The BAO London group just keeps on giving us more and more deliciousness – this time with the new BAO Noodle Shop in Shoreditch.
The team have mastered their famous bao buns – fluffy clouds of dough filled with all manners of tasty meat, fish, and veg. And now BAO London is moving onto the noodle game, inspired by the beef noodle shops of Taiwan.
The whole space looks and feels just like one of these local haunts in Taiwan, with all the walls clad in either wood or white tiles. Low tables with stools are the order of the day too – so maybe don’t bring your parents with bad backs here.
It’s super simple design. Made for a high turnover of hungry noodle loving customers. You’ll see people slurping up massive bowls of noodles all day long here. It’s only been open about a month, but people know the Bao name generally means quality.
These guys have two signature bowls of beef noodles on the menu. Both are made with bone broth, fresh wheat noodles made in-house and Cornish beef, aged for a minimum of 40 days.
One is richer and full of braised cheek and shortrib (with some additional fermented greens for a little kick). It’s accompanied by some beef butter which just adds to the deep meaty flavours. Be sure to have one of the BAO beers while tucking into this one, otherwise it might be a bit too rich and overpowering for you. There’s a lot of tasty fat in this bad boy!
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And then there’s the lighter option. It’s made with rare poached rump cap and is decently spicy. It’s also served with a soft-boiled egg yolk on the side – which you can dip the meat into. This really cuts the spiciness and lets you blast through the whole bowl of brothy noodles with ease.
But don’t just come for BAO’s noodles. If you have the time, make a real experience out of it all. Dive into the Asian-inspired cocktails which are unique to this location. We were huge fans of the sweet potato sour. It tasted like a sweet potato pie! Heaven. And their own beers are wicked too – perfectly made for washing down all the spicy, fried, and fermented foods.
Elsewhere on the menu, they also got a few of their classic boas which you can get at all other BAO restaurants in London. But they’ve added some new boys just for Shoreditch. Try the crispy fried tripe (less scary because it’s fried), the fried cheese and jalapeno rolls with plum and coriander sauces, a smoked eel salad, a panko shrimp croquette Bao (we fell in love with this one), and an Iberico pork Bao with garlic mayo and a sweetcorn congee.
They even have a dessert bao. A fried bun filled with malt ice cream. This is a really fun way to end all the fun – but we kinda wish the ice cream had been battered and fried too. But we can be a bit greedy!
Nonetheless, this is another big win for the BAO group. Each new location comes with a similar but still unique menu. And they do not miss a beat. Bring on whatever they have in store for us next!
