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Buns at Mayhem Saveurs Asiatiques
Mayhem Saveurs Asiatiques/Facebook

Where to Feast on Savory Chinese Buns in Montreal

A dozen spots for standout bao, as well as roujiamo, aka “Chinese hamburgers”

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Buns at Mayhem Saveurs Asiatiques
| Mayhem Saveurs Asiatiques/Facebook

Meat and bread: for carnivores, what’s not to like? These two ingredients form the foundation of two Chinese approaches to this classic canon: the snacks known as bao and roujiamo.

Lotus leaf buns, or bao, are fluffy clamshell-shaped steamed breads folded around a variety of fillings. With roots in South China’s Fujian province, this handheld snack is a staple dish in many Asian countries and regions, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Here in Montreal, diners can enjoy bao stuffed with everything from soft-shell crab to kimchi to karaage (Japanese fried chicken). Roujiamo (literally “meat wedged in bread”) is a flat, saucer-sized griddled bread, split and stuffed with tender beef, lamb, or pork. Sometimes referred to as a Chinese hamburger, it hails from the Shaanxi province, but is increasingly found here, thanks in part to Chinese expats who can’t live without it.

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Mayhem Saveurs Asiatiques

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The Plateau’s restaurant and sangria bar offers a selection of bao named after Asian cities on its menu: the Taiwan features pork belly, the Saigon is filled with tofu, and the Seoul is all about fried chicken.

Three Chinese steamed bao on a wooden board.
Three Chinese steamed bao on a wooden board.
Mayhem Saveurs Asiatiques/Facebook

This Chinatown standby has a pastry shop on one side and all manner of dim sum and Hong Kong style stuffed buns on the other. Check out their special roujiamo, called “the Mo’s Bun” with barbecue pork, and kimchi chicken or beef.

MajesThé Asian Restaurant & Bar MajesThé

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Pork belly, karaage, or crispy fried tofu are the bao stars of this Taiwanese fusion restaurant and bar across the street from McGill. With fresh homemade bubble tea upstairs in the daytime and cocktails downstairs in a cozy nighttime speakeasy, there’s no excuse to miss out. 

Nouilles Zhonghua

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There’s plenty of Chinese homestyle food here, including pulled noodles, but don’t miss the “Chinese Burger” featured front and centre on their menu; this one’s filled with pork. Order cold dishes like spicy tofu strips or shredded potato salad and make a picnic of it on the McGill campus (when the weather’s right).

East Pan Asiatique Cuisine et Bar

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Situated in the downtown Renaissance hotel, here visitors can feast on bao stuffed with Peking duck, crispy chicken, or a braised pork filling featuring five-spice, sesame, peanuts, Thai basil, and green mustard cabbage.

Two steamers filled with meat and vegetable stuffed bao.
Two steamers filled with meat and vegetable stuffed bao.
EAST/Facebook

This elegant restaurant offers roujiamo with tofu, and the option of adding on barbecued lamb. Mei is also one of the few places in town making jianbing, a crispy pancake stuffed with egg and crunchy dough bites, for a carb snack beyond compare. 

La Maison du Nord

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Noodles galore and a roujiamo with pork — called simply “pork sandwich” — are featured on the menu of this Concordia-adjacent restaurant, alongside “lamb with pita,” a larger-sized flatbread stuffed with lamb and then fried.

Chef Lee

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This Shaughnessy Village establishment (owned by the same dumpling mavens who own Sammi and Soupe Dumpling and Qing Hua Dumpling) serves up classic Shanghai-style pork belly bao alongside Beijing-style smoked meat, crispy garlic chicken, and teriyaki beef or mushrooms fillings. 

Bar Otto

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Softshell crab bao are on the menu at this Little Burgundy outpost of the Otto brand, just as creative and delicious as everything else on the menu. 

Satay Brothers

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Stuffed with pork belly, fried chicken, tofu, tempeh, or just served plain, Satay Bros is a local favourite for bao of all kinds. 

