Baohaus NYC: My new favourite Gua Bao 刮包 & Fiery explosion at Kyochon NYC

New York is a fantastic city for little bites and snacks. Not only do you get carts selling hot dogs & pretzels at nearly every block, I've even seen hot food like kebabs too.

Cheap food on the go is in abundance here. Feeling peckish before dinner, I headed to Baohaus for their Gua Bao 刮包 or steamed buns.

Haus Bao $4.50

As this was meant to be a snack, I decided to only order one and chose the signature Bao, the Haus Bao. The Haus Bao is made from all natural Hanger Steak. OMG, I love this. The combination of the soft steamed buns, shredded lean meat, crunchy peanuts and sweet red sugar is just lip-smackingly tasty. It was a melange of textures and taste with the cilantro adding a zing .

Where Momofuku is decadently rich like how you feel after a Chinese 10 course wedding dinner, Bauhaus version is rustic and down to earth. Simple delicious peasant food. I knew I said that I was only having one, but I found myself getting off the stool and went straight to the counter to order another.

Chairman Bao $4

This time, I got the Chairman Bao which is more comparable to Momofuku's. The meat here is all natural Berkshire Pork Belly that was braised slow and low. Again, I was not disappointed. There is a whole chunk of pork belly with its layer of fat in there but it didn't taste overly fatty and rich. I could easily devour 5 of these buns without any hesitation.

I have just found my new favourite 刮包 Gua Bao. Pity that it's so far from home.

For more photos, please check out my Flickr stream here.

My friend Mili kept telling me that I have to try Korean Fried Chicken when in NY.

So initially intending to head to Bon Bon, they were fully packed so it was to Kyo Chon across the street it would be.

Kyo Chon has two types of service reminiscent of Leon in London. You can go to the top floor for a full dinner service where they charge a little more or you can order their take away on the street level and eat it at the few tables and seats that are laid around for you.

As much as I am still a spicy-eater in training, how could I not choose their signature hot and sweet wings? I was forewarned by the cashier that it is very spicy. *Gulp* Not a problem, I said.

A few minutes later, I was staring at 5 beautiful spicy red wings. You can smell the spice even with the lid of the box closed.

How spicy is it? It's like a fiery explosion when you get down to the last two pieces. I had no trouble finishing my entire ice cold drink in the time it took me to finish the wings.

If you think spicy wings from KFC are spicy, this is on the other end of the scale. So for the spicy food lovers, this is a nice place to stop for some fiery bites.

Guess what I spied on the side? The CPR kit is available if it gets too HOT!

Baohaus, 137 Rivington Street, Lower East Side, New York, NY 10002
www.baohausnyc.com




Kyo Chon, 319 5th Ave, New York, NY 10016
www.facebook.com/kyochonNY

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Leong’s Legend: Dim Sum with a Taiwanese twist!

To my lovely readers, as some of you may have noticed. I did a Dim Sum Marathon Week last month which was inspired after reading this post by Mr. Noodles. Timing could not have been worse what with Xmas celebrations and parties but persevere I did. I ended the marathon week with my last post being in Shanghai which was commented that it wasn’t London-based. =)

To make up for that, this is an additional post where all that writing had me craving for dim sum and I decided to try out Leongs Legend during the holiday break. I have been to Leongs Legend many times but never for their dim sum, as I didn’t know they offer it.

Finding other dim sum cravers wasn’t too difficult and the party of three met up in Chinatown.

Amidst the regulars, there were some which I have not seen before and some that I recognised when I was in Taiwan.

小笼包XLB £5

The Xiao Long Bao from Leongs Legend is still one of the better ones that you can find in London.



北京菜肉水饺 Beijing Pork & Chive Dumpling £3.20

This was surprisingly good. Shaped into bite-sized portions, each mouthful was delicately flavoursome.

虎咬猪 Taiwan Mini Kebab with Pork £2.60

I was a tad disappointed with this, it was quite ordinary.

棺材板 Casket £4.80

This is bread that have been toasted and used to form the base with minced chicken and vegetable in a creamy sauce laden in the middle). The creamy minced chicken and vegetables are good but the toast was over-fried or toasted which made it oily.

豆腐皮蛋 Beancurd with “Thousand Years” Egg £3.80

宝岛牛肉饼Taiwanese Grilled Minced Beef Patty £2.80

This came up as a winner at the table. Pan fried to a crispy exterior, the dough was still thin and soft enough that when biting into it, the juices of the beef flows through.

