During Chinese New Year it seems only right to pay homage to the bao.
These steamed buns originated in China, perhaps as early as the third century.
Char siu bao, steamed buns stuffed with dark, sweet roast pork are ubiquitious in China but bao can be found all over Asia.
In Japan, bao known as nikuman are the equivalent of the country’s late night kebab and you can find bao all over Asia from Tokyo to Taipei.
But here in Australia there’s really one man to credit for transforming bao from a staple on dim sum restaurants to the star of the show in its own right.
David Chang certainly did not invent bao but he created a very specific and luxurious version of the dish for his New York restaurant Momofuku back in 2003.
“I’ve always said we wouldn’t be where we are today if not for the pork bun,” Chang says in the Momofuku cook book. “It’s a dish that’s synonymous with Momofuku.”
Naturally the signature dish is on the menu at Chang’s outpost in Sydney, Momofuku Siebo.
The soft pillowy steamed bun encases salty braised pork belly with pickled cucumber for tang, hoisin for sweetness and a squirt of Sriracha chilli sauce just to keep things interesting.
It’s a dish which has inspired imitators around the world and the hunger for bao has even led to whole restaurants devoted to the buns.
In Melbourne there’s Wonderbao which you can find in the oh-so-Melbourne location of down the end of an alleyway behind collection of rubbish bins.
The tiny CBD restaurant cooks hundreds of bao each day in large wooden steamer baskets.
Wonderbao’s open roast pork belly bao is served in a impossibly fluffy bun with juicy pork, crunchy vegies and a slathering of sweet hoisin sauce.
I’m sure plenty of nearby RMIT students happily live on these.
Sydney also has its own bao only restaurant now that Taiwanese street-food vendor Belly Bao has replaced Jonkanoo at Goodgod Small Club.
Belly Bao serves up traditional Taiwanese gao baos and its own signature baos.
The classic baos are soft steamed buns filled with slow cooked pork belly, pickled mustard greens and some added crunch from crushed peanuts.
Whether served up at your Sunday morning yum cha or in the early hours of the morning at a nightclub this Chinese New Year celebrate the bao renaissance.
