The story
BAO Soho, at 53 Lexington Street in Soho, London, is a Taiwanese restaurant that earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2026 for good quality, good value cooking. It is the original branch of the BAO group, and it takes walk-ins only, so expect a queue on Lexington Street before the tick-box menu reaches your table.
Fluffy steamed buns are the centre of the menu. The braised pork version comes with peanut powder and fermented greens. The fried chicken is marinated in soy milk and served with Szechuan mayo and golden kimchi. For dessert, a fried bao filled with Horlicks ice cream is the one to finish with.
The smaller plates draw on Taiwanese snack stalls. The pig blood cake is made with glutinous rice and topped with a soy-cured egg yolk, and the mapo aubergine sits on chi shang rice. Battered sweet potato chips arrive with a ketchup made from pickled plums.
Homemade peanut milk and a weeping saké pair well with the buns. The kooky dream drinks, such as grape soda with aloe vera foam, are a playful option. The Good Food Guide lists the branch as Good (2026) and notes a long day menu designed for solo diners.
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good quality, good value cooking
It may have started out as a ‘gazebo with a cool box’, but the dinky original branch of hot-ticket Taiwanese bun specialist Bao is now something of a legend among the capital’s ‘walk-in’ restaurants. Long queues snake down Lexington Street whatever the weather, but it’s worth the slog once you’re inside and have the tick-box menu in front of you. Fluffy steamed bao buns are the main event here, ranging from the classic braised pork with peanut powder and fermented greens to fried chicken marinated in soy milk with Szechuan mayo and golden kimchi. Just add some tantalising xiao chi snacks (pig’s blood cake with soy-cured egg; mapo aubergine on chi shiang rice), plus sides such as sweet potato chips with plum pickle ketchup. Also order a glass of homemade peanut milk and don’t forget to put your final tick against the fried bao filled with Horlicks ice cream. Although the food is made for sharing, this branch is perfect for singletons and even has a special ‘long day menu’ promising ‘a perfect moment of solitude for the solo diner’. A shot of bao-friendly ‘weeping saké’ does the trick or you could investigate the kooky ‘dream drinks’ (grape soda with aloe vera foam, say).
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