Me and some friends came here for dinner one night on a recommendation from others. The wait was about 45 minutes so we went to the bar next door to have some wine while we waited. I would definitely make a reservation ahead of time if you can. The way the place is set up is very unique, we ended up sitting at a bar. We ordered a lot of different things including the mushrooms, the broth, the chicken dishes, and some different bao's. The best dish was the chicken nugget type of dish with the green sauce. We dipped everything else in that sauce. The mushrooms where okay, I would probably go for something else next time. The broth was amazing, and I would definitely try at least two bao while there. We got a large variety as you can see on our order slip and all of it was good.

Consistently awesome. Friendly & attentive staff, deliciousness AF, and amazing homemade tea. Nothing else to say. OK, so Yelp wants a bit more. Here goes: awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome Just go. Often.

The food was amazing and quick. The service was really quick and the people were very helpful and nice. The only thing stopping me from 5 stars is it felt a bit crowded in the space and people seemed a bit smushed. Would return again!!!

I love baos, and this was a fantastic place to try some unique ones. I got the Black Cod Bao (which I saw highly recommended from youtube), and the cod was so incredibly soft and tender. It was blackened on the outside in a sesame like bun, which also added to the aesthetic. In the past, I only had traditional pork baos, but this came with a burger-like sauce that really mixed in well. Every bite was juicy, tender, and full of umami. My friend got the beef shortib, which was actually quite small, but a good bao. I kind of wish the baos were bigger for the price, but overall, this was a really unique and great environment (you sit around the kitchen/waiters like in a japanese ramen bar).For appetizers, we got the beef cheek nugget in chili sauce, which was really great, but not too special so I'd pick something else next time. Finally, the drinks were also decent (we both got a cocktail!) and refreshing.

This place rules!!! Definitely book a reservation as this restaurant is tiny and fills up fast. I've never had a bad thing here and I do recommend going with a friend and sharing. It's always fun to try a bit of this and that. My favorite options are the baos that incorporate peanuts . It's a fast dining experience, not the place to sit and catch up with someone for long periods of time. There will be people waiting for your table and it's best to get a move on upon finishing!

The first thing anyone will say to you about Bao will be about the queue, which is a real shame because that is not what dining should be about and Londoners seriously should stop putting up with it. A note your number and message you system (as at Hopper's could work well and wouldn't piss of your clientele). Instead we got to watch on as staff oddly did not seat anyone for ages despite many people leaving. This branch did however have a shorter queue than the Soho one and after about 9pm (on Sat night) didn't have one at all. On to the fun stuff - the food is really yummy and reasonably price. My favourite was the cod black bao (I went back for a second) and we liked the classic bao too. The pork belly one was nice but could do with something to left it a bit - something herby, limey etc. The rice bowl with bone marrow was interesting - had a rich smooth flavour from the marrow and the shortrib was nice although wasn't what I was expecting from my experience of shortrib from Korean BBQ - this was more like a beef cheek. Staff were nice and generally things moved pretty promptly once we were in there, although they forgot one of our orders and it was hard to order a second drink (get the plum sake, it's delicious). Overall don't get too excited about it but you will experience some tasty, somewhat unusual and reasonably priced food here.

Saw two chairs at the bar empty so my boyfriend and I quickly jumped inside and grabbed them - this place is usually packed so we saw an opportunity and immediately took action. We ordered two bao's: the classic and beef short rib. Both were absolutely delicious! The classic is braised pork with crushed peanuts - can it get any better?! And the short rib, my favorite, was so juicy and tender, I had to stop myself from ordering another one. The class was £5 and the short rib was £5.75 + they add gratuity so it's a bit on the pricey side but still very delicious. The staff was also incredibly helpful and nice! Would definitely recommend stopping here for a bite whilst visiting good ol' London Town.

This Bao place was only decent at best! The portions are very small for the 5 pound price tag per Bao. But that's not the worst part..... their meat is not fresh!! It's like the ramen pork they cook in the morning and serve all day sitting their until someone orders then they just add some sauce. The bone marrow rice was also very disappointing it's 90% rice 1 egg a few pickles and a little bit of bone marrow.

