"Street food but not as grandma remembers it" 👵🥟
Hey all! In today's post we're going to talk about Belly Bao which I went to recently with some of the girls and we all LOVED it. Huge thank you to Terry for finally taking us here.
Belly Bao is located in the heart of Newtown and features so many innovative dishes all made from bao dough! These dishes include regular bao, dessert bao, "baogers", "bao noodles" and Belly Bao fried chicken.
Just right next door to Blooming Lotus!
It was a very warm and quiet Friday afternoon, perfect for us to find a really nice seat near the back.
I really like the inside of Belly Bao which is so quirky and tropical! It has such a fun, relaxed and comfortable feel that I feel like you could do anything from taking the family out to having date night here. It completely helps that the service is so welcoming and friendly.
We're handed the menu but Terry who has been here multiple times ends up ordering for the lot of us, with the exception of the regular bao.
How great is it that there is a trusty bottle of Sriracha on each table!
Coke $4.50
A glass bottle of Coca Cola with a separate glass full of crushed ice.
We only manage to have a quick chat while waiting for our food before our dishes begin to arrive one by one. Great timing!
Curry Cheese Fries $9
While their regular fries are served with a delicious truffle aioli, these curry cheese fries sounded much too good to pass up! No regrets ordering this as well. The golden shoestring fries are similar to that of Mcdonalds but it's the Japanese curry sauce, melted cheese and finely chopped white onion that completely elevate it all. Yum, yum and yum!
Four BBC (Belly Bao fried Chicken) Wings $14
w/ salted egg $3
These chicken wings were HUGE. And so freaking good. The outside is super crunchy, while the inside is hot, juicy and tender. We opted for the salted duck egg add-on and there was such a generous amount spread on each chicken wing. The egg is very creamy, savoury and rich and together with the fried chicken creates such an umami flavour! The wings can definitely stand alone without the add-on, but if you're feeling like a little more indulgence - do it.
Spicy Bao Noodles $10
w/ Pork belly $3
This blows my mind so much! One, because these are thin flat noodles made from the same dough as regular bao!!! And Two, they are so delicious!!! I got a little worried about the spiciness since I'm not great with that kind of stuff. And I admit it was spicy and I did reach for my drink, but it was so good I had to keep having more. The sate chilli and soy sauce is so more-ish. We added extra pork belly but without that, it's also great how the dish is completely vegan. It's a huge serve so really excellent to share.
P.s. I love my friends for looking out for my coriander-hating ass. If you look in the background, Terry picked off all the coriander while telling me she has my back 😍
L to R: Slow braised beef short rib bao $7
Soft shell crab bao $8
2 x Crackling roast pork belly bao $7
Wooooow, BAO DOWN BITCHES. This is where it happens, this is what we thought we were just coming to Belly Bao for! These hand held bao are pretty big. Nearly the size of one of my small hands, and completely generous on the filling.
Fiona and Anne-mary shared three while the bao I opted to try was the Slow Braised Beef Short Rib bao. I would've loved to try the pork belly but I'm always up for trying something different to get more interesting angles. This bao came with additional kimchi, spring onion and sesame mayo. The first thing I noticed was it didn't hold very well at all. From the moment it was set on the table, the middle of the bao where it folds over had already begun to split. This was not made any better by the shredded beef rib meat which was quite saucy/wet therefore making the rest of the bao soggy and fall apart faster. The beef itself was quite dry despite being saucy but I did like the sweet flavours it had. The kimchi and mayo I couldn't really taste. The bao wasn't that soft either compared to others I have had in the past. Overall I wouldn't order this one again. Anne and Fiona really enjoyed their bao though so maybe it's just the beef that doesn't live up to the expectations.
In the end, I really enjoyed dining at Belly Bao. With the exception of the braised beef bao, everything that I had was extremely amazing and I personally felt it was such great value for the price. I also loved the relaxed atmosphere of the place because it made it easy to catch up with my friends and I felt like I could take my boyfriend and family here too if I wanted to.
Hope everyone will try Belly Bao sometime, so worth it! xx
Edit 3/01/2019: I also went to Belly Bao for the annual 2018 Sydney Food Blogger's Christmas Party and tried some more amazing food! Featuring an except from the post to cover more reviews of this place hehe
Baoger $13
This, I truly believe LIVES UP to the HYPE! It is one of the best burgers I have ever had. It has a juicy beef patty, melted cheese, crunchy radish pickles, onion, crispy lettuce and sauce all sandwiched perfectly between soft and fluffy bao buns. Nessy Eater and I could not stop commenting on how good this was while we were scoffing it down!
L: Yuzu Splash (Mocktail) $9
R: Jungle Juice (Mocktail) $9
I had the Yuzu Splash and it was nice and refreshing but it didn't have the strong signature taste of yuzu which was disappointing to me! It could also be a bit sweeter. Vanessa had the Jungle Juice and it was reaaallly good. It had such a good pandan flavour and from memory it also had chewy green jelly at the bottom.
Later on in the evening, Priscilla/foodpornnation also ordered the third mocktail Rose Lychee Tea with an extra splash of vodka. Not only was it so pretty but it tasted amazing. Highly recommend those!
The Gaytime Bao $9
Deep fried bao with a whole golden gaytime, bananas and caramel sauce drizzled all over. Really delicious and I would 10/10 eat again... but it was a bit awkward having to eat this super carefully with a knife and fork because of the deep fried bao
A dish that they bought out for us to try was these Mango and coconut sticky rice nigiri shaped canapes! So good, love how creative this is!
I think this was also a new dish they were experimenting with. Duck pancakes. The pancake was a bit thicker than I preferred but every thing was still really good!
TL;DR:
Price: Affordable
Quality: Really great
Service: Friendly
Ambience: Quirky, tropical and relaxed
Belly Bao
184 King Street
Newtown NSW 2042
Open Tuesday - Sunday
Tues-Thurs: 5PM-10PM
Fri: 11:30AM-3PM, 5PM-11PM
Sat: 11:30AM-11PM
Sun: 11:30AM-9:30PM
