Roast Pork Buns

[tonkichi]

I like the "po-lo" /pineapple char-siew buns if I can get it. It is char-siew filling in a mildly sweet bun, and this bun "wears" a crispy eggy cap. Like "po-lo" buns, usually the filling is custard or "nai-yao"; imagine the char-siew substituting for custard.

there is no pineapple in this bun, the crunchy cap has a lattice pattern like a pineapple.

Edited April 7, 2003 by tonkichi (log)

[roryrabbitfield]

I will try the Golden Unicorn. Thanks! Any other notable roast pork buns in NYC? I'm low on suggestions for Flushing, Queens. Also Sunset Park, Brooklyn's Chinatown.

what is the roast pork bun called in chinese (the eggy one)? What is the other type of bun with meat called, and what is the difference?

[herbacidal]

I will try the Golden Unicorn. Thanks! Any other notable roast pork buns in NYC? I'm low on suggestions for Flushing, Queens. Also Sunset Park, Brooklyn's Chinatown.

what is the roast pork bun called in chinese (the eggy one)? What is the other type of bun with meat called, and what is the difference?

didn't know there was a pineapple-roast pork bun. will have to look into that.

in cantonese:

roast pork would be cha siew

pineapple would be ball laaw (seems to be phonetically better, IMO)

bun would be bao

so it would probably be said more as roast pork pineapple bun.

roast pork pineapple bun would be cha siew ball laaw bao.

don't know what else you were asking. please clarify, but i'll attempt to give some info.

the basic roast pork bun comes two ways, steamed or baked.

the baked is the yellow one, steamed is the one available at dimsum.

both are available at some bakeries, some may just have baked.

the baked one would be gook cha siew bao.

the steamed one would be jing cha siew bao.

[roryrabbitfield]

Thank you very much, herbacidal, for the chinese lesson. I was looking for the names for the baked and steamed roast pork bun. Now I get it. Many thanks.

Anyone with places to recommend in Flushing, Queens or anywhere in NYC? Especially interested in baked roast pork buns.

[eatingwitheddie]

Especially interested in baked roast pork buns.

This morning at 8 AM I had a too-hot-to-handle very good baked bun at 146 Hester (SE corner at Elizabeth). Noticed many customers also buy wintermelon cakes at that hour. Locally very popular (for a long time).

In Flushing try Fay Da Bakery, 3 blocks south of Roosevelt on the west side of Main St. Haven't had them myself, but they have recently expanded and I have heard very good things from my Chinese friends.

[roryrabbitfield]

Thanks for the info. I'll check those out!

[DavidJS]

I wish someone would make veggie roast pork buns. Say, substituting pork with boca burgers.

[torakris]

I wish someone would make veggie roast pork buns.  Say, substituting pork with boca burgers.

then it wouldn't be a roast pork bun..................?

[DavidJS]

Well, boca burger was just one substitute since I'm not a big fan of the 'other' white meat. Maybe tempeh flavored with the marinade and roast it.

[Shiewie]

I wish someone would make veggie roast pork buns.  Say, substituting pork with boca burgers.

Your wish has come true!

There are vegetarian Chinese roast pork buns - the meat filling is made from some sort of soya product. Chinese vegetarians have substitutes for eveything! They actually taste quite good and are amazingly similar to the real thing.

[Bux]

The idea of a roast pork bun with imitation meat has no appeal to me, but vegetable buns are good. I don't think I've ever run across a baked all vegetable bun, but I'm sure I've had steamed buns with all vegetable fillings.

My favorite baked roast pork buns in Manhattan are at Grand Manna on the south side of Grand Street between Mott and Elizabeth.

[Elissa]

yesterday i woke up dreaming of (steamed) pork buns and not long thereafter found this thread . eGullet rocks

however yesterday's brief tour of both 146 hester (eddie's rec) and manna (as per bux) prooved disappointing. both were baked bao. took a bite of the first, from 146, and tossed it: not much filling, not terribly fresh. found the bun itself without any charm, and in that way quite unlike the woman who sold it to me, who was super nice. the second, at manna, had a good deal more roast pork filling, but was rather too too sweet for my tender palate. after two bites of that, it too flew into the bin.

do you suppose the best steamed ones still to be found at the golden unicorn? is mei wah lei on baxter?

