Belly Bao | Newtown | $50 for two people
- thenoobiefoodies
- Jul 11, 2019
- 3 min read
Ratings are for taste | texture | aesthetic
Atmosphere
šš»āāļøUsually I donāt like to talk badly about restaurants, but I feel like I definitely want to say something about this one. We were the first customers at the restaurant, and received wonderful service for the first couple of minutes after we got there. To our surprise though, the more waitresses arrived, the worse the service became. Iām not sure if it was just that they couldnāt see, but asking for a refill of our table water took us 10 minutes. It seemed a little unreasonable that three members of staff catering to around 5 tables could take that long to see us try to grab their attention. To be honest was a bit of a downer to the total experience
Slow Braised Pork Belly Bao $7.50
šš»āāļø6.5 | 7 | 7 | Iām not a big fan of pork, and I honestly had no idea why I suggested getting this. The pork itself wasnāt bad, but had a very strong taste, and the bun was a little soggy by the end, but once again, we do eat slow. I definitely liked the Ippudo Pork Bao better
šš»āāļø7 | 7 | 7 | I think pork belly combined with a bao sandwich is a classic combo that is the go-to for any bao enthusiast. Generally, I would have liked if the pork belly was slightly more tender as combined with a soft bao only means more tasty goodness.
Panko Crumbed Chicken Bao $7.50
šš»āāļø7.5 | 7.5 | 7 | The panko crumbed chicken was nothing special either, but it was definitely something that I could have made at home. I liked this one the best out of all the baos because it had a nice spicy sauce that cut through all the fried food, and a nice dash of radish too (even though usually I donāt like radish).
šš»āāļø7.5 | 7 | 7 | I usually donāt really like eating chicken baos because I feel like they donāt really go together that well. This bao was alright with nothing really standing out but my love for baos canāt stop me from demolishing it.
Soft Shell Crab Bao $8.50
šš»āāļø7.5 | 7.5 | 7 | This bao was the first one that I tried, and I could taste a strong crab/ seafood flavour. It also definitely tasted very strongly of mayonnaise, which Iām alright with usually but it seemed that all the baos had some kind of mayonnaise which was a bit too much for me.
šš»āāļø8.5 | 8 | 7 | This bao was definitely my favorite one. In any context, ANY CONTEXT, I will devour soft shell crab without hesitation and this was no exception. The taste of soft shell crab is just unexplainable but what I love about it is the particular texture that you can only get from soft shell crab. Take it from a soft shell crab enthusiast, this is a must get.
The Baoger $13
šš»āāļø7 | 7.5 | 7.5 | The baoger was nice, nothing mindblowing but a nice change to traditional burgers. The addition of the bao instead of the traditional buttery bun that western style restaurants go to was a nice touch, and made the entire burger taste much healthier than usual. However, the meat patty, and the other fillings were quite standard, and itās definitely a dish that I would just try once.
šš»āāļø7.5 | 8 | 7.5 | Anything that substitutes any part of an original āclassicā burger always gets extra points in my books. The combination of the soft bao bun with a classic cheeseburger is definitely an intriguing combo. At first whatās most appealing is the white bun itself which is quite unique. The texture is awesome when combined with a burger patty, as any drippings are just absorbed by the bun.
Four BBC Wings $14
šš»āāļø6.5 | 7 | 7 | Iām not sure if itās because Iām not a big fan of fried chicken anymore, but this one tasted much too greasy for my liking. I also didnāt think we got our values worth - paying $14 for small chicken wings with a lot of oil around the outside is not something that I would want to try again.
šš»āāļø7 | 7.5 | 7 | Quite stock standard in terms of the fried chicken game. Breaking into the chicken wing itself, there definitely was some juice but not enough to counter the fried coating. What I did like was that at every table they provided a bottle of sriracha sauce. I LOVE sauce so Iām definitely using as much as I can and it went quite well with the hot sauce, adding a nice bite and tanginess.
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