Bun House Chinatown

This follow-up to Bun House on Greek Street makes for great window shopping, with big bamboo baskets steaming in full view and a line of would-be diners queuing at the counter to order.

The food is available to takeaway, which should probably have been the limit of Bun House’s ambitions; nothing about our meal felt remotely conducive to eating in, from the tiny tables and cramped chairs to the get-your-own sauces and chopsticks and the lack of crockery and glassware.

We’d have been prepared to overlook all of this, though, had the food been revelatory but what we ate was average at best. The signature doughy buns – pork, beef, chicken and lamb – are all-right enough, but too starchy to make a meal of. Pork and prawn shumai needed a hefty dab of chilli sauce to taste interesting.

Smashed cucumber is served with chilli sauce in a paper cup; another paper cup contained the best thing we ate, spongy, funky tripe scattered with coriander and chilli. Put off by the sad little mound of chicken-wing bones piled directly on the tabletop, we decided to call it a day rather than wait for a beef-brisket rice pot which showed no sign of appearing.      

This kind of homespun amateurishness would be forgivable in a street-food market at the end of a tube line, but not moments from Leicester Square in one of Europe’s biggest Chinatowns. Bun House is certainly cheap, but nothing about it made us cheerful.

This sequel to the original Bun House on Soho’s Greek Street finds its home just a few minutes away in bustling Chinatown.

A two-floor space, the basement at Bun House features a small number of round tables providing seating for just 18 guests overall, while the significantly larger space upstairs is designed for snacking and drinking.

The menu is largely the same as the one at the original site, and includes the char siu pork belly “Pig Bun,” the cumin-spiced lamb bun, and the popular sweet custard bun as a dessert option. However, there is the new additions of a beef brisket bun that graces the menu.

If soft, fluffy bao buns aren't tempting enough, Bun House also offers up an interesting array of cantonese small plates. From larger dishes of prawn and bamboo shoot dumplings, pork shu mai or salted lemon wings to the lighter selection of pickled cucumber, bergamot bean shoot salad or wok fried cabbage. For a more adventurous option, Bun House offers monster much and fish floss chips or squid ink congee. 

This site also boasts a small hatch inside the restaurant, which serves up traditional street food snacks, including curried fish balls and traditional rice noodle rolls.

Drinks meanwhile, see craft beers from Hong Kong, and a range of tea-based cocktails. For soft drinks, Bun House has a selection of teas- both cold and hot - including a sour plum ice tea. 

For a simple taste of cantonese cuisine, take a trip to Bun House for a great selection of hot, fluffy bao buns to eat in or takeway that won't break the bank.