This highly anticipated second Bao is now open for business! Phew, we are no longer confined to queuing up exclusively at Bao in Soho. This Bao (just a 5min walk away from Goodge St station) has more seating than the other branch and a slightly different menu. The old favourites such as 'classic bao', 'confit bao', 'lamb bao' and 'daikon bao' are still available but the starters, rice bowls and sides are all different. Most sorely missed by me and my friends was the 'Horlicks bao' that cannot be ordered here but was a highlight on the Soho menu; in fact there is no dessert on offer here except milkshakes that are simple but smooth and sweet.  Highlights in this new menu include 'crispy prawn heads' for those of us who enjoy a seafood snack but beware that the eyes of the prawns will be visible for those who don't like to see the eyes of their food, 'duck hearts' for those desiring something a little different - a bit like eating liver but softer and is well complemented with dressing, and the 'Sanbei octopus' is a more straightforward cooked seafood snack on offer. My favourite in this newer menu has to be the 'Cod Black bao' whereby the black cod is cooked to just the right temperature, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, sandwiched between the tasty black sesame bun and uniquely flavoured with Ng sauce and mild hot sauce. A downside to this newer Bao is that they seem to have downsized the size of their baos and their fillings. I'm not sure if this applies to the other branch as well but quite literally two bites could finish off one bao. To have a filling meal then becomes that much more expensive.   In conclusion, this branch of Bao is worth a visit (particularly for reduced queuing times), but I do prefer the menu (for food and drinks) provided at Soho. In terms of seafood and vegetarian options, the menu here may be more preferable.

5 stars for the food, 3 stars for the service. We arrived at about 1230 on a Friday and the place was packed. They seated us at the bar and said that because they were so busy it would take about 10 minutes to take our order. Sure! We didn't mind. Once we'd decided on the set lunch menu. £15 for a bao, chicken chop and a rice dish plus an extra £3 for a wine or beer we then waited about 15-20 minutes for someone to take our order. The staff just kept ignoring our requests. We also ordered the lobster bao to share. Our drinks came immediately followed very quickly by the baos. These were absolutely fantastic! We had the classic pork. We wished we just ordered a bunch of these to keep eating! Not long after the chicken chop came out - we were told to mix the egg yolk and hot sauce together and dip the chicken. Yum!!! So so so crispy and so rich and spicy! After this we probably waited another 20 minutes for our rice dish to arrive. During this time we weren't asked if we wanted any more drinks. Once the rice did arrive I asked if our lobster bao was coming. Looks like it didn't make it into the computer so she added it to our order. The rice was good but didn't stand up to the deliciousness of the bao and chicken chop to be honest! After waiting another 10 minutes (!!!) we finally got the lobster bao. It's a fried bao filled with a mayonnaise lobster mix topped with chives. Yum!!!! Definitely worth the splurge. We definitely want to come back and try the other bao. The food really is fantastic - they just need to get their service a bit more on the ball to accomodate what looks to be perpetual busyness!

BAO was our favorite stop in London, and I highly, highly recommend it to all travelers visiting the area. We made reservations to the Fritzrovia location a few weeks beforehand, and we were extremely happy we did so, because when we stopped by the Soho location, we were told that the wait was upwards of 1.5 hours. Honestly speaking, there wasn't a single thing that we didn't enjoy from the menu. Our only regret was not being able to try more. A few items that really stood out to us were: - Fried Chicken Chop with Soy Cured Egg - One of the best pieces of chicken I've ever had in my life, ridiculously moist - Cod Black Bao (Battered Cod, Lemon Mayo, Hot Sauce, NG Sauce, Sesame Bao) - Perfectly cooked cod and interesting toppings - Classic Bao (Braised Pork, Peanut Powder, Fermented Greens, Coriander) - It's classic :) - Peanut Milk + Yakult Float - Delicious and so unique! If you have a small appetite and usually dine with a partner, I recommend ordering one of each bao on the menu to share, plus 2-3 side dishes.

