Gua Bao and BaoHaus: The OG of Pork Buns

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Gua Bao is a prime example of Asian efficiency

When David Chang was on the rise and in the midst of building his Momofuku Empire, I remember eating at Ssam bar with my parents and we ordered the pork buns. My sister was raving about them, saying how they were the signature dish and I knew that this was the “it” thing to get. When they came my parents displayed great Asian apathy and indifference.

“What? This is just a Gua Bao. You had these before in Taiwan and other places. What’s so special about it?”

Although they said the pork buns were good, they did not see the hype and the craziness that people had for something that we had before and did not recognize that Chang did anything innovated, because Gua Baos have been around and in Taiwan. For those of you that have not realized it, the pork buns from Momofuku and now in multiple ciche and trendy Asian-influence restaurants are based on Gua Bao. Basically he took the bun and pork concept and put his own twist on it and the bao trend started. I say in the note to self that it is an example of Asian efficiency because they are a complete one handed snack and the design of the bao/bun is really like a taking one piece of bread and folding it over. So if you think about it, they are using half the amount of material and product to make a sandwich but charging the same price for a full one. Sneaky.

Gua Bao After Jump