TL;DR: The long and short of it is that high quality bao-style buns are served here, and are just as good as anything that can be found in Chinatown.
About the size of a postage stamp in the middle of one of the most busy streets in town, Mr. Bunz is getting about as simple and straightforward as it can get when it comes to being an eatery. Heck, along where it is all the food places are really either quite small holes-in-the-wall or mere takeaways so that is possibly not anything too unusual or out of the ordinary. What might make the semblance of difference among it is just how much it is embracing it and getting the character down just right with it. Despite being a mere takeaway place, and not too far removed from a food-stall, there is definitely an extra mark or two that goes towards distinguishing itself.
Ever since hearing about this place opening up not too long ago, and walking past it quite a few times, I knew that one of these many times that when I had the chance I would have to give them a go. All it was was simply a matter of just going in for a quick snack between times - I chose to do it between getting off work and going to a language night class; it is around an interchange for buses to the two places, so it was hard for it to be a more perfect opportunity.
Like it was said, this is the size of a postage stamp and saying there is a line out the door would almost be redundant; not even two hands would be needed to count the bodies before that was ever happening. Not much wider than the doorway that leads to it, how I can see it is that they are no-nonsense all the way through with their service and design. Inside there is one funny wall painting that ought to be seen, and the service itself is actually really friendly and welcoming. They have it all down pat, taking the order and cooking it right and fresh each and every time. All of that makes for such a degree of difference that you know is there, even when it is hard to describe.
It is such a small menu that you could probably fit all the items into a single tweet and still have room for one or two hash-tags to follow it. There are four major kinds of buns, with three distinct meats and a sweet, dessert option, plus there is a rotating special with one or two more robust ones that change every couple of months. To make this even sweeter, they have a couple of meal specials if you want to try one or more. Adding on to that, there is a couple of finger food snacks for something different, and beverages are a range of iced teas and sodas.
That last statement leads us straight to the order, which was what I went for. It could either be getting the three main ones plus a drink, or a choice of two along with the sweet one plus a drink; it was the second one that I went with - with the duck and pork buns being ordered, and the sweet dessert bun being a matcha-based bun filled with red bean paste.
Between the two savoury ones that I chose, the fillings were similar bar for the meat - spring onions, cucumber and hoisin sauce. Both of them were fantastic, and the bits of meat in both of them were massive and generously portioned; they were probably bigger than the buns as well. Starting off, the buns are soft as a cushion, light as a feather, but so robust at holding in such a good amount of filling, plus being able to soak any leaking sauce in. Whatever they do, it works wonders and is simply amazing. That is made many times better with the meats used, with huge slabs of marinated pork belly that is deep in flavour and rich in texture. The marbling is spot on, with the fat going down like butter and an occasional bit of crackling making its signature crunch. Something like this is always quite simple, is more or less the same each time, but by golly is it always so good. Better yet is with the duck, that has a more distinct, darker and slightly more bitter taste than the pork.
And last and not least is the sweet bun, a green tea bao that has red bean paste and matcha cream in the middle. That is enough to win me by, and the flavour is pretty unusual. The sweetness is in there in small parts, contrasting by a tart and umami palate with the red bean paste and green tea's distinct taste that is a little sharp at first, but calms down right afterwards. Likewise, it was warm and fresh, and soft as a sponge. As a finisher, this one did pretty well.
Why it took me so long to get here, I don't know, and especially after missing out on some good seafood ones that were there months ago. For that, I kick myself a little bit but have faith that those choices will be back. The only news that ultimately matters at the moment is that I managed to get here, and can give my honest opinion on it. Giving it a 4.0 rating is about the extent here, since it does do everything it needs to do to the best of its ability, but still is more or less a small takeaway style stall. There is a definite reason that it has been getting hyped so much though, and is one of the highlights in this section of the tiny walk-ins.
This is a short and sweet one here, this is about what you will see here. Mr. Bunz provides one of the best eats within the city, and possibly up there if we are going on a pound-for-pound basis. All of the food is cooked fresh to order, and is hot and tasty right out of the kitchen when it arrives, and the service remains pretty friendly and is streamlined. Also, props goes to the design and aesthetic which many places with this small of a space would not go to (and some with a massive area as well) so credit will be given at each point where it is due.
But seriously, why such a small place is getting higher praise than would often be issued is because of just how seriously they take this business with customer service, with loyalty to customers, social media and everything. What is easily one of the tastiest snacks around is the Chinese-style hamburger is given the utmost attention, and they focus all the energy right into it. Not many places outside of a Chinatown or Market Square would be selling these so well without good dedication that begets word-of-mouth, and I enjoyed every bite of them that I had. If you find yourself near here and have a couple of minutes and some dollars to spare, go right for it I say.
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