Sun Say Kai roast pork bun
Last week Grub St had a post on what you can eat for a dollar. At number one, they have "Char siu bao at Sun Say Kai." Mmmmm... good stuff. It is so good I am making an entire post on it because I am a lazy blogger and because my friends and I have been eating this bao for at least five years. It is great when across the street there is a bakery, and you can practically have a meal for less than two dollars. On ward we go, for a couple more pictures and some random meanderings.
The pork bun is $0.80 cents. If you eat one before you buy take-out in C-town, it will ruin your appetite (yea I do that way too much). I actually remember when they used to cost just $0.60 cents. Amazing huh? And the price has steadily climbed over the years. One thing you have to know is that there are two types of pork buns and one is BAKED and another is STEAMED. Visual differences are fairly apparent, the baked ones have a golden color and a glaze on top, while the steamed ones are white and fluffy. A tip, never get the steamed one. There is no reason to ever get the steamed pork bun at Sun Say Kai. You can get other steamed buns, just do not get the steamed pork one, because it just disappoints. You eat the baked one and you are delirious with pleasure, your taste buds are swimming in ecstacy, and you think, "I wanna try the steamed one!" No.
Oh yea, the buns do not come burnt at the top. That was just me being me. Since I have a PhD in doing things correctly, the bun came out burnt after it was in the conventional over at my friends' apartment. If you go buy a bun, it comes without burnt spots on the top.
The other day my friends and I were on the subway and I mentioned that, "... You see, the problem is that I am not cool enough to be a hipster, and not rich enough to be a yuppie." The addendum to that is I am also too old to be emo. (And when did the come up with that word? All of a sudden in college there was this new genre of self-identification. Jeebus). And if you are too tone deaf to attain the musical acumen of a hipster, and not an Ivy League MBA grad who can afford to be a yuppie, well then you just eat cheap buns in Chinatown all day and ponder what the next meal is going to be.
Speaking of which, anyone have suggestions on where I can go?
Sun Say Kai
220 Canal St.
New York, NY 10184
212-964-7256
Go! Go! Curry on Second Avenue @ 7th Street. I haven't been there yet but it is on the top of my list.
Nancy
January 15, 2008 10:43 am
I actually like their steamed pork buns.
And it's a toaster oven.
And you're contributing to our electricity bill this month. $5.
eightytwo
January 15, 2008 10:47 pm
also the cost of renting that plate in your picture will be $2
eightytwo
January 15, 2008 10:48 pm
Nancy,
Thanks for the suggestion! Last year I went to the one on 38th st, but I had no idea they have one on 2nd ave and 7th. Will try to stop by one of these days!
eightytwo,
Hey now, let us settle this the fair way. I will bargain with you. One hug for each dollar, and you can borrow my man card, which has very little left on it...
Danny
January 16, 2008 9:53 am
I really loved the roast pork buns at 9 Chatham Square Restaurant. I've grown up with them and it haven't changed ever since (even to the days when my dad was a teen).
I also love their dai bao (literally translated to "big bun"), which is basically a steamed bun stuffed with a kitchen sink of MEATS. One bun would stuff you for the day (or at least a meal) and it's $1.10.
Tina
January 25, 2008 12:01 am
Oooh a big bun. I need to go get that next time, thank you for the tip!
Danny
January 25, 2008 1:44 pm
Two as a meal? They must be of good size. Last time when we bought baked Cha Shau Bau in Boston, Jason and his friend each garbled 2 and asked if there was more for a snack ...
Atlanta
February 3, 2008 7:11 pm
You know, you make it sound like your in dire straights and without direction, but isn't eating pork buns all the time a pretty good place to be?
I gotta say though, I don't miss the awful long trek down from the UWS to Chinatown. Even with great food, I always wondered what I was doing when I was sitting on the 1.
Nicholas
July 28, 2010 5:52 pm