BAO Soho — Restaurant in London

Came here for a post-work dinner with a friend. I booked ahead knowing from the pictures how small this place was. We arrived at 17:30 in the evening and unfortunately there were no tables available so we sat at the counter facing the bar. As I learned later on, it wasn't ideal being right next to a sink as water from the sink often splashed up onto us.

However, moving on from that we ordered our drinks both cocktails, I had the sake beer and my companion the sweet potato gin. Both were excellently prepared. Tap water was requested and provided as a bottle with two glasses for us to fill.

As we were ordering before 6pm, we managed to take advantage of the £15 set menu which was a side, bao bun and rice bowl. The choices weren't great but what was there was enough for us to go for it. Bao wise we got a Classic and Fried Chicken, for the sides we got the mushroom and fried chicken and both rice bowls which were aubergine and guinea fowl. The bao's were excellent as you can expect, especially the buns themselves, they were fluffy warm and soft holding their fillings perfectly. The fillings themselves were great and went down very easily! I could've had many more.

The sides were good, but nothing amazing. Fried chicken wasn't winning any awards and the mushrooms were made better with the small pieces of pickled shitake mushrooms which massively elevated the dish. The rice bowls were ok, the guinea fowl was probably lost on me as it just tasted like gamey rice with a hint of richness from the egg yolk. I personally preferred the aubergine rice more but again, nothing crazy and there were no particular flavours shouting out.

I decided to order the weeping Sake which was smooth dry and delicious and we got a couple of more buns, one classic and one braised shortrib. No complaints on those, both delicious as you would expect from a place named 'Bao'

Overall a good place to get tasty and authentic bao buns but not somewhere I'd visit again as all the other dishes seem a bit pointless to me. Just do more bao buns please!!

Also due to the quick turnaround at this place it did feel quite rushed and the food was coming out too quickly would you believe! Yes, there is such a thing as food arriving at the table...

My first time at Bao, I wanted to love it but it's all bit of a rip off. I understand high prices for good quality and good atmosphere but this is not it. The food is good in the sense it's not bad. Ultimately it'a bao buns, which it's good regardless but it's a difficult food to make EXCEPTIONAL because it is a cheap snack food, on the go, and it's main ingredients are made in bulk. The ingredients and fillings are good here (though I found a bone in my Classic Bao, which was a bit sloppy). This location only serves Bao and small plates, and it's cafe style, so you're paying on average $50-60 per person (with drinks & service) to eat in a cramped noisy room (and we were facing a wall). One suggestion!! Please put content sizes (ml) on your drinks. At the very least your non-alcoholic drinks!! I ordered the cold brew roasted oolong tea (£4.50) and what arrived was a 200ml glass, half full with ice, and about 100ml of liquid. I was expecting oh I don't know, a decent sized glass? It's iced tea!! I asked the staff to please top me up and make sure the exposed half of the ice is covered with liquid. They topped it up with water. I sent it back saying it was diluted. And then we were treated to a lecture by the staff member saying that is their standard amount, and etc they could not change it because it's the standard amount. I said back, hey if you had put the size of the drink on the menu and I knew I was only getting 100ml of ice tea I definitely would not have ordered this drink. The staff took the drink back and made one with less ice and it was fine in the end, but that's just what should have been done in the first place!! We didn't need a lecture, just fix the problem. That's what service is. So on my last Classic Bao there was a bone in the bao and that just made me feel a bit disappointed about the whole experience. Go here if you've been and you love it and you think it's the best bao, fine. But avoid if you want a satisfying experience because this whole experience was unsatisfying in a way I was just...

Bao Time! My first Bao ever and guys if you haven't tried a Bao yet, you have no idea What You Are MISSING out in LIFE! Totally in love with the Boa and definitely going to try making it at home..That white soft steamed bun that just melts in your mouth.. I can't have enough of it.

We had pretty much everything that was vegetarian on the food menu which was the very popular Eryngi Mushroom, century egg followed by the ohh.. so super soft melt in the mouth Daikon Bao which was a cute Bao with I just found out is an oriental radish fritter served with a slice of radish. For drinks we had a pot of 10 year aged coal baked oblong tea and a Yakut float which was made of fermented pineapple soda served with a yakult float. Everything that was served was the "CUTE" size which is the nicest way I can think of saying they were really small.

The food was absolutely delicious and the crowning glory of the day was the Fried Horlicks Ice Cream that we had for dessert, absolutely D..I..V..I..N..E! Loved it 😍😍Though practically speaking the icecream wasn't fried but was sandwiched between two halfs of a doughnut batter bun. So much for my first Taste of Taiwanese Cuisine. Loved it so much.. would definitely recommend this place!

Here's a little secret we found out, if you guys can't take the long wait to eat a meal here, I would suggest stopping by to atleast order the dessert. They do a walkin takeaway of only the fried Horlicks ice cream that you just can't miss. Don't queue, just walk straight In and ask for the ice cream. While you guys enjoy your Boa, I will have to start planning for a trip to Taiwan soon. If the first food experience was this good, can't wait to explore the rest!Hopefully they will have everything in...