Yum Bun

I had the most delicious buns today in a bento box that came with amazing fresh salad (including KALE — my fave!!!) and miso soup. It’s all super fresh and all of their meat is free range.
I’m sad they are leaving Old Street because it’s a real gem. Soho will be lucky to have them.

I tried one of their buns at the Frieze Art Show and I have to say, I was quite disappointed. I even coaxed my boyfriend to stand outside in the cold to wait in the long line, because a few friends have recommended trying this place that originated from a London market stall.
But when the bun came in sight, all I saw was the white bread because the pork-​belly portion was so tiny. Miniature, actually. This completely halted my growing hunger and expectation, what a waste of 4 pounds!
Don’t get me wrong… it was yummy, but for the price I expected a lot more meat and sauce. Just a lot more of stuff. Maybe because I’ve tried the original Momofuku buns in NYC that my expectations were so high, but we’re in London… you can do better Yum Bun!

Loved it.
A simple idea and just a few variants that have been carefully thought through and optimised to perfection.
The crispy chicken bun was excellent as was the mushroom. What works with these is the combination of textures and flavours and the special toppings and sauces that just work perfectly together.
I had the bento box which comes with two buns, a small salad, some veg gyozas and a mini miso soup (this was the only blah component for me).
You can eat in the Rotary Bar next door as long as you buy a drink there. That works for me!

I love the simplicity of the name — Yum Bun as it’s exactly what it is. I don’t get to go up to Old St very often but I was going to a show at the Barbican and thought it would be a good opportunity to take a detour. I’m so glad I did! They’re only open in the evenings I think from Thur-​Sat.
I had the bento box with pork and fish bun. Both were really good but I have to admit I really liked the fish one more. I love the mix of sauces and attention to detail each bun gets. Now, I feel like I need to go back and try the mushroom and chicken one. I think either way, you just can’t go wrong with what you get here.
What made it even nicer is the super cheery and perky service. Sometimes when you rock up to a fast food like place you’d expect a few grunts and hardly any eye contact (well at least in chinatown anyway) but overall you won’t be disappointed.

Man, what are in these buns?! Magic.
My first experience was mysterious. I sent my husband to pick up some buns for a Friday dinner, and he came back with an assortment of wonderful things. The best being the chicken bun. The miss being HE GOT NO MUSHROOM! He hates mushrooms, so he failed to even let one sneak into the box.
I vowed to return. Especially after seeing a photo of the bento box — come to me!
Friday lunch with a colleague — we met at Yum Bun (very small que, yay!) and decided upon the beloved bento box. For just 8 quid one scores 2 buns (any kind) + 2 chicken gyoza + miso soup (or iced tea, should you prefer) + a very yummy radish/​cabbage salad that is perfectly dressed. All packaged nicely in a little box for the taking. We quickly moved away from the hustle and bustle of Old Street/​City Road to St. Luke’s Park and enjoyed our bento boxes in the sunshine (ok, and the wind — noted!).
Ranking in order:
Chicken (it’s like a fried chicken sandwich!)
Mushroom (surprisingly amazing for being veggie!)
Pork Belly (something about this is a bit boring, but its pork belly. soooo!)
I have not tried the fish (on special usually) or any of the others. However my next bento box will have chicken and mushroom buns, for sure.
*cards accepted.
*que moves quickly.
*takeaway only (very very limited seating).
*great for a picnic!

Prices seem to have gone up since every other review. It’s now £3.5 for one bun, £6.5 for 2 or £8 for the lunch set which comes with 2 buns, 2 vegetable gyozas, and either soup or ice tea.
The buns themselves are really nice. Similar to the sort of buns they use at places like ippudo/​momofuku. Really soft and nice to eat even with just sauce. Filling wise I opted for one mushroom and one pork belly. Loved the mushroom, but didn’t think the pork belly was that great somehow. The sauce was a bit weird and the meat itself just wasn’t that great.
Edit: Went back today and had the chicken bun. This was amazing as well! As Colleen C notes, it’s like a fried chicken sandwich. Similar to BaoHaus (nyc).
The gyozas were pretty standard. The ice tea is homemade and pretty good. I started the meal hungry and still felt a tiny bit peckish after. Would have loved if the lunch box was a bit bigger (4 gyozas sort of thing).
Went just before noon and it was pretty empty. Was in an out in a few mins. Definitely worth a try. Despite pork belly somehow being the quintessential bun, if you’re there for the first time, do yourself a favour and give it a miss. Chicken and mushroom are where it’s at.

