What prompted me to write this food post is not how delicious, or rare, or nostalgic, are those Baos which I have not had in a long time. The shop just happened to first start serving sandwich Baos, and I (background applause) just happen to be the first customer trying it! With rarity of being the first customer, I decided to write this post to celebrate my incredibly-short-lived-first-customer-excitment. This post, however, is still about the quality and taste of those Shanghai Baos.
The sandwich Bao model shown in above flyer was so tempting that I went ahead and bought one even with my limited budget for the day. Kimchi in the middle with Korean Bulgogi - another asian fusion that's awkward to categorize.
The incredibly friendly staff members definitely made customers feel special. If they lied about me being the first customer to try the sandwich Baos, then they are top of the notch to know how to win customers.
Pan fried Baos! Man was I excited to see them! I haven't had them in ages. They even had those mouse-shaped looking Baos that usually indicate either vegetarian, or in my hometown is fermented cabbage. The joy of encountering something that stirs up memories of childhood is priceless.
The left Bao in the picture is pork Bao. It tastes great, just like what pork Bao suppose to taste like. It's not perfect because the filling is made with industrialized pork instead of freshly butchered ones. And you can't find freshly butchered meat in cities. The sandwich Bao in the middle has threaded cucumber at the bottom, tender and well-seasoned chicken, green onions, a drop of Hoisin sauce on top with drizzles of sriracha. Delicious. The vegetable Baos on the right really impressed me. Vegetables are seasoned to the appropriate amount, yeasts fermenting in flour to the right amount. Each bite was satisfying. Comfort foods taste the best only in their distant memories. I really enjoyed these, and they are as good as it gets in the DMV area.
I find it bazaar that they provided choices of dipping sauce for Baos. I never ate Baos, pan-fried nor steamed, with any dipping sauce. In fact, dipping sauce, according to my family tradition, is only paired with dumplings. They had different options of dipping sauce: soy, sriracha, Chipotle ranch, Hoisin, etc. I went with the classic soy, because I tend to go on the conservative side when I am experimenting.
Three buns costs $9, which isn't dirt cheap, and I still have some room in my bird stomach afterwards. You can stuff yourself with $7.15 worth of Chipotle if you don't mind the risk of E.coli. This price range I would identify it as 2 dollar signs on Yelp. With that said, those Shanghai Baos nowadays are becoming very popular, and with its price point becoming less friendly.
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