Bao buns have proliferated Britain perhaps more than any other street food staple in recent years. It should come as no surprise, then, that Brighton has a dedicated bao restaurant, Baby Bao. What may be a surprise, though, is that it’s housed in a Gloucester Road pub, The Pond, meaning you can enjoy some perfectly poured pints with your light as-you-like bao.
Purists, look away now. Though the menu is a nominally Tawainese affair, the menu does a fair amount of globe-trotting. So, that’s buns brimming with Mongolian chicken and topped off with atachara (Fillpino pickles) and a sweet and sour Mongolian sauce for good measure.
Or, a bao with an Indonesian inflection; fire cracker beef shin beds down with green chilli sambal slaw and a sriracha mayo in the signature pillowy buns, leading to a spicy, sticky mess.
Where the restaurant excels, though, is in its most simple, signature dish. The pork belly and hoisin bao is a textural delight; rich, fatty and unctuous in all the right places. Yep, squeezing this one between thumb and forefinger is as pleasurable as it sounds. Eating it, even more so…
Vegetarians are more than well catered for, too, with as many meat-free baos as ones aimed at carnivores. The menu even goes meatless on Monday’s. Our favourite veggie bun here has got to be the panko squash bao with a zingy, refreshing pineapple pickle. That, or a Korean inspired mushroom bulgogi bao which is packed full of flavour from a perfectly balanced sweet and sticky sauce and miso mayo. Don’t make us choose!
Just order both.
The sharing section of the menu heads off to South Korea for a spicy sojourn. The Korean fried chicken thigh slathered in a piquant mango chilli dressing is an obligatory order if ever there was one, and we’re also huge fans of their rich and unctuous Gochujang mac and cheese bites. Oh, and the pickle section of the menu is on point, as it should be.
The menu also pays lip service to the seasons and the baos frequently get a rethink or refinement. On a previous visit, a Thai coconut chicken shared a bun with strands of papaya in a som tam salad-style dressing, all topped with some satay sauce. It was playful, delightful and we hope to see it on the menu again soon 🤞🤞🤞.
Basically, you’ll want to order everything here. Luckily, The Pond is a the type of place you’ll find yourself coming back to time and time again, so you don’t have to order every dish at once. That said, we wouldn’t blame you if you did.
Website: thepondbrighton.com
Address: 49 Gloucester Rd, Brighton BN1 4AQ, United Kingdom
