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

Momofuku Ssam Bar: Bo Ssam, Korean for, "Whoa, thats a big piece of Pork"

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: A friend that complains about too much swine is no friend of mine…well close friend.

Bo Ssam from the first time around, photo courtesy of  www.conwayyen.com

I am about to be “that guy”. You know, that guy that wears the band tee shirt of the band he is about to go see, “that guy”. If you do not understand about “that guy” I highly suggest you go on your Netflix queue or…Blockbuster? Not sure if those exists anymore and borrow the underrated movie, PCU in which Jeremy Piven goes into great detail about not being that guy.

Magic Kitchen

Momofuku restaurants with the exception of Ko offer a family style group dining experience. Noodle bar has the chicken, Ssam has the pork and Peche has the beef. However, you cannot just walk in with a crew and just expect to get a fried chicken dinner; you have to make a reservation online through the Momofuku reservation system. Making a reservation via Momofuku brings me back painful memories of registering for classes in college. Momofuku only allows a certain amount of times in which you can do a group dinner and they do not release the new reservations until 10 am. I see no actual difference between registering for classes and getting a reservation for the group dinner except that Momofuku results in fullness and registering for classes hopefully results in Fridays off and no early classes.

I am fan of the Momofuku restaurants and have been to all of them. I have dined at Ko, done fried chicken fest twice and already did Bo ssam. So when I was asked to go to Bo ssam and make a reservation for it, I was all Momofuku’d out. I mean I know some people are dying to try the group dinners and the various Momofuku offerings but I was very apathetic going to go do bo ssam again. I have made the bo ssam at home and it has lost its charm to me. I was expecting the same experience when I did the fried chicken dinner for the second time in which I was underwhelmed and the level of excitement that I had the first time was nonexistent. So this is me being that guy, that guy that is complain and moaning about having the opportunity to eat bo ssam again while others around me are like…I hate you. Regardless how I felt before going into Bo ssam for round 2, I am still a fan of the OG of group dining in New York as well as the other menu items in which Ssam bar does well. 
 

Om Nomz after the Jump!