紫菜虾糯米卷 Sticky Rice Roll with Prawn & Seaweed £2.60

Sticky rice with prawn and seaweed…some of my favourite ingredients, how could I not love this? For the fried lovers, you will not be disappointed with this. However, I think that if it was steamed, it would have been even better!

蜜汁叉烧酥 Baked Roast Pork Puffs £1.80

水晶虾饺 Prawn Dumpling £2.50

The roast pork puffs were good but the prawn dumplings were quite disappointing. Even just looking at it, you could tell and my eyes did not prove me wrong.

姜葱鱼片肠粉 Seabass Cheung Fun £2.80 炸两肠粉 Dough Stick Cheung Fun £2.20

Usually when it comes to Cheung Fun, the usual orders tend to be the Char Siew or dough stick or prawns. Imagine my surprise when I noticed that they offer a seabass version on the menu. This is the first time I have seen it and we had to order it. I have to say this gets the thumbs up from all of us. Slices of sea bass with ginger and soy sauce, it’s like eating steamed sea bass but this is wrapped in the rice noodle roll. Yum!

燕窝蛋挞 Bird Nest Egg Tart

The pastry was too dense but the egg filling itself was good and the teeny amount of bird nest in the middle gave the egg tarts a slightly different texture and 口感 (mouthfeel).

We had no problems with the service and our teapot was regularly refilled while we continued chatting away. The bill came up to around £15/head. Reasonable and based on the quality and additional varieties available, I can see myself coming back here for dim sum when in Chinatown.

4 Macclesfield St, City of Westminster, W1D 5

26-27 Lisle Street, Leicester Square WC2H 7

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Midnight snack in Taipei

Even though it was nearly past midnight and we weren’t hungry, just could not resist to start our food adventure. A lot of shops were already closed but we walk down this lane (林士北路) near the hotel and was greeted by the aromas of food and the bustling of people and cabs squeezing down the extremely narrow lane.

Even though I saw a number of stores selling my favourite drink (bubble tea!), that would have been too much of a calorie bomb at that time at night. We eventually settled on a restaurant as the shop lady started talking to us and I was intrigued by the huge pot that was being used for cooking on display.

The food was generally subtle in flavours yet still bringing out the freshness and natural taste of the food. Good honest simple food!

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Sunflower Cafe

Strolling around Broadway, there are many restaurants that flag the streets. We decided to venture into one that serves Taiwanese cuisine. The place is small but feels really sunny and bright. It's definitely catered for the students at the universities nearby.

It wasn't too long before our orders arrived.

Curry Crispy Chicken Fillet with rice $8.50

The chicken was definitely crispy and blended well with the curry. My friend was enjoying it.

Mexicana $8.90

Mexican style beef mince served with tomato and sour cream on a crepe.

BBQ Grilled Pork with Rice $8.50

The food was good considering the price that you're paying. It's a nice place for something different. Can't wait to come back to try out their dessert crepes next time. I am eyeing their "Green Tea Crepes".

Total Score ~ 18/25

[Taste - 7(10) , Presentation - 4 (5), Service - 3 (5), Value for Money - 4(5)]

Location:

Sunflower Cafe

147 Level Ground

Broadway Ultimo

Tel: 9211 5298

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茶轩。。。Odeon Taiwanese Cafe

I went to eat at 茶轩 Odeon Taiwanese Cafe at Causeway Bay the other day. Their rice in an ancient times wooden box looks interesting and I ordered that. It is actually called 竹筒饭。Although it is chicken, it actually taste the same as the beef bowl from Yoshinoya as it consists of meat and onions on white rice. Thus, to me, it was pretty ordinary but the wooden log bowl adds a different touch I guess! As it was raining, I ordered the hot pearl milk tea as well.

It tasted like 'teh tarik' that you get from those mamak stalls back in KL but it comes with pearls. I love it as I like teh tarik (milk tea) and the pearls were really chewy and soft. One of the best pearls that I have had and this is coming from me who loves and drinks pearl milk tea on a regular basis!

Total Score ~ 16.5/25
[Taste - 6 (10) , Presentation - 4 (5), Service - 3.5 (5), Value for Money - 3 (5)]

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