Edited May 10, 2003 by lissome (log)

[Bux]

Not fair comparing steamed and baked buns. They are different and if you prefer steamed buns, a baked bun will be disappointing. I ilke both. What's really unfortunate was Mayor Giuliani's attention to the "quality of life" in NYC. It was under his adminsitration that the carts selling wonderful steamed pork and cabbage buns were eliminated from the cityscape. The buns were sold directly from a flat bottomed wok and had a crust on the bottom. The rest of the dough was steamed. Two of these were less expensive than a half slice of pizza and a much better lunch on the run. It's taken me years to withdraw from the craving and I'm not sure I wouldn't overdose if I ran across a cart today.

Once in response to an earlier lamentation of those steamed bun carts, Eddie posted [on the thread you should have found ]:

I've never had steamed buns to equal the pork and cabbage filled buns that were grilled crisp on their bottom on a flat bottomed pan (wok?) and sold on Canal Street

Pai tsai ro bao - Large fried meat and vegetable (celery cabbage) buns - a Shanghai thing - have been sold at a storefront on Catherine St. for many years. A few years ago the shop, called Li Chugn, moved to a new Catherine St location (just off Chatham Sq.). This all female staffed business is the NYC precursor to the whole generation of 5-for-a-dollar fried dumpling shops (and to your Canal St vendor) that have sprouted up over the last 2 years. They have an excellent product when freshly cooked. Check it out.

Eddie bought me one once. It didn't have the crusty bottom I like and truth to tell, I was already stuffed from lunch to fully appreciate it or the scallion pancake, but they were good enough to call me back to the shop. The next time I was there they didn't have any around, no one spoke English and I bought some other dough things that were less good, but interesting. It's a hit and miss thing, but worth the trouble. Unfortunately they don't even have a counter at which to eat anything and it's a few blocks to the nearest park. By the time I reach the park, anything I've bought is gone.

[Elissa]

Oh, Mei Lai Wah is the coffeeshop next to New Green Bo on Bayard. Could it still be the case that

I walked in, inhaled the familiar deep Chinese coffeeshop smell and suddenly it was the early seventies and I was a little kid sitting at the counter with my granddad and my older brother. We’d go catch a double-feature, probably a Sinbad-the-Sailor flick or maybe it was some bloody kung-fu, but whatever it was it was likely to be on 42nd St, back when noone would bring little kids to Times Square. Except for my granddad of course. Back then he was the coolest guy on the face of the planet and Mei Lai Wah was where he hung out. So regardless of what we did or where we did it, we always wound up there, him shooting the **** with his army buddies and us pretending not to listen. They all learned to speak English in the U.S. Army, so it was all extremely colorful to my young ears. Come to think of it, it’s still colorful decades later.

 

Anyway, the thing about Mei Lai Wah is that they’ve been serving up the best cha siu bao (roast pork buns) in Chinatown for decades. No one else even comes close. Rich, sweet and fresh, the baked ones have always been my favorite but my brother has always preferred the steamed ones. For my granddad it was the dai bao, the “big bun” packed to the gills with everything: pork, chicken, lop cheung (Chinese sausage), all that and more. So that’s what I had for lunch. Cost a buck-ten for the dai bao and I think sixty cents for the cha siu bao. Plus a cup of coffee. My granddad and all of his old WWII vet cronies are no longer with us, and much of the clientele doesn’t even speak the old village dialect anymore, but it still felt like something of a homecoming. Exactly what I needed.

as 'dennison' wrote on chowhound 2001?

I'll look for that, and Li Chugn, at Catherine St off Chatham Sq, and their Pai Tsai Ro bao, as per Mr. Ed. Thanks Bux. Visitors coming, you understand: fellow tourists from far away lands.

Edited May 11, 2003 by lissome (log)

[Elissa]

Bux: have you been to the new Li Chugn? Is it directly on the SE corner of Chatham Sq. with no English signs a'tall?

