Take a bao – lunchtimes just got more interesting
Casual dining options in Manchester are getting more varied. Forget your curled-up old sandwich, or your Boots meal deal. Across town you can pick up anything from a virtuous quinoa and broccoli salad bowl to a dirty burger or a pile of steaming curries and rice for between £5 and £10. The one handed lunch in central Manchester has gone global too with things like Hawaiian poke, Mexican burritos, Caribbean Jerk and now, Asian bao buns.
Taberu, what is it?
For those not familiar with bread’s latest fashionable guise, a bao is a steamed bun packed with various fillings, popular in China and across Asia. Taberu (the Japanese word for eat); Manchester’s first dedicated express bao bar, has been brought to you by Vinnie and Victor Yu, the brothers behind Alderley Edge’s upmarket (and award winning) Chinese restaurant Yu.
Where is it?
Launched this week in the former Lloyds bank building at 53 King Street, Taberu will specialise in ‘make your own’ bao with a selection of noodles, fresh salad boxes, snacks and drinks available in refrigerated units. They also sell hot and sour soup or Peking duck soup for £4.95. While there are a small number of tables for people to eat in or on the terraced area at the front, the main focus will be on takeaway.
How it works:
Go up to the counter and choose your bao filling from a choice of chicken, Peking duck, char sui pork or halloumi. Then add three vegetables from a range including lettuce, grated carrot, cucumber, peppers, red or spring onions etc (each extra veg is 50p). Finally choose a sauce; sweet chilli, sweet & sour or hoi sin and give your £5.95 to the nice lad or lady. They also sell hot drinks and smoothies from here.
What else?
There’s a breakfast bao menu where you can order steam buns stuffed with egg, cheese and spinach, black pudding and caramelised onion, or sausage and egg. In the fridges you’ll find freshly made fresh fruit compote, overnight oats and yoghurt pots.
Taberu, 53 King Street, Manchester
