Who doesn't know that good beer goes with Chinese food? This spot's capitalizing on the idea, offering up a quint of beers from La Mula, a craft brewery located in San Andrés, just north of the city. To accompany the beer, a selection of stir-fries ("woks") and baos, the ever more popular Taiwanese street food of folded over steamed buns with creative fillings.
Now, for 100 pesos (80 for the vegetarian ones), you're supposed to get just two baos, but it appeared that the buns weren't ready yet (they seem to be baked in a steam oven, rather than just simply steamed, as they have a slightly tanned crust on them - just enough to be noticeable, but it gives them a different texture and flavor. Anyway, the chef apparently felt that I'd waited too long (it was really only about 15 minutes, but I guess for what's supposed to be a quick street food snack, that is a bit much), and brought three out - pork and sweet potato with sweet chili sauce, cucumbers, a mayonnaise made with toasted corn, and chopped Japanese peanuts. It verged on a little sweet for me, with the double whammy of sweet potato and sweet chili, but a moderately spicy hot sauce available on request fixed that right up. Delicious!
Apparently still feeling bad about the wait, as I edged towards the end of my trio of pork bao, he showed up with a chicken one to try - crispy fried chicken, chinese cabbage sauerkraut, beet and ginger mayo, and radishes. Not listed, but there's also a little quickly fried fresh corn in their. Also quite good - this one worked better with the teriyaki sauce which was also on offer.
A second visit and a try of the beef bao, with cilantro cream cheese, salsa criolla, and popped quinua. Of the three (and I haven't tried the fried eggplant ones), my least favorite.
Like the place, friendly and attentive service. Good food, good beer, and something a little different in Chinatown! read more