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Taiwanese restaurant mini-chain Bao are set to open up a brand new spot.
Bao City will launch on September 26 at Bloomberg Arcade in the Square Mile, joining other Bao outlets in Borough, King’s Cross, Soho and Marylebone, alongside the two branches of Bao Noodle Shop in Shoreditch and Battersea.
If you like the idea of singing with your supper, then you’re in luck. The restaurant will boast two private KTV rooms for classic Taiwanese karaoke. The smaller room is big enough for 10 people while the larger one can pack in 22. There are over 300,000 songs to choose from, so that should keep everyone busy enough, as will the food platters that can be delivered to the rooms, featuring mini baos, fried chicken buckets topped with caviar, and fries with curry sauce. There will also be a hefty drinks menu of spirits, sake bombs and cocktails.
Each room is inspired by a different film. The larger room takes its cues from Edward Yang’s Taipei Story (1985) and mimics the large Fujifilm billboard from the film via a massive LED screen. The 10 person room features nods to Oliver Stone’s Wall Street (1987) with 1980s themed office decor.
Speaking about the new restaurant, Bao creative director Erchen Chang commented: ‘We’re really excited to open BAO City, where we can realise our dream of recreating a Taiwanese karaoke bar right in the centre of the city’s financial district. The space feels very different to our other Bao restaurants, inspired by the neon-lit
Taiwan of the 1980s and 1990s that I grew up in.’
The main restaurant will also have new sharing dishes, including grilled Taiwanese pork neck with a soy glaze, grilled whole fish with yu-shiang sauce and fermented plum sauce-glazed duck breast.
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