A large steamer filled with Chinese buns.
A large steamer filled with Chinese buns.
Satay Brothers/Facebook

Monkland’s Sichuan restaurant features Taiwanese-style pork and soft-shell crab bao as part of their voluminous menu. 

Restaurant Mai Tian

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Brossard’s Mai Tian calls their roujiamo a pork bread pie, one of several traditional Chinese breads on their menu. Check out their sesame-studded shao bing flatbreads featuring pork or beef with green onion and pan-fried leek dumplings, perfect with Northern-style thick noodles with soybean paste.

Mayhem Saveurs Asiatiques

The Plateau’s restaurant and sangria bar offers a selection of bao named after Asian cities on its menu: the Taiwan features pork belly, the Saigon is filled with tofu, and the Seoul is all about fried chicken.

Three Chinese steamed bao on a wooden board.
Three Chinese steamed bao on a wooden board.
Mayhem Saveurs Asiatiques/Facebook

Bao

This Chinatown standby has a pastry shop on one side and all manner of dim sum and Hong Kong style stuffed buns on the other. Check out their special roujiamo, called “the Mo’s Bun” with barbecue pork, and kimchi chicken or beef.

MajesThé Asian Restaurant & Bar MajesThé

Pork belly, karaage, or crispy fried tofu are the bao stars of this Taiwanese fusion restaurant and bar across the street from McGill. With fresh homemade bubble tea upstairs in the daytime and cocktails downstairs in a cozy nighttime speakeasy, there’s no excuse to miss out. 

Nouilles Zhonghua

There’s plenty of Chinese homestyle food here, including pulled noodles, but don’t miss the “Chinese Burger” featured front and centre on their menu; this one’s filled with pork. Order cold dishes like spicy tofu strips or shredded potato salad and make a picnic of it on the McGill campus (when the weather’s right).

East Pan Asiatique Cuisine et Bar

Situated in the downtown Renaissance hotel, here visitors can feast on bao stuffed with Peking duck, crispy chicken, or a braised pork filling featuring five-spice, sesame, peanuts, Thai basil, and green mustard cabbage.

Two steamers filled with meat and vegetable stuffed bao.
Two steamers filled with meat and vegetable stuffed bao.
EAST/Facebook

Mei

This elegant restaurant offers roujiamo with tofu, and the option of adding on barbecued lamb. Mei is also one of the few places in town making jianbing, a crispy pancake stuffed with egg and crunchy dough bites, for a carb snack beyond compare. 

La Maison du Nord

Noodles galore and a roujiamo with pork — called simply “pork sandwich” — are featured on the menu of this Concordia-adjacent restaurant, alongside “lamb with pita,” a larger-sized flatbread stuffed with lamb and then fried.

Chef Lee

This Shaughnessy Village establishment (owned by the same dumpling mavens who own Sammi and Soupe Dumpling and Qing Hua Dumpling) serves up classic Shanghai-style pork belly bao alongside Beijing-style smoked meat, crispy garlic chicken, and teriyaki beef or mushrooms fillings. 

Bar Otto

Softshell crab bao are on the menu at this Little Burgundy outpost of the Otto brand, just as creative and delicious as everything else on the menu. 

Satay Brothers

Stuffed with pork belly, fried chicken, tofu, tempeh, or just served plain, Satay Bros is a local favourite for bao of all kinds. 

A large steamer filled with Chinese buns.
A large steamer filled with Chinese buns.
Satay Brothers/Facebook

Gia Ba

Monkland’s Sichuan restaurant features Taiwanese-style pork and soft-shell crab bao as part of their voluminous menu. 

Restaurant Mai Tian

Brossard’s Mai Tian calls their roujiamo a pork bread pie, one of several traditional Chinese breads on their menu. Check out their sesame-studded shao bing flatbreads featuring pork or beef with green onion and pan-fried leek dumplings, perfect with Northern-style thick noodles with soybean paste.