Last weekend, I porked-out in Flushing, Chinatown. It was a BUNanza! See, Saturday was the start of Lunar New Year and I decided to celebrate by eating SO MANY pork buns. I visited bakeries and restaurants all over Chinatown and sampled so many savory buns (and one sweet one). It was a delicious, fun self-guided food tour. Ready for some BUN FUN?

PORK BUN 101

“What the heck is a pork bun?” You may be asking. It’s a protein-packed, easy to eat, yummy, grab-and-go Chinese snack or brunch food (dim sum). A fluffy bun with a pork filling that ranges from savory to slightly sweet and often includes chives or onions for flavor and texture. They are typically steamed or baked, best served hot. I found a surprising amount of variety of buns during this BUnanza.

MY BUN BACKGROUND

I grew up just a few short blocks from San Francisco’s Chinatown and pork buns were my favorite after school snack. Back when I was in high school, I could get one for 50 cents! They’re still pretty cheap in Flushing today, most around $2. While I am by no means a pork bun expert, I have been eating them pretty much my whole life.

THE GREAT 2020 CHINATOWN BUNANZA

When I got off at the last stop of 7 train, rain was falling and my appetite was approaching ravenous. By the end of the afternoon, I’d sampled seven (count ’em SEVEN) buns. Here are the buns of my Bunanza:

BUNANZA STOP #1: Feng Mao BBQ
BUN: Steamed Pork
WHAT IT COST: $2.00

When we first started dating, my boyfriend lived in Flushing. On my way to the 7 train on more mornings than I’d like to admit, I would stop at this place for a pork bun breakfast.

The restaurant has two different sections – a small counter at the front for quick snacks (including buns) and the back is full booths for Chinese BBQ. The pork bun I ordered at the counter had a great ratio of pork to bun. The meat was tender and mixed with a good amount of chives. (I’m a fan of greens in my pork bun, green = healthy, right?) The filling here was subtly seasoned, not saucy, and leaves the ingredients to speak for themselves. I stand by this being a great breakfast.

Find Feng Mao BBQ at 136-88 Roosevelt Ave, Flushing, NY 11354

BUNANZA STOP #2: Maxine Cafe
BUN: Steamed Pork
COST: $1.60

Just a couple doors down from Feng Mao, Maxine Cafe is a serve-yourself, no-frills spot. “No frills” is what you want if you’re looking for authentic Chinatown. If you’re eating somewhere with “frills”, like attentive wait staff and any kind of decor, you can be pretty sure it’s Americanized.

Steam poured out as I opened the door to the racks that keep the buns warm and fresh. Tearing the bun in half, I saw like the ones I used to eat after school: a fluffy white, warm, bun filled barbecued pork with sweet onions. So good. Locals at the next table over said this was their favorite pork bun in the area (they also scolded me for not finishing!). The meat was great, pretty lean with no chunks of fat that baker’s of these buns sometimes try to hide with the BBQ sauce. At $1.60 it’s an excellent price for a yummy bun!

Find Maxine Cafe at 136-76 Roosevelt Ave, Flushing, NY 11354

BUNANZA STOP #3: New York Marts
BUN: Steamed Pork
COST: $1.25

This is a Chinese grocery store I’d been in countless times but never realized that it had a bakery with all sorts of buns and pastries. I was skeptical when my Flushing expert fella insisted we go in. Unfortunately, they let their buns sit in plastic containers here – the result was a cold bun where the top had turned hard and the bottom soggy.

It was so disappointing, my face in this shot says it all! Maybe these buns are good in the morning when they’re fresh, but I won’t be going back to check! Not even for that sweet $1.25 bargain price.

Find New York Marts at 142-41 Roosevelt Ave, Flushing, NY 11354

BUNANZA STOP #4: Canaan Cake House
BUN: Steamed Red Bean
COST: $2.50

Canaan Cake House was all out of pork buns at 2pm! Which actually wasn’t too surprising as buns are more of a breakfast thing. I’d compare them to bagels and schmear in that way – most common at breakfast, but also totally acceptable for lunch or a snack. My BUNanza raged from about 1pm-4pm, not exactly ideal timing, but most places were still serving fresh buns of some kind. I got to try something a little different! A red bean bun!

