BaoHaus Review

I finally made it to BaoHaus (East Village) after a failed attempt to dine there at 7pm on its opening night because they weren't ready to open yet and were still putting up the sign:

Once inside, we felt compelled to order drinks, although doing so is highly unusual for us cheapos. Can't you hear your mother asking, "Why would you buy that drink? It costs 30 cents at the grocery store but they charge you $2 at the restaurant! Just get water! It's free!" But the sight of these just makes me happy:

The baos were, as expected, rich and delicious. The "chairman bao" was full of pork belly fat and full of flavor, with the perfect hint of sweetness from the crushed peanuts and Taiwanese red sugar sprinkled on top. The "haus bao", filled with shredded hanger steak, was the "healthier" alternative, and still packed with flavor. The husband preferred the chairman (to be expected from a man who immediately begins eating chips as soon as he walks in the door after work each day), while I, of course, liked having both. The decadence of the pork belly needed a good counterpoint to balance out the accompanying guilt. Spinach to balance out steak, and steak to balance out a slab of pork fat.

Sweet bao fries! No, they do not look like french fries, but they are still fried deliciousness. I always get the black sesame sauce because it's amazing and have not been tempted enough to try the taro, durian, pandan or sesame/butter/jelly. Maybe one day I will convince someone else to try other flavors so I can sample them, and then go right back to eating my own full serving of sweet bao fries with black sesame sauce.

We also ordered the marinated pork over rice with fried chicken.

Chef Eddie Huang had this Taiwanese dish in his late restaurant (Xiao Ye) that closed in November 2010. We had eaten this dish at Xiao Ye and were slightly disappointed at the quality of it, and thought / hoped that its new incarnation at BaoHaus would provide redemption. Unfortunately, the marinated pork still fell somewhat flat and lacked the depth, saltiness and savoriness that one would expect and can easily find at Bian Dang in the food court in K-town.

But no worries, we were only really meant to eat baos (and sweet bao fries) at BaoHaus! And I will keep going back for more pork fat slabs with sides of steak and fried dough. The worse it sounds, the better it tastes.