I ♥ Wonderbao

When I get all sleepy and tired, I do the gibberish sleep-talk. I was on the phone to a close buddy of mine one night and we were chatting away until the wee hours of the morning.

After being on the phone for more than an hour, I was half asleep and started to sleep-talk. I was told in the morning that I randomly exclaimed "我要吃叉烧包!" (I want to eat cha siew bao!) of which I did wake up to a craving for. *shy face*

That was years ago before I started work and became like one of the many other old grannies who go to bed by 10pm. :$

But anyways I was saying, I love bao's so much that I sleep talk about wanting to eat 'em.

You can only imagine my disappointment when I moved to Melbourne six years ago to find that there wasn't any stores that sell good bao's apart from Nam Loong which I don't fancy at all.

I was so excited when I first heard about Wonderbao and the 'bao' trend that is taking over Melbourne.

Thank you Mr and Mrs Bao, you're doing good! :D

And I gotta add, I really do love their branding. It's everywhere! At their counter, stamped on the paper cups and takeaway paper bags, on the bamboo steamers and the oily paper the bao's sit on - love it!

I had a quick look at the short menu and I wanted to try everything! But I know how filling bao's can get despite its size and there's only so much my tummy could fit.

I decided to go for the braised pork belly gua bao ($3.80). For those unfamiliar with the term, gua bao is basically an open bun. You can have any filling you like sandwiched in between. Think Momofuku!

It's like a burst of flavours and texture in your mouth with every bite. I loved it! Reminded me of my favourite dong po yuk from home. 

The pickled mustard and crushed peanuts went really well with the tender meat which was blanketed in sweet sticky sauce. Yum!

There is usually coriander added into the mix as well (yikes!), but I opted out for that.

Being the sweet tooth that I am, I decided to get the dessert 奶黄包 (nai wong bao) which is selling for only $1.70.

The velvety egg custard filling was just perfect - so smooth and it wasn't too sweet.

My 'favouritest' nai wong bao so far is the one that I had from East Ocean in Sydney. But me thinks Wonderbao's version can be a good substitute.

I guess the next time I have a craving, I don't have to cross the border. I just need to walk across the road! :D

However, I personally would not recommend the soya milk. It wasn't sweetened at all. Boo! I mean I'm not expecting it to be like store-bought soya milk, but a little sugar wouldn't harm, hey?

All in all, I really do love Wonderbao's concept and I think the bao's are very reasonably priced. I can definitely see myself returning time and again. I can't wait to try the other bao's!

They're open every weekday from 11am to 6pm which is a bummer because it'll be too late by the time I finish work which is a pity. Otherwise they could make light dinners! *hint*

Regardless, I'm so glad to find that they're now also open on Saturdays for breakfast and lunch from 11am to 4pm.

Wonderbao is hidden away in an alleyway area on Literature Lane - in between A'Beckett and Little Latrobe Street.

Whilst I've read that many others had difficulty finding the store, I located Wonderbao fairly easily. Otherwise, the above map is pretty self-explanatory.

Next on my to-eat-list... Bao Now. And maybe, just maybe I might attempt to make my own Momofuku gua bao! J