The team at BAO have today confirmed that their new restaurant on Windmill Street, Fitzrovia, will officially open at 12 noon on 6 July.
After the runaway success of the original BAO bar in Netil Market, Hackney, sibling founders Shing Tat and Wai Ting Chung, and Erchen Chang, opened their first permanent site on Lexington St, Soho, to critical acclaim in April 2015.
This second larger restaurant is a natural move for the team, and will offer a new extended menu featuring both established BAO favourites and a number of new and unusual dishes, alongside a more comprehensive list of cocktails, wine and sake, served from the bar.
The menu will be split into four sections and have a focus on fish and rice dishes as well as the signature BAOs, with rice sourced from Chi Shiang in Taiwan.
As with the Soho restaurant, all dishes will be ordered via a tick-style system. To begin there will be a selection of ‘Xiao Chi’ or small bites such as ‘Beef cheek & tendon nuggets’, ‘Day boat caught mackerel with aged white soy’ and ‘Razor clam, tobiko & century egg’.
There will also be a new addition to the signature BAO list, as Fitzrovia will introduce the ‘Fried Fish BAO’; a homemade pillowy soft bun filled with lightly fried fish, turia sauce, green sauce & coriander.
The extended menu at Fitzrovia will also offer new sharing options. These will include ‘Koji quail’, ‘Squid noodles in trotter sauce’ and ‘Lamb with sour green chilli dip’.
Joining these dishes will be a greater selection of rice bowls, with creative toppings such as ‘Wagyu chuck, truffle & beef tea’ and ‘Sweet potato with pork & egg congee’. Ending the menu will be a new ‘Choc Horlicks ice cream stick’ available late summer.
The more comprehensive drinks menu will offer six original cocktails, made using unusual ingredients such as galangal, peppered chestnut, sweet potato and beetroot bitters; alongside a concise selection of wine, sakes and whiskies.
Also new to the drinks menu will be a collection of BAO milkshakes with flavours such as ‘Choc & toasted rice’ and ‘Condensed milk’.
Set over two floors, the interiors at BAO Fitzrovia have been carefully designed by Shing Tat Chung in collaboration with Katy Manolescue’s Article Studio. The restaurant’s ground floor presents a modern, minimalist space with a main focal U-shaped wooden dining bar. The intimate basement space will offer a wholly different experience for diners, with the use of darker colours and metallic walls, and will also be available for private hire for up to 19 people.
BAO Fitzrovia will open on Windmill St, Fitzrovia, on Wednesday 6th July from 12 noon.