Baotime

Recently on a lazy Saturday night, D and I decided to venture to Richmond to try out Baotime. If you are a regular on the Melbourne foodie scene you would know that bao has become a common item on many Asian fusion eatery menus.

Baotime specialises in bao (guess that is no surprise with a name like Baotime). It offers a range of sweet and savory buns as well as other side dishes. They are more tapas size so it allows for a selection to try and share.

First bao we got was Captain Bao. This is the signature pork belly bun. It came with a generous slice of pork belly, crushed peanuts, lettuce and dark soy sauce. The peanut provided the crunch, to give it a balance in textures. Not bad at all.

Next was the scallop bao, this was a mini bao. I wish the menu would have told us it was it mini, because it is really just 2 bites of a bun. It has a seared scallop topped with cheese. It tasted good but there was just not enough. I want more.

Afterwards came lobster roll. Morton bay bugs with mayo a circle of pineapple. I really enjoyed the sweetness from the pineapple.

To help keep us full, we also got the cheese corn on the side. The cheese corn had the perfect mayo/cheese ratio. It wasn't overly cheesy but just enough to be stringy. I found it to be one of the better cheese corn dishes in Melbourne.

Also, we got the hot and sour soup. This was more just spicy and lacked sour. Found this one very disappointing, the flavour was also missing. It had tofu, egg whites and mushroom through the soup. I think if there was shredded duck or bbq pork, it would have helped with the flavour. When I asked for more vinegar, they provided me white vinegar, and that helped.

For dessert I had to try the kaya bao. This was another mini bao with coconut jam and butter, came with a side of coconut ice cream. I found the bao to be a bit too small, I would have preferred 1 more or just a larger bao.

Overall 15/20 I do like the concept and think it's a great place to hang out with friends.

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