Urban Discoveries: Bao Bar

This article is part of the “Urban Discoveries” series, in which we seek and discover exciting and well-designed places to eat and drink around Europe, especially in Vienna. Last time, I worked with my colleague and dear friend Maximilian Martsch, a researcher who works on food history. The pictures were shot by myself. Thanks to the folks at Bao Bar for the invitation and the excellent talk.

If you are searching for new restaurants in Vienna serving delicious, foreign food besides the usual suspects, Bao Bar might just be the right place for you. Centrally located in Zollergasse, right around the corner from Vienna’s busy shopping street, Mariahilferstraße, Bao Bar offers high-quality Asian food conveniently tucked into a steamed bun.

Bao, or Gua Boa, is a Taiwanese street specialty consisting of a soft, steamed wheat bun filled with mouth-watering ingredients. Originating in the Chinese province of Fujian, Gua Bao was adopted into Taiwanese culture and ultimately became a staple of the country’s street food scene. Gua Boa had its breakthrough into Western mainstream street food culture in North America, where it is still a popular pick among urban foodies ­– naturally, there even is a short Vice documentary on it. International trends always seem to take some years before they find their way to Vienna, but with Bao Bar, you now have the right place to get your hands on this delicious treat. The owner is a young, trained cook who came up with the restaurant idea after traveling and eating his way around Southeast Asia. Since one and a half years, Boa Bar has been open for business and serves its burgers to the hungry Viennese crowd.

The name already implies that Bao Bar is relatively small. The design is inspired by Japanese art and the movie Blade Runner. The combination of pink signs, black and white floor tiles, a wooden interior, and steel pipes gives the place a stylish, sleek vibe. There are several bar-style seating possibilities at the window and along the wall. The heart of the place is the open kitchen, where you can place your order and watch the skilled personnel swiftly assemble your burger. If you choose the menu option (Bao box), you can choose two buns, one side, and a soft drink. They have crispy sweet potato fries with nice kimchi ketchup, sesame slaw made of pickled vegetables, and Japanese edamame beans as sides, as well as a variety of drinks available, ranging from home-made lapacho ice tea, over Asian beers to Taiwanese soda. If you are in for a special treat, they even have Japanese Kirin beer on tap!

Bao Bar offers three burger variations: pork belly, crunchy chicken, and a vegan tofu option. All three are accompanied by pickled, crisp vegetables and rounded off by one of their homemade sauces. For instance, the traditional pork belly bao comes with a juicy slice of marinated, red-cooked pork belly, pickled cucumber, house-made hoisin sauce, some fresh cilantro, and ground peanuts. It’s delicious, and all the ingredients are high quality. Apart from the meat from a small family-run butcher shop in the city, all ingredients are self-made. You can even see the vegetables slowly fermenting in big jars over the counter. The heart of the bao burger, the white wheat buns, are produced fresh every morning in the back before being steamed over boiling water right in front of the customer.

Overall, Bao Bar is a great place to have a quick bite or order for takeaway. It’s a well-thought-through place that offers fresh, high-quality fast food. If you don’t have the time to check it out in person, you can order their food via Foodora, but then you’ll miss out on the great design and lively atmosphere.

To learn more about Bao Bar and their opining hours, visit https://www.baobar.at/.