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| - I have to start by clearing up some confusion. Hao is listed as serving "Filipino" food on Yelp, but that's not entirely true--don't expect and traditional lumpia or halo-halo here. It's probably more accurate to describe Hao as a Pan-Asian fusion restaurant, taking inspiration from a smattering of East Asian culinary traditions, but never really settling comfortably into the tropes of any one cuisine.
Hao has taken the popular "do less better" culinary trend to the extreme--they have about three entrees on their menu, and two of these are steamed buns--their specialty. Even their restaurant interior reflects this philosophy--everything is clean, effective, and functional, but the space is very limited. Be warned: there are about five or so seats in the whole restaurant!
As an American, I am constantly reminded of my shameful monolingualism while visiting Quebec--our orders were taken by a cheerful and outgoing woman who must have been fluent in at least four languages, English and French included. After we got our food, she chatted with us about the restaurant, where we were visiting from, places she'd recommend eating, etc.
For a relatively decent price, we got two buns (we split a single order) that sandwiched tender, juicy Filipino-style pulled pork in between two soft and fluffy Chinese steamed buns. The buns were pretty much as good as you can get--the only way I could think of improving the experience might be to add in some American South/Caribbean influences by frying a little bit of the shredded pork at the end. Just something to give it a bit of a "crunch" like some barbecues do when they add crackling to some sandwiches--the soft buns and tender pork didn't have much of a textural contrast as I personally would have liked.
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