So strange that this location is so different from the one in Soho. The line is shorter here..........perhaps that's the reason? The house salad was a bit too tangy for my liking at this place. The Soho location had a more savory taste with lots of salted egg for their house salad. I was also pretty disappointed they didn't have the meat rice bowl here. I opted for the eggplant rice bowl, but it was only meh. The confit bao was also disappointing. The only dish I liked was the traditonal Taiwanese pork bun. I also tried the fried chicken, which was cooked perfectly - the chicken was tender and the breading was cripsy. The only thing is the sauce ruined it. All in all, for the price I'm paying, the food better be wayyyy better.

After going to BAO in Soho just the previous week, I decided to come here for dinner because I may be officially obsessed with the baos. This location is bigger than the Soho one, and it's nice because it's two levels, and you can make reservations for the downstairs area, where you can also see them cooking all the food. Even though this place is bigger, I wouldn't recommend coming with more than 4 people. 2-4 people is a good party size so that you can try a few small dishes and then get baos for everyone. The last time I went to BAO in Soho, I made the mistake of ordering about 50% small dishes and 50% baos. I learned the hard way - this time, we had a party of 4 and each of us got 4 baos, and we got 3-4 other small plates to share amongst everyone, which was definitely the way to go. BAOS - I tried 4 of them, but I had tried the confit pork one at the Soho location, so I didn't try it here. I listed them from my most favorite to least favorite. The bun is so fluffy - it's like biting into a soft pillow and it's so fresh. Each bao is expensive, but they are delicious and each bite is amazing. Classic Pork (£4.50) - This one is still one of my favorites, the pork is flavorful, not salty, and I love the peanut powder sprinkled on top. Don't miss this one. Daikon (£4) - This one is an underdog, I didn't get it the first time, but my friend raved about it. I finally got to try it and it was amazing. It's a deep fried square of turnip and it's breaded on the outside for some crunch and texture. It's crispy and soft all at the same time and then it has this spicy sauce drizzled on top. Don't get fooled by this one vegetarian bao option thinking you'd prefer all the meat ones. I will get this one and the classic pork one every time I come back. Confit Pork (£5) - This was the pork belly with fried shallots on top. I got this one at the Soho location and thought it was great. It's not pork belly with skin on it, but it's delicious nonetheless. Beef Shortrib (£5.75) - This one had a lot of stuff going on - it was in the classic white bun which I liked, but the meat almost had too much seasoning/spices going on. It was good with the egg/mayo emulsion/sauce on top, but I preferred the more simple baos. Also, this one was the most expensive of all of them, and I didn't feel like it warranted the highest price tag. Cod Black (£5) - This was interesting - it wasn't your traditional white bao bun, which is what I like best about the baos. It was a piece of cod, coated in some black thin paper-line edible wrapper. It was good and I'm glad I tried it, but the sesame bun - while fluffy), wasn't as good as the traditional baos. I'd probably pass on this one. It was a bit salty for my taste too. SIDES XO Sweetcorn with spiced beef butter (£3.50) - This comes in a tiny bowl, but it's very tasty! I'd recommend this so everyone can have a few spoonfuls. It's flavorful, not salty, and they must use a lot of butter because it's extra good. Fried Chicken Chop with Soy Cured Egg (£6.50) - I liked this better than the fried chicken nuggets at the Soho location. There's more of this spicy red sauce, and the egg yolk is runny and perfectly cooked. The chicken itself was moist and the breading wasn't overly thick and overpowering. If there's one side to get, get this one! Chi Shiang Rice Bowl with Mapo Aubergine and Pickled Cucumber (£6) - Pass on this - it was like rice with eggplant and wasn't exciting or unique to me. We all had one bite and left the rest. DESSERT We got the peanut ice cream wrapped in a paper roll with coriander. Imagine a spring roll (with edible rice paper) stuffed with peanut ice cream, peanut powder and cilantro. I'll admit the cilantro was a bit weird of a combo, but it worked. It was unique and I'm glad we tried it. We shared amongst 4 people which was a little difficult with basically an ice cream roll, but it's worth a try. I liked this better than the ice cream bun they had at the Soho location. Overall, it's a pricier meal that will run you about £30-35 per person but the baos are delicious. 4.5 stars for this location - I like that you can make reservations, the baos are excellent, and I think I prefer this menu over the Soho location because of the chicken and dessert. Just make sure to proportionally order more baos than the side dishes.