551 Horai — Local services in Kyoto

This is the takeout stand on the west side by the exit platform. Line on a weeknight was fairly short and food was still hot and fresh at 7pm. Cashier had an English menu to point/pick by picture.

I tried the pork buns and shumai. Pork buns have this sweet bun, thinner dough than typical Chinese bao (my point of comparison), and huge fillings. Shumai also mostly filling with an almost-barely there wrapper.

To me, the filling tastes like Japanese gyoza sized up. A consistent simple mix of meat + onion (don't quote me) instead of the assorted ingredients in other dumplings. Acquired taste not quite for me but I wouldn't turn it down if offered.

It's worth trying, very filling and what I bought is enough for two (see pic). A must? No but geographic cultural food items are always more interesting to taste. Great to grab nearby for a park as it's great fresh from the steamer or cooled down.

Fair warning: these are quite fragrant, have good wipes or risk your hands smelling like Horai bun filling for a bit. Not much of a smell if left alone, just a...

I love Horai 551 meat buns but I think the batch on 7/10 I got had a dough texture problem. Too heavy/thick.

I'd just gone to Osaka so the difference was very clear to me.

I feel the shop had too many staff members and not enough quality control.

Recently, even Osaka 551 buns are too bready at the top and the dough is too thin at the bottom.

I sometimes make meat buns at home and I believe this is a quality control problem and they are not teaching them the right technique.

The meat bun dough here was far too dense. Thanks to the it looks really nice and the shape and design is really beautiful but it's not the ideal dough condition.

I believe the owner of this Kyoto station branch should do stricter quality control to make sure that the dough has risen enough because this was under-proofed dough.

The line for meat buns was really short, so I guess that's the one good point.

WAIT...update: ones bought on 7/27at the same shop...the dough texture was JUST PERFECT. So, it seems like it depends on the day, the condition and quality of...

Last time I had 551 Horai baos was in 2019 in Osaka. Have been thinking about them ever since.

Was happy to finally be able to eat them again since they have a small shop at Kyoto Station!

These are essentially like the Chinese "da bao" (大包); extra large baos filled with their unique recipe of oh-so-delicious diced pork and onions.

Looks simple enough but they are surprisingly addictive🤤 In terms of bun to filling ratio, these baos have quite alot of bun, and normally for baos in general this could be a bad thing. However, these are not your typical bao buns. They are slightly sweet and somehow super spongy and chewy, making them such a joy to eat. They serve as a great complement in absorbing and amplifying the tasty sweet-saltiness of the pork-onion filling as well.

Little packs of mustard are also provided and you can top your bao with these to give you that extra punch of flavour up the nose.

I like big buns and I cannot lie...especially if they are 551 Horai...