How to eat bao, braised pork rice, beef noodle at Bao Seoul Seongsu

Attention anyone looking for a Seongsu restaurant, a Seongsu-dong hotspot, or a Seongsu must-visit 📢

Basic info on Bao Seoul Seongsu

• 🏢 Name - Bao Seoul
• ⏰️ Hours - Daily 11:30–21:00, last order 20:20
• 🚗 Parking - Not available
• 💻 Kiosk - Yes
• 🍽 Takeout/Delivery - Available
• 🚻 Restroom - Separate for men and women
• 🛜 Wi-Fi - Available

Exterior and location of Seongsu restaurant Bao Seoul

Bao Seoul, which you can stumble onto while walking through the Seongsu alleys!

It's an 11-minute walk from Seongsu Station, but it's on the alley side with the pop-up stores, so it's nice to look around on the way.

Interior mood of Seongsu-dong restaurant Bao Seoul

The inside is clean and comfortable

and it really felt like an actual local shop in Taiwan

The interior alone got me excited

The fridge had a lot of beers and drinks you don't often see, so my sister was super curious about them too

Menu and kiosk at Seongsu-dong restaurant Bao Seoul

There's a menu outside as well

and inside there's a kiosk. The restroom is through the yellow door on the left — go up half a flight, men's is on the left, women's is on the right. There's a password, so make sure to check it on the kiosk before you go!

The kiosk even had tips on how to eat everything the tastiest way. I love when places tell you stuff like this

How to enjoy bao, rice bowls, and noodles

Bao is basically a Taiwanese-style burger — you can cut it with a fork and knife, but the tip on the kiosk was to eat it by hand. For the rice bowl, the trick is to not mix everything together at first — just mix the toppings on top evenly, then scoop a little rice at a time for the best taste. For the noodles, there's garlic and sesame oil at the bottom of the bowl, so the key is to stir all the way to the bottom before eating!

Signature set / bao / noodles

Rice dishes / sides / side dishes and extras

Beer / takju (Korean rice wine) / Korean liquor and gaoliang

Tokkuri sake / highball / drinks

Out of all this, here's what we ordered — one bao, one rice bowl, one noodle dish

What we ordered at Seongsu hotspot Bao Seoul

• Classic bao ₩12,000
• Braised pork belly rice bowl ₩15,000
• Taiwan beef noodle soup ₩17,000

Classic bao, held in the hand and eaten in one bite

First up, the classic bao! The moment it arrived, the nutty smell of peanut powder and the savory smell of the meat were so good

I loved that soft, pillowy bread when I had it in Taiwan, and to think I can eat it here too! It's the kind of fluffy bread with the texture of flower rolls (kkotppang) you sometimes see at buffets

I wanted to eat the whole thing myself, but cut it in half and ate it by hand as instructed! Bao really does need to be picked up and bitten into in one go — that's the only way to properly taste the bread and filling together. The soft bao with the filling and sauce inside had a real charm to it

Braised pork belly rice bowl, and a welcome bit of suan cai

After the bao, the braised pork belly rice bowl!

For this one too, the tip was to leave the rice underneath alone, mix only the toppings on top evenly, then scoop out a little rice at a time

As someone from the nation of bibimbap, I wanted to just mix it all together, but since I'd seen the tip, I held back and followed it because it's supposed to taste best that way. Mixing the toppings in moderately with the rice made the seasoning just right, and the flavor of the braised pork and its sauce blended naturally into the rice. I was especially happy to see suan cai (pickled mustard greens) — in Taiwan it's the kind of pickle that sits on every table like danmuji (pickled radish) does here, and it's so nice, tangy and a little spicy

Taiwan beef noodle soup, and why you stir to the bottom

Next, the Taiwan beef noodle soup

The noodle thickness was exactly the kind my sister and I like

It gave off udon vibes

I couldn't help myself and just kept picking out the meat — already so tender and juicy...

For reference, there's garlic and sesame oil at the bottom of the noodle bowl, so stirring all the way to the bottom before eating makes the flavor so much richer. I mindlessly tried the broth first without thinking, and it definitely tasted different once mixed from the bottom up — so I really recommend stirring it thoroughly to the bottom!

When you want to eat Taiwanese food in Seongsu

All three dishes were so different in feel and type that I'm glad my sister and I ordered a bunch of things to share. On a first visit to Bao Seoul, you could easily just eat without knowing any of this, so it was nice that the tips were right there on the kiosk. I really wanted to go to Taiwan, ugh, so finding a place in Seongsu bursting with Taiwan vibes when I least expected it made me so, so happy. A great place to visit when you want something other than the usual Seongsu menu and want to enjoy Taiwanese food in a different way!

Tips recap

• Eat bao by hand, like an actual burger
• For the rice bowl, don't mix in all the rice — just mix the toppings evenly and scoop out rice as you go
• Stir the beef noodle soup all the way to the bottom (there's garlic and sesame oil down there)