«When I say Yum, you say Bun!»
«Yum!» «Bun!» «Yum!» «Bun!»
That’s what my taste buds were thinking when I was eating these delicious buns. I stopped by here to get a couple of buns as a starter for my evening of Unilocaliness, mostly because I’d been wanting to try these buns for ages (and at lunch, when I’ve been in the area, I’ve seen the queue, and didn’t want to wait).
So, until now, I’ve only ever eaten Chinese buns at dim sum. BBQ pork buns? Yes please. So I’ve never actually seen buns like these. The buns were steamed separately and filled, like a corn tortilla with tacos, but thick and bun-​ny! If you’re familiar with taco bell, maybe more like a gordita than a taco, so I kept thinking, «I’m eating Asian Tacos!» but I didn’t care.
I got two buns. They’re cheaper that way. It’s £3.50 for one but only £6 for two, and if you want the whole bento box (with two buns, salad, gyoza and miso soup or ice tea) it’s only £7.50 so it’s quite a bargain. Since I was eating later, I just went with the buns. There was only a limited choice though: pork, mushroom, chicken or the fish daily special. The website had many more options which may not be available anymore or only for street food. Or maybe they just rotate them in. Whatever, they had the ones I wanted so I was happy.
So the buns themselves are soft and squishy and delicious. I had one bun with pork and one bun with mushroom (thanks to the reviews). The pork bun was tasty, with pork belly that fell apart and hoisin sauce. Kind of like a chinese pancake but with pork and buns. The star was the mushroom bun. The umami flavors were prominent and the dankness of the mushroom went so well with the nuts and the bun, I was in heaven.
That’s a good way to describe these buns: heavenly. Totally worth the trek to Old Street if you’re curious to try them. Or hunt them down with the street food. Go get these buns.
(I realized that halfway through this review that I had never typed buns so many times. I also realized that there are many meanings to the word buns, and I couldn’t stop sniggering to myself every time I typed buns. I also just realized that I may have the maturity level of a twelve-​year old.)

Yum bun is an amazing deal for a lunch take-​away spot! Two decent sized buns, a side salad, fried gyoza, and a drink (or soup) for 7 pounds!
I stayed at a nearby hotel for a week and looked on Unilocal for a good cheap eatery that is also delicious. Within a span of that week, I went to this place twice! I would’ve come more but I couldn’t seem to find the place for a few days. But I did end up finding it and was very happy.
When I lived in NYC, I used to frequent Baohaus at least once a week for their yummy buns. But the biggest problem was that their buns are small and at $ 4 a bun with no additional sides, you’d have to order 3 – 4 buns. Yum Bun’s buns are twice the size and just as flavorful. I’ve tried the Pork Belly, Cod (special), and Chicken buns. My favorite is definitely the Chicken. Fluffy buns, ample meat, delicious sides, plus homemade mint flavored iced tea = lunch perfection.
I’ve also introduced a friend of mine to this place and I have a feeling she will be visiting this place a few times.

Yum Bun is my newest addiction… I went out of my way to get my hands on these buns two days in a row.
What I’ve tried:
–Pork Belly
–Salmon
–Mushroom
–Chicken
Fluffy buns, juicy meat, and tasty sauces. What’s there not to love? The mushroom and chicken are my favorites. Pork belly is probably my least favorite… there is just way too much fat for my liking. As long as there isn’t a queue, the buns come out pretty quickly and it’s better to eat them sooner rather than later. They taste better hot & fresh!

Oh Yum Bun, how I love thee… let me count the ways. My friend and I were avid followers of Yum Bun on her Sunday Broadway Market days and were thrilled when she opened up a bricks and mortar. Right by my apartment, no less.
It’s a day time bizness most days, so I managed to squeak in at 11.30 (ahem after having breakfast someplace else) and grabbed a couple of pork buns. They have mushroom, and other varieties as well, but if you haven’t had the pork, you haven’t lived. I perched on the one stool they have, and waited for a freshly cooked bun. Ran outside in the rain and devoured it. OH MY GOD. I will warn you though… once you’ve bunned, there’s no going back.