This is a vegetarian and much sweeter than any pork bun. The filling is a sweet red bean paste. This probably sounds weird if you’re never tried it – a sweet bean paste? Yes. Red bean paste is so tasty, I wish it was sold in jars: “Red Bean Butter”. It’s smooth, best served warm, a little nutty in flavor, and mad protein!

I super recommend trying anything in Chinatown that has red bean. The filling of this bun was great, but the outside wasn’t quite as fluffy as I like. Plus the $2.50 price seemed steep, especially as beans are way cheaper than pork!

Find Canaan Cake House at 36-40 Union St, Flushing, NY 11354

BUNANZA STOP #5: Nanbei Food Inc at New World Mall
BUN: Steamed Pork
COST: 4 minis for $4, or 10 for $6.99

My BUNanza got back on track with fresh pork buns at the food court at New World Mall. This is nothing like your typical mall food court. Panda Express would be run outta town! Restaurants here cater to locals, not tourists – so you know the food has to be good. If you are a foodie, this food court needs to be added to your list immediately.

It took us some searching to find a place with pork buns. At restaurants, pork buns are often served more like dumplings, rather than a hand-held snack. This made for a slightly different BUNanza experience – keeping things interesting and a chance to show off my chopstick skills!

Because they weren’t hand-held, these buns got to be saucy, with a different bun to filling ratio. This made the inside super flavorful with a nice amount of chives and other seasoning. The outside wasn’t fluffy on these, more chewy and…I’ll say “dumpling-like” for lack of a better description.

Really yummy buns – I ate two, even though my hunger was long since sated. But I wasn’t stuffed just yet – still more BUNanza to go!

Find Nanbei Food Inc at New World Mall 136-20 Roosevelt Ave, Flushing, NY 11354

BUNANZA STOP #6: Pho Hoang
BUN: Roast Duck
COST: 3 for $7

There’s a take on the traditional Chinese buns that became trendy in the past decade – a sort of open-faced, mash-up of a sandwich and a bun. I wanted to find one for this BUNanza! Pho Hoang is a Vietnamese Restaurant in Chinatown and my fella said they had duck buns that perfectly fit this criteria. I celebrated with duckface for a duck bun:

We had to wait about 10 minutes to get our buns – which felt like an eternity after hardly waiting at any other place. They were also way more expensive than any other bun – yes, after a day of cheap, cheap eats, $7 feels overpriced! Funny, right? Happily, these duck buns were worth the wait and the price. They were a perfect homage to both buns and banh mi. After a day of carbs and pork, the sliced cucumber and cilantro were a revelation.

Find Pho Hoang at 41-01 Kissena Blvd, Flushing, NY 11355

BUNANZA STOP #7: Sheng Jin Eatery
BUN: Steamed Pork
Cost: $1.50

I had to end the Great BUNanza of 2020 with a classic pork bun. So I headed to Sheng Jin Eatery. This small stall on Main Street gives no indication of its name in English – I had to Google it later. That’s authentic Chinatown for you!

This final bun somehow happened to combine the best aspects of all previous buns. I got this last pork bun around 4PM (late!) but it was still perfectly steamy, soft, and fluffy. The filling had a similar flavor to the saucy seasoning of the New World Mall mini buns, plenty of green chives, and the bun to filling ratio was on point.

Even though I was completely stuffed at this point, I still appreciated how good a pork bun this was. Maybe even my favorite of the day! Although it didn’t quite have the nostalgia of the Maxine BBQ pork bun. Honestly, I can’t wait to go back and try a bun from this “eatery” when I’m not completely porked-out!

Find Sheng Jin Eatery at 41-40 Main St, Flushing, NY 11355

I know I missed a TON of amazing pork buns and all sorts of other kinds. Tell me your favorites in Flushing (or NYC) and where I MUST go next BUNanza! I also didn’t get a BAKED PORK BUN – they were surprisingly hard to find late in the day, sorry! Next time your in Chinatown, get a bun and tell me all about it! Thanks for reading.