Bao'd Up is Open in Sunset Valley!

Pork belly guabao, one of my favorite items at Bao'd Up

BIG THANKS to Bao'd Up for 1) opening in South Austin 😊 and 2) having me out for lunch. This is a sponsored post, but all opinions are my own. I was not monetarily compensated for this post, nor was one requested from me. I am here to spread the good gospel of Bao'd Up!

Tables

I met my friend Rebecca of The Honest Foodist (check out her blog and especially her Instagram Stories!) for lunch at Bao'd Up on Friday, where we sampled a number of items on the menu.  They are located at 5207 Brodie Lane, right next door to Tarka and down from Petsmart.

When you walk in to Bao'd Up, there are four self-serve terminals on your right.  You do your own ordering, and it gives you options to customize like rice instead of noodles on the bowls. 

There are even options with the boba or bubble teas, from different flavors, to bases, to sweetness options. You can also place a to go order online. Once you pay, your receipt will have a bar code, or if ordering online, you'll receive a confirmation code. Don't throw your receipt out!

There are a couple screens inside the restaurant that show your name and order status. Once your order is ready, it is placed inside one of these lockers and it shows "completed" by your name on the screen. You either scan your receipt or enter your code on the keypad, and a locker door pops open.

Ta dah! There's your food! (And so if you're ordering online, you may never have to interact with staff at Bao'd but that doesn't mean you should forgo a tip.)

Yum yum! More explanation on what everything is, coming up!

Alex the manager admitted sometimes it's even hard for him to tell the pork bao apart! 😉 

Dang, I can't make this video larger. Here's Rebecca breaking bao (BBQ pork).

Brisket bao, a tasty Texas twist!

My favorite of the baos was the pork belly guabao (taco style) that's pictured at the very top of this post. The pork belly was so tender, it fell apart like pulled pork. And the flavors were phenomenal, though messy to eat!

This was my other favorite of everything we had, the spicy pork bowl with soft boiled egg and veggies. We got this with rice, but I will SO be getting this again with noodles! The pork had such a wonderful flavor and a nice medium spice level.  I am kind of drooling thinking about it right now! I loved this. 

I think this was Rebecca's favorite, the braised chicken bowl, which we got with gluten free glass noodles (I think they were Korean sweet potato noodles). The chicken must have cooked for ages because the meat fell off the bone and had a light Chinese five spice seasoning to it. She said it reminded her of her family's home style Vietnamese food.

Top left is the crispy fish guabao, where they use barramundi, a Pacific ocean fish, also known as Asian sea bass. It was nicely fried, meaty, and really good. Top right is the pork belly guabao, and at the bottom is chicken katsu (fried chicken cutlet). 

Not pictured is the egg cream bao, which I remember from their Mueller location, because it made me a fan of  them! And this one did not disappoint. Sunset Valley is now the third location for Bao'd Up, with Mueller as the original, and they opened on Rio Grande + 22nd Street earlier this summer. I am so thankful Bao'd Up has come to South Austin, as I honestly don't know a place down here that serves bao. A wonderful new spot for us Southies to enjoy! More Asian food, please!

Thanks again to Alex and the Bao'd Up team for having us for lunch!

Mural, part of the fun vibe at Bao'd Up. There's a similar one at the Mueller location too.

The Peached Tortilla

What started out as a single food trailer has become a mini empire. The Peached Tortilla now has two roving trucks and graduated to a brick and mortar establishment in December 2014 at 5520 Burnet Road, in the heart of the ever-changing Allendale neighborhood. We arrived around 5:30 pm, and headed to the eight-seat bar for the social hour menu.

My friend had been a few times before, and remembered affable and highly skilled barman Kevin. It was a treat to watch him throughout the evening, as he was adroitly mixing drinks directly in front of us, while chatting with us and training a newer bartender. I had the Kentucky Mule, a twist on a Moscow Mule, using bourbon instead of vodka. Kevin also gave us a taste of just the plain ginger beer (that he makes!) which was pungent and refreshing on its own.

From the social hour menu, we got three items to snack on, starting with the chicken karaage which were nice and crisp. Great texture and not at all greasy. The menu says it's a gochujang dipping sauce; this one had more of a soy flavor than a pronounced chile/spicy taste but it was well rounded and perfect with the chicken.

 

Kimchi arancini balls with two different aiolis, sriracha and wasabi. The sriracha was definitely the winner of the sauces; I am not the biggest wasabi fan, but had a hard time really detecting any wasabi flavor. The rice balls were also breaded and fried well, and were nice a savory on their own.

What's called Mom's Toast on the menu is a shrimp toast also with a gochujang sauce. I LOVED these! Super crisp and tasty. The sauce here seemed a bit sweet, but was a good foil to the salty fried goodness. I am now craving these. All the time.

After the appetizers, neither of us were exactly starving, but didn't feel that we should miss the opportunity to order off the regular menu for dinner.  My friend had previously had the Thai Chop Chop Salad, and I thought it would be a good choice after the fried foods. It's got Napa cabbage, fried tofu and shallots, green apple, fresno peppers, watermelon radishes, puffed rice, Thai vinaigrette and fish sauce caramel in it. I really enjoyed the medley of texture and flavors, though I didn't really find much apple or peanuts in it. I ate about a third of it and took the rest home for lunch the next day. Unfortunately, with the puffed rice, this salad did not hold up well overnight, so I would not recommend taking it as leftovers.

Here's my friend's dish; I can see how the Lush Pork Belly Bowl got its name! The pork was SO good! Nice thick meaty pieces that were cooked well. I've had a couple people tell me that's their favorite dish there, and I can see why. You can't really tell from the picture, but that's a 45 minute soft-boiled egg in the middle of the bowl, and there's rice underneath.  I don't regret the chop salad, but this would be real hard to pass up in the future.

Overall, a really good first experience at the Peached Tortilla! If you can get there for social hour (5 - 7 pm), I can definitely recommend sitting at the bar and enjoying some food there. By the time we left around 7:30ish, the place was packed, and there were a few people waiting for tables. They do have a small patio area outside, but when it's 100 degrees outside (and the patio is on the Burnet Road side), not sure that's much of an option! But if you like Asian fusion, are into different flavors and textures, and are up for creative cocktails, go get Peached!