Bao Bei

When I heard the chefs Meichih and Michael Kim, who formerly led my favorite Michelin starred Korean Restaurant (Maum), opened this spot, I had to give it a try. We ordered almost everything from their menu, two gua baos - spicy pork belly and shrimp croquette, dan dan mian, and aged soy bu ding. If you haven’t had gua bao, it is usually pork belly inside soft fluffy buns with flavor filling. The buns balanced out the strong flavors from the fillings. I enjoyed Bao Bro’s take on the gua bao, fusion of Korean and Taiwan. For the spicy pork belly, I love the added spicy and the contrast of the cucumbers. For the Shrimp Croquette, I love that the buns are crispy, shrimp is delicious and the slight kick from the pickled jalapeños . Dan dan mian was definitely the star of this place. They also have a vegetarian option. It is a heavy dish but all the ingredients really bring the dish together, from the peanut sauce, garlic & shallots and I love the sous vide egg! I have never had soy sauce based dessert, so I wanted to give it a try. I would describe it as an Asian Style crème brûlée (replacing the caramel crust with roasted rice whipped cream). It was pretty good!

Wow! What a gem! My partner and I both got Dan Dan mian one veggie and one standard. We both super super enjoyed our respective dishes. The noodles were thin and soaked up all the umami flavors which to me was amazing for the fact that it’s vegetarian. The egg was hands down my favorite part. They also had a cute little soy sauce tube that you can squeeze and mix in yourself. The dessert though was extremely sweet. I tend to not have much sugar but it was even too sweet for my partner (normal sweet tolerance) and we had to toss it. Overall though, we love it and already made plans to come again to try their baos which also look delicious. The whole food court area was super cute too. Lots of other options but why go anywhere else ;)

The bao were great and I would come back to try more things. The brisket noodle bowl was underwhelming at the price point - they could go for a better meat cut at the cost of this dish. My favorite was the pork belly bao and I’ll be back to try the soft shell crab bao.

Fantastic Bao place. Bao’s were soft, warm and amazing in taste. Chicken Bao had a nice raddish flavor to it. Mushroom Bao was also superb. Its hard to find such Bao’s in bay area. Highly recommend this for anyone looking to try Bao.

We ordered all bao! Spicy pork belly and soft shelled crab were really good! We did not know that bao bei was opened by Meichih and Michael Kim, whose Korean fine-dining earned a Michelin. We enjoyed a lot beyond expectation! I’m going to order bibimguksu which was one of the popular menu next time! Also, (I like their food name on menu especially bibimguksu without any translation! )

Had the Dan Dan Mian (pork with wheat noodles). The flavors and textures were delicious! I think the noodles make it a bit high on the glycemic index, but it had an egg and pork, so that fat and protein should be a decent counterweight to the noodles. The food was fresh, well prepared, presented and quick!

I came to State Street Market for happy hour and was excited to try Bao Bei. I had the spicy pork belly and fried chicken baos. The price is a bit high. However, Los Altos is upscale, so everything is a little pricier here. Each bao is not that filling, but for me, they had a lot of good flavors. I can definitely see the Korean/Taiwanese fusion in their menu and how they blend the flavors. I liked their plating as well. I would definitely be back to try the other bao flavors. The ambience at State Street Market is good and it's a huge place with plenty of tables and good drinks.

Dan Dan was served hot. It was delicious, will ask for more chili next time as I like it a little spicy. The shrimp boa was a shrimp cake. The boa was perfect but the shrimp was just OK.