The Bao Place

The real deal. I have been hunting for months for a good bao in Seattle. This was just what I was hunting for. All 5 members of my family enjoyed the BBQ Pork bao’s, which is uncommon. Adding this to our placed to stop at when in BC.

Really great vegetarian buns! They contain some chinese mushrooms which make it extra good. I think I’ll as them to create a mushroom-​only bun.
I also like the red bean bun.

Super fresh — the bun is so yummy and soft! Filling could be more but maybe that’s because these bao are larger than the usual. I will be going back to try the sweet ones. Tiny shop so order and take out.

«OUTSTANDING steam bun»
I went for my doctor’s Appoint in Kingsway Burnaby, and saw this little Bao place. I was hungry at that time, so I decided to give it a try. Oh men, the smell of the food is already mouth watering. The food is so delicious. I highly recommend to try their steam bun or Siopao. I definitely order more food for my up coming Christmas party.

The Bao Place offers «home style steam bao», which are very different from the ones you can get at a supermarket like T&T. My mom also makes steamed bao at home, and they are very similar. Hence she was super-​jealous of the ones I brought home from The Bao Place. This is a good sign.
Pork Delux ($ 3.25; price includes tax)
–Slightly sweet mix of pork and some veggie and condiments. Plus a chunk (half?) of hard-​boiled egg.
–Taste is ok.
BBQ Delight ($ 2.50; price includes tax)
–For convenience they may tell you this is basically char siu bao, but it is NOT. No red colour whatsoever. It tasted more like ground pork stir-​fried with a fairly generous amount of hoisin sauce.
–Taste is ok.
Curry Dynamite ($ 2.50; price includes tax)
–Curry-​ish but sweet. No spicy heat so don’t worry about that if you are not good with hot-​spicy foods.
–Taste is ok.
Buttermilk ($ 2.25; price includes tax)
–Looks like a plain bao was steamed to cook the dough, and then injected with a sweet mixture which the dough absorbed.
-«Buttermilk» here is not the sour buttermilk you can purchase from the supermarket, but literally a mixture of milk and butter that is buttery and somewhat sweet, but not excessively so.
–Waste of time. Not really enough «buttermilk», but not so stingy with it either. You do at least taste some with every bite. Could have used more, though, or even as a dip on the side.
My cultural background is Chinese AND my mom makes her own bao at home, so this was a lacklustre place *for me*. Since it’s basically as good as the homemade ones from my mom, AND I’m biased to start with by being Chinese and having easy access to it at home, I am tilting my review by +1 star.
If you don’t have access to homemade bao, it’s definitely worth a try — and the price per bao then starts to make sense (whenever you can easily make something at home, price always seems inflated).
Key differences between these flattish steamed buns and the taller, rounder, whiter ones you can get at T&T or elsewhere are in the type of dough and also in the quality of dough. It’s moister and much softer at The Bao Place, especially in comparison to the white, crumbly-​looking supermarket ones. Amount of filling per bun is also slightly more.
The store is mainly a take-​out counter although there is a very minimal amount of seating inside.
Unpretentious and friendly Chinese staff who speak a very high level of ESL. Bonus points for including tax in the price for sheer convenience.
CASH ONLY at the moment.