The Best Baos in Chinatown
If you are hungry and looking for a tasty, cheap lunch that is great on the go, Chinese buns aka baos are a great option! Baos often only set you back about a buck and they can be found in Chinese bakeries and dim sum restaurants across Chinatown. They can be served baked or steamed and here are the best Chinese buns in Chinatown, New York City.
Nom Wah Tea Parlor – 13 Doyers St
Nom Wah Tea Parlor is our favorite spot for dim sum and it is a featured spot on our Chinatown & Little Italy tour. They have an amazing roast pork bun aka cha siu bao that is worth the trip alone. It is huge and SOOO scrumptious.
Mei Li Wah Bakery – 64 Bayard St
Mei Li Wah is a no frills Chinese bakery that has been a neighborhood hot spot for decades. The main draw is their cha siu bao. They have both baked and steamed cha siu baos and both are absolutely delicious. But if you are very hungry, try the big bao aka dai bao which is basically all the baos, lap cheong (dry Chinese sausage), pork, chicken baos combined into one.
Hop Shing Restaurant – 9 Chatham Square
Nearby, there is also Hop Shing, another old school restaurant and bakery and they also have an excellent cha siu bao and dai bao.
Golden Steamer – 143A Mott St
As the name implies, Golden Steamer specializes on steamed buns. They have pork buns, red bean buns, pumpkin buns and everything in between. You can’t go wrong with any of them. They are fluffy, chewy and oh so satisfying.
Nice One Bakery – 47 Bayard St
Nice One Bakery has a wide selection of traditional Chinese buns. The bakery is often packed at all hours of the day. Our favorite has to be their pineapple bun aka bo lo bao. It actually doesn’t have any pineapple in it but instead it looks like a pineapple. The bo lo bao has a nice sweetness to it and it has nice crumble on top.
Audrey Bakery & Cafe – 12 Chatham Square
Finally, Audrey Bakery & Cafe also has a wide selection of baos in Chinatown. They have more unusual baos like a fish bao, chicken bao and green tea bao so this is the place to go if you are looking for something a little different.
