JFG Nation, I’ll be traveling again next week – all over; quite the jetsetter I am these days – so I wanted to go back and review something from my last trip. I generally fly out of National Airport here in DC, and last time I was there I saw this:

Wow Bao!!!!!! “Bao” is “bun” in Chinese. Wow Bao sells steamed rice buns stuffed with all kinds of ish. I grew up eating Baos and had NO idea this place existed! This kiosk is near the American Airline gates at DCA, but here a bunch of Wow Bao’s all over the place: in Chicago, Camden Yards, Indiana State, etc. GO FIND THESE HOT ASIAN BUNS. Wait, that sounded wrong…

Wow Bao sells baos in six different flavors, and it was really hard to decide which ones to review. Plus I was about to get on a place so I didn’t want to stuff myself. Which ones? WHICH ONES?

Ah eff it. I got one of eat. Wow Bao, you suck (I love you).

The six baos!!! They were super hot and steamy. Asian baos are soft and round like shown above – the filling is placed inside and then wrapped up / pinched at the top before being placed in a steamer. The result? Hot tasty filling inside and soft pillowy bread-y goodness outside. Think of these like a savory donut. Awesome awesome morsels.

I started with the Spicy Kung Pao Chicken Wow Bao: I could tell it was Kung Pao because of the bits of nuts/cashew. The inside tasted like not-really spicy Kung Pao chicken, and to be honest, I couldn’t figure out which meat I was eating at first. Decent, but not my favorite one.

OOOOOO the BBQ Pork Wow Bao: very traditional; this is the flavor of bao I grew up with and am most familiar with. The inside was perfect – chunks of pork slathered is sweet soy based BBQ sauce. Super tender and really flavorful. Amazing. Thumbs up.

the Thai Curry Chicken Wow Bao Was the bao I was most interested in and it didn’t disappoint – the inside was a nice semi-sweet Thai green city with excellent seasoning – lots of chili, bay leaf, with not too much spice. I want this bao all the time now.

This Spicy Mongolian Beef Wow Bao Was the most surprising bao to me – because it was, indeed, SPICY. Super tender beef in a nice deep gravy, this bao had TONS of spice and nice beefy flavor. I wanted to applaud this bao.

The Teriyaki Chicken Wow Bao Was just ok for me – in a lot of ways, this just tasted like the BBQ Pork bao but with chicken. Good flavor but not the most inventive.

Finally, the Coconut Wow Bao Was the perfect car by dessert to finish the meal off. Filled with essentially shredded coconut mixed with custard, like a coconut cream pie filling, this bao was super sweet with a nice contrast of the light fluffy bao and the heavy rich filling. I love coconut so this was delightful. Nom nom.

Wow Bao steams their buns on slices of wax paper so the buns don’t stick to the steamer, and they let you know which bao you’re biting into by printing the variety on the paper – which was good because I was definitely getting pork and chicken confused sometimes.

Overall my first experience at Wow Bao was an A+, and I totally recommend anyone who loves sandwiches, empanadas, dumplings, Kolaches, Jamaican beef patties – try a bao!!!!! They. Are. Legit.

PURCHASED AT: Reagan National Airport

COST: $12.71 total

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. I also have Google+!! Let’s hang out.

Sincerely,

The JFG