I know for me, whenever I'm out in Leeds on an evening for a drink, I'm instantly hungry - and often looking for that perfect takeaway to head to.
I've noticed queues forming outside a particular venue next to North Brew Tap in the city centre before throughout the evenings - Little Bao Boy.
It comes well-recommended with Little Bao Boy having a 4.5 average star rating on Google and a 4.9 on Facebook. So, I decided to see how they measured up for our latest takeaway review.
To sample a decent chunk of the menu, I chose three different bao buns and one of the venue's loaded fries. There's a decent amount of choice for vegans and vegetarians on the menu as well as meat options.
The order arrived at my house within 42 minutes of ordering - which was within the time estimate I was given when I ordered. Some of the filling had fallen out of the bao buns during transport, but that was hardly an issue and easy to scoop back in.
I started with the pulled pork bao bun - and absolutely devoured this in seconds. The pork in this is cooked in ginger, garlic, Chinese five spice and soy sauce. It comes with spring onion, sesame seeds, cucumber and sriracha mayonnaise.
All this comes together for a colourful, vibrant dish - and the flavour certainly matches up. The soft dough of the bao bun, is a perfect base for the popping flavours of the tender pulled pork and sauces, with a little kick from the sriracha mayo.
This was so good I had practically demolished it in seconds - and would happily have had a whole meal of just these. The loaded fries had the same topping of ingredients, which was equally as wonderful, but for me, I much preferred that to be paired with a bao bun than fries. The chips are still good, but I considered them more of a vessel to support the topping.
Next I tried the Gochujang cauliflower bao bun. This is cauliflower friend up in a panko gochujang batter. It comes with sriracha mayonnaise, spring onions, sesame seeds and cucumber.
This was very good too - I really enjoyed the crispy cauliflower with the spicy mayonnaise. I still slightly preferred the flavours in the pulled pork bun but this is a very good option if you don't eat meat.
And finally, I had the oyster mushroom bao bun. This is another vegan option, that consists of mushrooms coasted with Little Bao Boy's 'secret KFB flour' and deep fried. It also comes with the spring onions and sesame seeds, with wasabi lime mayo and pickled carrots.
Now, embarrassingly, I have to admit I'm not a big fan of pickled food. I wanted to push the boat out and try this one - but I found for me the pickled carrots overwhelmed the rest of the flavours for me.
I did that really annoying picky eater thing and took them out though - and really enjoyed the deep-fried mushrooms with the wasabi mayo in the bao bun alone. So on this one, only go for it if you're a fan of pickled food.
Little Bao Boy in town is perfectly placed in North Brew Tap and at Springwell. These are well placed locations - the bao buns are a perfect snack to have with a drink, and Little Bao Boy opens until late.
The salt and umami from these bao buns would go great with a pint, and I highly recommend having one next time you're looking for a light lunch or a snack while you're out.
The bill
Oyster mushroom bao bun - £6
Gochujang cauliflower bao bun - £6
Pulled pork bao bun - £6
Pulled pork loaded fries - £7.50
Total with delivery and service fees: £30
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