Yum bun is good. Their buns are far from the traditional braised pork belly – grilled instead so that the fatty bits are crispy on the outside but juicy on the inside. Not what I was expecting when I first tried it, but different in a good way. I guess it’s quite similar to Baohaus in New York.
The pork and mushroom buns seem to be the most popular – which were the two I tried back when they were just a stall on eat street in kings cross. I love their new salmon bun. There’s tons of salmon in there and you can really taste the sweetness of the ginger minus the sharpness. I have yet to try the fried chicken bun but this is my favourite so far!
They used to charge £3/​bun and £5 for two, so the £1 price increase isn’t too much considering the overheads that come with having a shop. The bento box is really worth it! For £7.50 you get two buns, two gyozas, miso soup and a side salad (it looks like plain old red cabbage but it’s pretty tasty!!) There isn’t seating at Yum Bun itself but you can sit at Rotary Bar and Grill next door – their desserts are good.

Fluffy buns with tender roasted pork belly was a great way to end the evening. Even though we were walking home from our dinner at Pham Sushi, I had to try some buns! The shop is tiny and has a couple bar stools but you can easily inhale these in a couple bites. Not the best pork bun but still pretty good!

Yum Bun was one of my first street food discoveries in London and has continued to remain dear to my heart with their soft fluffy buns, sharp crisp flavours, creative combinations, and brilliant smiling people who really appear to love what they do. I was disappointed when they didn’t make an appearance at FEAST at the Tobacco Docks (despite the website for weeks saying they would!) but I understood when I heard they were opening up a more permanent location.
Located next to (and in a way inside) the Rotary Bar and Diner just south of Old Street Station, Yum Bun takes up a space barely larger than their previous stall. The difference is that they have a larger grill and steaming area as well as a fridge and freezer. What does this mean to you? Well, twice as many choices for buns and also a dessert bun!
The two staples (the slow roasted pork belly and mushroom with walnuts) are on offer as well as two new options. First, let’s go back to the classics. The pork belly is ridiculously tender and the rich flavours match nicely with the punchy hoi sin sauce and crunchy cucumbers and spring onions. Wrapped in a pillowy bun, it’s something I can easily eat over and over again. The miso glazed Portobello mushroom with toasted walnuts is possibly the one dish that could make me turn away from meat. The meaty mushroom with the slightly sweet glaze is mouthwatering and the toasted walnuts give you that extra crunch to really made the dish stand out.
The new kids on the block are the namban breaded and fried chicken with tartar sauce bun and a «beef» bun which is really filled with braised oxtail. I quite enjoyed the fried chicken with its light spices and the contrasting textures between the soft steamed bun and crispy chicken. The tartar sauce was a perfect complement and not one I would have guessed but it’s creaminess brings all the components together. It does make for a slightly messy bun, but surely that’s a small price to pay for an excellent eating experience?
I had great hopes for the beef bun as oxtail is one of my favourite off cuts. The oxtail itself was cooked well and they give you a hefty portion in each bun, but I found it missing something. Perhaps a bit of spice and some extra acidity to cut through the rich fatty taste would have helped really bring out the meaty flavours. It’s a new one, and I’m sure they will tweak it a bit more so I’ll be back to try in a little while.
Finally, the dessert bun which isn’t really a bun at all and created in conjunction with Sorbitum. Think ice cream sandwich with a scoop of Sorbitum’s ever so fresh tasting strawberry sorbet being flanked by airy coconut meringue (I assume in house unless the Meringue Girls have been giving some pointers). It is ridiculously addictive with the nutty coconut meringue with shredded coconut providing an exceptional base for the bold bursting flavours of the sorbet.
Well that’s me done, and yes I did in fact order the entire menu in one go. It was just about perfect for dinner and something I think I’ll aim to replicate in a month. Don’t worry, I’ll keep you posted and perhaps see some of your around for Round 2!

I swear I’ve reviewed this before… but never mind. Who knows with these popups.
This review will be short, but poignant. The vegetarian walnut miso portobello yum bun is perhaps one of the tastiest vegetarian things I’ve ever had. Rarely do you go somewhere, try one vegetarian option and one pork option, then unanimously decide the vegetarian one is the better option.
GET THE MISO MUSHROOM ONE. Even meat-​atarians will approve. Hell, get two.

So these bao are pretty dank…
While I rarely find the time to seek out and eat street food during the week, this can all be remedied with a saturday visit to Broadway Market.
The Yum Bun girls are always unbelievably nice and while I’ve only tried to pork belly I’m sure the others are equally delicious. My only complaint is that I always want more.
Ps. These are fighting words but they might even be better than The Chairman
(one of my favorite San Francisco food trucks)