Taiwanese pork buns -- gua bao

I'm hoping to find a line on good gua bao -- the Taiwanese pork buns that consist, in my minimal experience anyway, of braised porked belly, pickled mustard greens, crushed peanuts, and cilantro, served in a sliced bun.

A search turned up MaPo in Naperville, but that's a little far away for my non-car-having city-bound self.

There's a mention on another thread of Sun Wah possibly serving them, but I couldn't tell based on the context if these were the actual Taiwanese pork buns or just the bread/bun itself.

Can anybody help me out?

Thanks!

If you can, invent a time machine and go back three years to the strange world of 2007: there you'll find KS Seafood, which served a gua bao that p-owned Momofuku's over-praised version.

Wait, you can't time travel?

All right then, a time machine for gua bao in the city, and a trip to South Bend for Cambodian. It'll be a busy week.

The gua bao at Sun Wah are served with their stellar Beijing Duck and imho are a much better choice than the thin pancakes usually served.

Taiwanese pork bao, I've not yet encountered in Chicago, but I've had them at Baohaus in NYC and they're very good there. Traditional peanuts, cilantro, red sugar and a "Haus Relish". Forget South Bend, go to Loisada NYC, stop at Russ and Daughters, Katz's, WD-50 and Baohaus. Just not on the same day...

No shortage of non-Chicago recs it seems! Those are most welcome though for future out of town trips, so thank you.

A duck-filled bao from Sun Wah is surely worth having, thanks for the tip.

There are bakeries in Chinatown that serve meat filled buns. since I'm not an expert, I don't know if they would fit your requirements but they are interesting to a Westerner because you don't expect a savory filling!-Dick

Thanks for the tip. I've had, and enjoyed, other meat-filled bao in Chicagoland. But I'm looking for a Taiwanese pork belly (split)bun in particular. I suppose I'll just have to start systematically exploring all the options . . .

You might try Mei Shung in Edgewater--it is a Taiwanese restaurant. We like their food, especially the Taiwanese specials we have tried. Their menu lists "Dan Po Pork + Bun" under Specialties, described as "Delicious soft pork with pickles, mustard greens, cilantro, and ground peanut in a bun." That sounds close to what you are looking for, doesn't it?

For some (but not all) board discussion of Mei Shung, see here and here.

Let us know what you think if you try them, please.

Mei Shung
5511 N. Broadway
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 728-5778
http://www.meishungtogo.com/

Thanks so much EvA! That sounds like a winner to me. I'll check it out and report back.

You can come over and I can make it for you. Or you can make it yourself with this recipe. You can find the frozen gwa pao bun at Hong Kong Market.

Is that offer good for anybody?

I made it to Mei Shung to try their version of gua bao (or what they call “dan po pork + bun” on their online menu, as EvA pointed out upthread) and wanted to report back.

I was there with a small group for Saturday lunch. They brought out both the lunch and dinner menus. Oddly, I could not find the dan po pork mentioned anywhere on either menu, at least in the English language sections. The dinner menu had a Chinese language section, so perhaps it’s mentioned there. It’s also certainly possible I just overlooked it. At any rate, when I spoke to a waitress she said they offered it and it would be no problem to have at lunch. So just a heads up if you go there and don’t see it on the in-house menus: you can still order it. Just ask for the gua bao or dan po pork and they’ll know what you mean. Or, if you see it listed on the menu, take comfort in knowing you are not as senile as I am.

One order of their dan po pork + bun costs about 17 bucks. It’s served as a big platter of braised pork belly chunks with some sautéed bok choy surrounding them; a separate bowl of chopped peanuts; a separate bowl of cilantro; a separate bowl of a pickled chopped-up mix of some kind of green, a small amount of onion, red pepper, and some other stuff (sorry, I’m forgetting the details here); and a plate with six of the gua bao buns. You then assemble the bao yourself, as you see fit (the bok choy is intended to be eaten as a side, not as part of the bun’s fillings).

I thought they were great. The pickled mix was a bit different than the more straightforward pickled mustard greens I’d had in gua bao elsewhere. But I have limited gua bao experience, and am far from a connoisseur on such matters. The pickled mix was certainly quite tasty though. I just can’t speak to whether it’s a Mei Shung twist on things or a common variant.

At any rate, they were damn good.

There was actually enough filling ingredients to make probably 7 or 8 bao, unless you overstuff the 6 bao. So I thought the cost was very reasonable all things considered.

I’d love to be able to find a place that serves gua bao by the individual bao, since I doubt I’d ever feel like eating the entire Mei Shung platter myself and can’t always count on having other people with whom to split it. But Mei Shung’s gua bao is a wonderful option to have available, and everyone in the group agreed it would be worth a return visit just for that dish. Thank you so much EvA for the heads up.

I can’t find a dedicated Mei Shung thread elsewhere, so I’ll add a few other thoughts on our lunch here as well.

Someone in another thread noted that Mei Shung offers their lunch specials on weekends, not just weekdays. We took advantage and had several for the table, to supplement the shared order of gua bao. For the 6 or so dollars each lunch special cost, we were all pretty happy. Choice of a solid egg drop or hot ‘n sour soup, a solid egg roll, and then choice of a bunch of standard Ameri-Chinese entrees. As a group we shared garlic broccoli, which had a really nice kick to it, beef lo mein which was pleasantly not too greasy, and a chicken with green beans that had some surprisingly tender chicken and green beans with an actual textural bite to them. This was not world-class food, but I thought they did everything quite well, certainly a few cuts above the average Ameri-Chinese restaurant. A light hand with the grease, nothing suffering from the over gloopiness of a lot of other spots. All in all I thought it was an extremely good value lunch special. Service was friendly and efficient, and it’s BYO to boot.

Mei Shung will definitely be getting more business from me. And while I’ll continue hunting for other gua bao sources served in more individual diner appropriate portions, I would happily eat Mei Shung’s version again.

Thanks again EvA for the tip.

AnotherMike wrote:Thanks again EvA for the tip.

You are very welcome, AnotherMike! I'm glad you enjoyed your meal at Mei Shung, and now I need to put together a group to try the dan po pork+bun, aka gua bao, myself.