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Following on from 2022’s tiger claw bao buns, beloved London restaurant Bao is celebrating Lunar New Year 2023 with bunny-shaped bao buns for the Year of the Rabbit, as well as a selection of at-home products and kits for those celebrating with their own feast.
Since launching at street food market KERB in 2012, moving to a stall in Hackney’s Netil Market, and then opening its first permanent restaurant in Soho in 2015, Bao has flourished into a buzzy mainstay for Taiwanese-inspired food, with six locations around London (we visited Bao King’s Cross in 2021) and its own line of drinks, tableware, and sauces.
Lunar New Year home kits from Bao
To celebrate Lunar New Year, the restaurant is bringing back its Made By You kits, lockdown favourites that make it possible to recreate the Bao experience from home.
Kits for two to three people can be ordered for delivery and come packed with six classic braised pork and fermented greens bao or daikon pickle bao; three portions of Dan Dan ‘Longevity’ Noodles (the restaurant’s signature noodles that have been hand-pulled to become extra long); and two rabbit-shaped bao buns.
Bao bunnies to go, and booking to dine in
The cheeky bunny bao buns, which are decorated as a sad-faced bunny wearing sunglasses and are filled with a sweet red bean curd, are also available on a first-come-first-served-basis from Bao King’s Cross.
Those lucky enough to make it to the restaurant can book, from 20 January to 5 February 2023, private dining rooms for a New Year’s feast of crispy noodles; classic bao with braised pork and fermented greens, or daikon pickle bao with hot sauce and coriander; soy-glazed aubergine; Taiwanese fried chicken; scarlet cha shao gammon, marinated in honey and five spice; and more.
Our favourite Bao offering is the restaurant’s New Year gift bundles, which can be ordered online and include a bunny bao, a tote bag, and a limited-edition bottle of Bao's famous Hot Man Sauce. For true devotees, there is also a limited-edition black and pink ‘bunny man’ T-shirt launched in collaboration with Carhartt.