Snack Attack: Munching on a Pig-Eating Tiger, aka Gua Bao
Snack Attack is your weekly guide to the sometimes flavorful, sometimes smelly, sometimes odd munchies to be had in the capital.
Ok, so this snack isn’t from Beijing at all, it hails from way down off China’s southeast coast. A nice cut of perfectly cooked pork belly, fat and tender bits included, sandwiched with pickled vegetables between a little bun. This is of course, the gua bao.
This little morsel of meaty goodness originally hails from Fujian, and it’s taken up a lot of different names during it’s time on this Earth. Besides gua bao, it’s monikers include: 肉夹包 rou jia bao, 虎咬狮 hu yao shi (tiger bites lion), 虎咬猪 hó͘-kā-ti (tiger bites pig), 扣肉包 khòng-bah-pau, 叉包 cha bao, and 角煮饅頭 kakuni manju.
I first learned of its existence from reading about New York’s food scene in the 2010s, where it gained popularity thanks to Korean-American chef David Chang. Ever since reading about the gua bao, I’d always wanted to try it, but could never find it in Beijing.
This was until I stumbled across a restaurant called 阿公阿嬷酒菜处 Agong Amo Jiucai chu (Grandma & Grandpa’s Restaurant), whose byline reads “A Bite of Taipei”. And a bite of Taipei it offers indeed, with the gua bao being chief on their menu.
I ordered one delivered to home and soon enough was greeted by the large bao filled with succulent fatty pork staring at me from the delivery box. I picked it up and took a first bite.
Suffice to say, it was pretty bomb. The pork melts in your mouth with each bite, supplemented by the crunch of the suancai, peanuts, and a little bit of coriander.
It’s good ‘til the last bite, and it’s got me craving more just thinking about it. Plus at only RMB 28 it’s a steal as a quick snack. Just search for Agong Amo Jiucaichu on Meituan or eleme and score yourself a gua bao (or two, or three) today.
Grandma & Grandpa's Restaurant 阿公阿嬷酒菜处
S2-31, 3F, Sanliutn Taikooli South, Chaoyang District
朝阳区三里屯太古里南区3层S2-31
M178 SOLANA Blue Harbor, 6 Chaoyang Park Road, Chaoyang District
朝阳区朝阳公园路6号SOLANA蓝色港湾M178号
READ: Snack Attack: Do These Meat Pies Bring Good Luck?
Images: Vincent R. Vinci
