I grew up eating pork buns from Mei Li Wah.  They are my favorite because:

• bun has great flavor, elasticity, and perfect sweetness
• great filling flavor.  Pork is cut in chunks, not minced.
• filling is not artificially dyed red
• no onions

These pork buns do have two drawbacks, they are smaller then others and sometimes you’ll find small chunks of fat in the filling (some call this flavor).  Even with these drawbacks, they are still my favorite roast pork buns in Chinatown Manhattan. My family started buying from Mei Li Wah because it was the only place that sold steamed beef rice noodle dim sum with sliced beef, not minced meat.  This was the best steamed beef rice noodle in town.  As long as I could remember, there were two grumpy old men you would always see behind the counter every day.  Even though these two old men never smiled and spoke abrasively to all customers, there was always a line, mostly buying dozens of pork buns.  A few years ago, the owners changed, the grumpy men were replaced with young ladies, the menu changed, and recipes changed like the beef rice noodle now have minced meat.  Thankfully, the pork bun recipe has stayed the same.

Do you have a favorite roast pork bun bakery?

Talk Soon,
The Dumpling Mama xo

Mei Lai Wah, 64 Bayard Street, New York, 212-966-7866, meiliwah.com