238 E 14th Street, NY, NY
Tel: 646.669.8889
http://www.baohausnyc.com/
I came across BaoHaus after seeing Cheap Bites on Cooking Channel, which was hosted by BaoHaus’s chef Eddie Huang. Being close to my apartment, I stopped in for lunch on a day off from work. First things first, this is a tiny spot! There were 4 people ordering before me and I had no place to move. Being a tight space with people waiting, initial service just to order took a while. There was one person running the iPad based register, 2 others in the visible kitchen and a manager. One turn off for me being a techie was the use of an iPad, which seemed like a cool idea, but then I noticed they has to punch CC number. This really slowed down the transaction time. Not a big deal, but being who I am, and what I do for a living I notice this kind of stuff.
I came in to try the buns, and really not much more. There are 7 of which to choose from, and the sign behind the counter said 2-3 make a meal. I decided to not be my normal fatty self and only try two. I went for the Chairman Bao (pictures below right) and the Adobo Bao (pictured left below). Reading reviews on FourSquare and Yelp, there was positive things about all seven Baos.
The chairman bao is a nice fatty, healthy piece of pork belly topped with peanuts cilantro and a relish. The Adobo Bao is a pork, chicken mix, which almost had a curried flavor to them. The bao was topped with cilantro, daikons and cucumber. Personally the Adobo Bao was my favorite of the two, but don’t let that put the chairman bao at all. I also added a Taiwanese Root Beer to my order. I really did enjoy the Baos and look forward to heading back to try the others.
I mentioned earlier that the service was slow, but as I was walking out the lady at the register said “Bye Tesh.” They took my name during the ordering process, and it was a nice touch that they remembered and addressed me as I left. I guess it is the little things like that, that remind me good things are worth waiting for.