Blog The 6 best pork buns in Chinatown

The humble pork bun has long been a topic of discussion around The A.V. Club offices after a few of us (separately) went to Takashi and wolfed down its stellar steamed pork bun appetizer. Honestly, we dream of those buns, but unfortunately for us, Takashi’s a pretty nice restaurant, and we don’t make nearly enough money to eat there as much as we’d like.

Takashi’s not the only nice restaurant surfing the pork bun wave, though. Momofuku Ssam Bar in New York’s been doing amazing pork buns for years. Chicago celebrity “hotspot” Sunda does an okay version. And, of course, Wow Bao holds it down in the reasonably priced fast food market.

But forget all that and go to the source—Chinatown. Almost any restaurant or bakery in that small neighborhood is doing a really solid pork bun, both in steamed and baked form. In celebration of Chinese New Year—and because we just really wanted an excuse to eat pork buns—we set out on a very unscientific survey of six of the neighborhood’s bunniest locations and ate ourselves into early onset gout as we picked the best bun in all of Chinatown.

#6: Maxim’s Bakery  (2215 S. Wentworth Ave.)
This place is sixth by default, because not only did this place not appear to actually have any pork buns in its cases, the employees seemed almost offended that they had to leave their gambling in the back room to come up and help us. This place was dirty, dank, and just not that appetizing. We left before we were even served.

#5: Chiu Quon Bakery (2242 S. Wentworth Ave.)
We may have been getting a little bun-sick when we hit this spot, but these things were just underwhelming. They were super bland, and the meat was weirdly red. They were too sweet, too, with one taster calling them a “meat doughnut.” The barbecue sauce had too much cornstarch in it, and just wasn’t very tangy. The bun was almost like a store-bought dinner roll, which is good sometimes, but when you’re going for the best, this just wasn’t it. On the plus side, this place had great atmosphere, from the weird game show on the TV in the corner to the really amazing fruity cakes they sell for a mere $20. (Note for A.V. Club Taste Test fans: They sell a durian cake!)

#4: Happy Chef Dim Sum House (2164 S. Archer Ave.)
This was, weirdly, the only steamed bun we tested out. As fans of steamed buns, we were prepared to compare them evenly to the baked ones, but this one was just super sweet, and the “bread” tasted like raw Bisquik. It was incredibly sticky to touch, but did have a nice texture when chewed up. The bun was good, and the pork was good, but there just wasn’t enough pork to go with the massive bun, so it was, sadly, deemed a failure in our eyes.

#3: Saint Anna Bakery & Cafe (2158 S. Archer Ave.)
Located just a couple doors down from Happy Chef, this place did just a little better in the bun-off. Its baked buns tasted a little like a Sloppy Joe, but the ratios were good, and they were fresh and tasty. Plus, like all the other buns we had, these things ran about $.90, which is an unbeatable meal deal.

#2: Wan Shi Da Bakery & Cafe (2229 S. Wentworth Ave.)
The bun on this, uh, bun was pretty dense and the meat was kind of pasty, but it had a little certain something. We think it was a slight sesame note that kept us coming back for more.

#1: Feida Bakery (2228 S. Wentworth Ave.)
This one was the total runaway winner. The bun wasn’t too sweet, and neither was the barbecue sauce. The pork was cut into big chunks, just fatty enough, and incredibly tasty. The ratio was a little off, but since we were dealing with chunks, it was less noticeable compared to the more pasty pork buns. This one had a little je ne sais quoi that the others were lacking, and that’s what makes it number one.