My family's love language is food. Next to our weekly movie nights, we celebrate our love for each other in the form of food. We're the type who'd send each other posts from almost everywhere of a dish that looks interesting enough that we know the other members of the family would enjoy. That's this.

We happen to have discovered this gem just by mere happenstance. Here's the story. We have discovered a new chicken barbecue place, dare I say, comparable to Aristocrat's chicken barbecue. It's VITO's BBQ (on may next blog). Aside from their obvious chicken barbecue, we particularly liked their chicken baos. On the second time we decided to order, their baos were OOS but we decided to order their chicken anyway. When I reported to my sister of the lack of chicken bao, she felt that the chicken barbecue wouldn't be complete without the baos. 

Coincidentally, I have come across another post from BF HomeSarap and Yummy Home Kitchen Directory from home seller selling Chinese baos. Admittedly, we were desperate in having these baos, I took a chance and ordered their 3-piece pack and got all 3 flavors (5-mushroom, oriental chicken, and, my personal favorite, the pork char siu).

When my order arrived, it came in one of those plastic bags like when you would order bread from those premium mall bakeries. I was impressed but the question is, is it good?

The answer, yes! (duh, I already mentioned above that I have a favorite. Natural sasabihin kong masarap siya.) The buns (mantao, in some places) is soft and fluffy. The owner, Claire, was kind enough to even give instructions if we decide to eat the baos a little later but I didn’t see the need to do so because it was still as soft as when we first got it even if it came from the fridge.

Convinced, we started ordering from them regularly and started getting their 15-piece variety pack. You can either get 5 of each variant or mix them up. My go-to would be one variety pack of 5 of each variant then order 2 additional 3-packs of their oriental chicken and pork char siu.

She even added extra sauces which, again, felt unnecessary because there was enough sauce in it. The filling in all three variants was adequate in relation to the size of the bun. Each bite regardless of which part of the bao you sink your teeth into has enough filling. Alam mo yung feeling na nagiingat kang kumagat kasi baka sumobra yung isang kagat mo tapos kukulangin na? It was never the case for this one. Nothing but a full bite through and through.

Now let's talk about the 3 variants, shall we?

Since this is my favorite, I will start with this. What else can I say but it's PORK. Good, juicy, succulent pork. There was a little bite in it which is what I like. I don't like it when the meat is too soft like someone just chewed it with their gums for a good 30 minutes. This is just perfect.

The 5-Mushroom. Not saying that it's not good. IT IS GOOD. Just not my favorite. But my mom loves iThe bun just complements the fillings just right with the right amount of sauce absorbed by both the bun and the filling.

The veggies also made a good texture shift with some crunch. I am not an expert but I think there is a little cilantro added to the mix. Not much of a fan of cilantro but just like my spring roll review, it's also become a welcome addition to the taste and experience of these baos.

I've actually written a review on them a few weeks back. Check it out.

If you want to experience Hao Bao MNL for yourself. you can get in touch with them through their Instagram. Tell them I sent ya. 

Hope you appreciate my review of Hao Bao MNL. If there is something you'd want me to try, hit me up on the comments below or visit my socials @iameboybautista. CIAO!