be our first whole Malaysian durian to open together.

There’s something special and primordial about actually holding the whole durian, feeling the spikes, and then ripping it apart.

Tasting the Red Prawn Durian from Liu Shang Pin

The lovely staff had given us explicit thawing instructions – thaw the durian for 5-6 hours on a countertop until the thorns feel squishy and have some give.

Since we were driving home late at night, we didn’t have that option. So we kept the durian in a cooler during the drive and popped it into the refrigerator overnight to thaw.

In the morning, we could feel the thorns give through the golden wrapping, so we scissored open the tinsel and paper layers.

It was the greenest-colored Red Prawn Richard had ever seen. He kept turning it around, exclaiming over it’s color.

But then, we rarely travel to Johor because the season overlaps with Penang, which is where we usually base in June.

I reminded Richard that Johor has a different soil, a different terroir, and that Johor-grown Red Prawns do look different. After looking at old pictures from our trips in Johor, we agreed that this was really a D175 Red Prawn grown in Johor, and not a Singapore Red Prawn/aka D13.

Then we cracked it open, and any uncertainty we had about the identity of the durian faded away.

Richard grinned with satisfaction as he grasped the two sides of the durian and pulled it open, peeking into the crevice as the flesh slowly revealed itself. It opened gently, easily, the soggy shell parting without even the help of a knife.

Richard ran his hands over the spines, feeling them bend and give way like teeth of a comb.

“This is a child-safe durian,” he declared laughing.

Inside we were met with the delicate wrinkles of pale orange and white flesh of a Johor Red Prawn. The wrinkles were beautiful, but the color of the flesh had faded in places and turned to pearly white, giving the flesh a blotchy appearance.

Red Prawn is a particularly delicate durian, and we have noticed that it seems susceptible to color fading in the freezer which does not affect the taste.

We leaned in, dug our fingers into the sides, and rolled the durian out of its shell. The flesh was smooth and creamy, not a single piece of rubber. No yucky smelling water-ice long the shell. No hard bits in the corners.

It was a fully ripened, Malaysian durian as promised.

The outside of the piece I had taken was bright pearly white, but when I took a bite, the true orangey-salmon color of the Red Prawn revealed itself, giving me a two-toned piece in my hand.

I felt like the flavor was darker, more oomphy, more onion-y durian flavor than I’m used to with Red Prawn, which I love for its mild, floral, dense cream. But again – this was a Johor Red Prawn, which I’m not as accustomed to.

We gobbled up the durian for our breakfast, sharing a few pieces with my early-rising parents who were at this point enjoying their lunch 🤣

How expensive was this durian?

Finally, it was time to figure out just how expensive this whole durian was compared to buying it in the packet.

We had purchased the durian at 4.99lbs (2263 grams), but once we had removed the wrapper and the plastic, the durian by itself weighed 2082 grams.

We ate out all the flesh, and then weighed the shells by themselves (no seeds).

Using subtraction, we calculated that we had taken out 538grams of flesh + seed, which is what you usually buy in packet durian from the store.

Most shelled durian is sold in 400g packets.

Since we paid $84.78 since for this purchase, the equivalent price of buying a 400g packet would be $63.03. That’s considerably more expensive than the average durian packet from Thailand, Vietnam – or even Malaysian Musang King, which you can buy at Costco in some places for around $25.00.

But somehow, it’s more impressive and more fun to have the whole durians there, to feel the shells, to have the caveman-like satisfaction of ripping it open yourself and discovering what’s inside.

So maybe it’s worth paying the extra price just to have that connection with the fruit and memories of a place far away.

What do you think? Would you rather buy whole durians or packet durians? Leave a comment below!

How to get to Liu Shang Pin Durian Shop in Richmond

The durian shop is located within viewing distance of the 99 Ranch, which is the largest shop inside the Pacific East Mall at 3288 Pierce Street.

I do love that their Lot # in the mall is D106 – perfect for a Malaysian Durian Store!

If you go here and try some durians, make sure to leave us a comment to tell us about your experience, either at Liu Shang Pin or at the Ranch 99 – we want to tell other durian lovers where to have the best durian experience.

If you don’t live in the Bay Area but you’ve got some uncontrollable durian cravings, you can order a wide selection of durian packets from our Mail Order Durian Shop. We ship to all states in the US, Canada, and some places in Europe.