Edited May 11, 2003 by lissome (log)

[Elissa]

Popped into Mei Lai Wah and can happily report that its inimitable charm and authenticity seem resolutely in tact. Would not have been too terribly suprised if Bruce Lee himself slunk right up next to me at the bar, where I plan to spend a good deal of my bright future. Uncle Lee plated me up a big steamed bao (not the roast pork, but the big one our friend's grandad liked [see above quote]) with all the fixins, those being a cup of coffee and Trapper's hot sauce. Inside: pork sausage, pork ankles (?) and some chicken (?) or at least several meaty looking products. Not too much, not too little, and not too sweet either: actually precious little flavor a'tall. Did fall straight away for Uncle Lee tho, and he for me. Good thing I saved the roast pork bao for a second trip.

However the only dumplings I'd recommend, of those I've had in Chinatown over the course of my so-far week-long residence, are from the place Buxoms suggested first: Shanghai Village. Their soup ones (pork) are good, but their steamed veggie cousins are unbelievably subtle and divine. S'pose that's a bit off topic here, alas,

Have not yet found Li Chung though I spy Chatham Square out the window.

[anil]

Have not yet found Li Chung though I spy Chatham Square out the window.

You are not in one of those modern high rises are ya ? I'm a bit disoriented

[Elissa]

nope. loft building maybe 5 or six stories high. or is that too much information?

[Bux]

Bux: have you been to the new Li Chugn? Is it directly on the SE corner of Chatham Sq. with no English signs a'tall?

I think it's got an awning with the name on it in latin characters. I don't think it was on the corner and I think it was off East Broadway away from Chatham Square. We'll have to look for it. I've been there only twice.

[Bux]

The inauspicious Mei Lai Wah, is probably not a place I'd have bothered to try without a recommendation. It's a wonderful anachronism among all the neon and glitz of the current bubble tea houses. Just being there instills a nostalgia for a time and place I never knew. Enough so that I kept one eye on the door to allay any fears I had entered the twilight zone. I had a big steamed bun--or is that a steamed "big bun?"--along with a baked char shui bao. I did not order coffee and really dislike coffee as a drink with food. I don't even like coffee with breakfast. Coffee as breakfast is fine, but anything more than a bun or croissant and hold my coffee. I especially dislike coffee with my dessert. I also wasn't offered the hot sauce. I must have looked like a tourist. I enjoyed the big bun with it's mixed stuffing, but it is a little bland and there's a lot of steamed bread. Those pork and cabbage buns I used to get on Canal Street had thin walls of dough and a crusty bottom as well as a very moist stuffing from all the cabbage. Speaking of crust, the baked buns had a nice crust and were not squishy like most baked bao. They were also far less sweet than the average bao. Manna on Grand Street has more filling but I'm not sure which I prefer.

Rather than try the steamed char shu bao, I walked over to the dumpling place on Mulberry across from the park where I had the most disappointing reheated leathery dumplings ever.

[feni]

Does anybody know of a roast pork bun that has ENOUGH filling?

They ALWAYS seem to have too little don't they?

Eddie - that's why I love the buns at Mei Lei Wah. Perfect ratio.

What is the exact address for Mei Lei Wah? I tried asking my friends, they just said that it's somewhere in Bayard St. Any help is greatly appreciated. thanks!

[Pan]

What is the exact address for Mei Lei Wah?

That's a misspelling. Courtesy of www.superpages.com (which you should bookmark, if you haven't already done so):

MEI LAI Wah Coffee House

64 Bayard Street, New York, NY 10013

(212) 925-5435

[schaem]

Have not yet found Li Chung though I spy Chatham Square out the window.

It's on Catherine Street, just south of East Broadway. Their pork/cabbbage buns are good when they have them fresh, but the real stars are the turnover looking things containing garlic chives, eggs and noodle bits. The scallion pancakes seem popular, as well.

[Anonymouze]

char siu bao - I think is what I'm looking for in/near Bergen County NJ. I love hot "roasted pork buns" and I hate having to go to the "chinese market" in edison for it. I hear that there may be some in the market in river edge but I have not been there yet. Has anyone found any good places to either order it (like take out/delivery) or to buy it like in a supermarket (or chinese bakery?) Thank you all in advance for your help, I used to go to a great Bakery on Mott St but when I drove through this summer I didn't see the bakery around. Maybe I missed it? It was near the church for many years I think it was called Lung Fong Bakery or something like that... Thanks again.

[hzrt8w]

Anonymouze: It sounds like your question is very specific to the New Jersey region. I would advise you to post the question in the New Jersey forum. They may know the answer or give you some suggestions:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showforum=5