What makes you return to a restaurant time and again? The service, ambience and above all, the food. Bao To Me, tucked away in one of those many streets in Koramangala bustling with eateries, checks all of the above boxes with ease.
At a time when every other hole-in-the-wall operation is spouting the words “pan Asian”, Bao To Me is the real deal. Chef Wan Ming Li, who is also one of the founders, is a third-generation Chinese-Indian who has trained exclusively in Japanese cuisine. Little surprise then, he dishes out spectacularly delicious fare in a quaint, homely setting.
Though the interiors are designed to give out a street-style vibe, a lot of the decor at Bao To Me is from Wan Ming’s family home, resulting in a cosy, inviting space. From upcycled fan guards that serve as lampshades and graffiti-style wall art, to mah jong tiles that frame the mirror and knick knacks on the shelf, the no-nonsense effect works for the place that can seat 26.
The menu is simple, wholesome, and still, surprising. We begin our meal with a smashed cucumber salad and the miso veg soup. The soup offsets the nip in the air and is a medley of comforting flavours, courtesy the tofu and scallions.
The salad is everything the place stands for: the seemingly “effortless” taste of home. Fresh herbs and a light dressing of garlic and sesame set the tone for the rest of our meal.
We tried the surimi stick salad too. Cucumbers in a Japanese mayo dressing, sprinkled with sesame seeds and surimi sticks were a crunchy delight.
The truffle cream cheese dimsum with its burst of flavours is not to be missed, even though they are a popular item at many a restaurant today. Ditto for the spiced lotus stem chips and prawn hargao.
The tori kara-age is a Japanese answer to fried chicken, and a definite must-try at Bao To Me. The chicken is marinated in ginger and soy, leaving it succulent and flavourful.
It is difficult to find fault with any of the offerings here, and certainly easier to recommend what stands out. The char siu bao is prepared using a recipe perfected by Chef Wan’s father. The bao stuffed with pork belly barbecued in Cantonese fashion is served with in-house spicy chilli sauce and chilli oil. Bao To Me also serves hujiao bing, a Taiwanese snack of pepper pork stuffed in buns, similar to a slider. They make for a substantial snack and are quite tasty.
The nasu katsu curry rice of breaded eggplant and yasai yaki meshi, the Japanese vegetable fried rice beckoned but we had to skip the mains even though they seemed quite interesting, simply because we were too full up.
We were going to pass up dessert too, having sipped on lovely flavoured blood orange and passion fruit kombucha throughout our meal, but Wan prevailed on us to try the mizu shingen mochi. And I’m glad we did; it is indeed a dish to see and definitely try.
Though the mizu shingen mochi is called a raindrop cake, I’d say it looks more like a beautiful big dew drop that tastes like nectar. Crafted out of agar and served with black sugar syrup and roasted soybean flour, it melts on the tongue and is gone before you know it. A definite must-try if you have not experienced it before.
Published – December 23, 2025 07:02 pm IST
