Living and working in the King West neighbourhood is great. There are plenty of places to eat, but after a while you know what is good and what is bad.
There has been numerous turnovers in this space just south of Queen Street, primarily because that stretch of Bathurst doesn't get nowhere as much foot traffic as King or Queen Streets, but also it is a tiny space elevated from the street with very little street presence. There was a good burger place there which I Yelped about, but didn't survived for long and there was a sushi place which closed down before no one knew about it, and there were a few other fail attempts. So I am convinced it is one of the few cursed spaces that's in the area.
Happily I saw and heard about Mean Bao, a clever inter-lingual pun, and their second location from their successful Grange location. So I am hoping this will finally be a solid reputable eatery that will be operating here for the long run, and so far I think they will do well here.
There is limited amount of seating inside and when the weather finally gets warmer there are some seating outside, though the view and traffic of Bathurst is not the greatest when enjoying lunch.
I ordered two baos: the braised pork and the pork belly which were both excellent. I loved how fluffy the steamed bun stayed by the time I brought it back to my office and it was dressed very nicely which I asked for it to be spicy which had the nice amount of heat. I also ordered a side of shrimp and pork dumplings which was also good but you really need to dip it in any of their sauces to fully enjoy it (there is a table of sauces which you could help yourself to, don't forget it).
It was all a very satisfying lunch and a few of my coworkers are a fan too.