LOCATION: Eat.St at King’s Cross, King’s Boulevard, N1 – see Eat.St website for location, opening times and stalls.
PRICE: £3 for 1, £5 for 2.
BREAD: Chinese steamed bun.
FILLING: Pork belly, cucumber slices, spring onion, hoisin sauce, Sriracha chilli sauce.
PROS: Oh sweet, sweet happy joy! This is a stunning sandwich. The main event is a thick slice of tender pork belly, including a very important strip of wibbly wobbly silken fat. I think the pork belly is pre-simmered with aromatics (e.g. star anise and Chinese cinnamon), then re-heated in the steamer to serve. Whatever, it’s lush. The richness of the soft meat and gleaming fat is offset by discs of crunchy cuke and the punch of shredded spring onion. A drizzle of sticky hoisin provides sweet n’ spice, and Sriracha sauce, gentle heat. And the textures! That bun is a cloud-like bundle of pure pillowy heaven; the fluffiest example I’ve eaten. My friend declared it better than any he’s tried in New York, including the Momofuku version. I wouldn’t know because I haven’t been. What I can say however is that I went back for a second, despite that fact I’d demolished the first one plus another sandwich from another stall (I was very hungry), because I couldn’t take my mind off the thing the whole way back to the station.
CONS: None. Will I ever give anyone a perfect 10/10? It’s possible, but something incredible needs to happen. This bun is faultless nonetheless. Yum Bun, indeed.
SCORE: 9/10
Like this:
Tags: Chinese sandwich, eat street at king's cross, Eat. st at king's cross, King's Cross, London's best sandwiches, mantou, N1, pork belly sandwich London, pork belly steamed Chinese bun, sandwiches king's cross, steamed Chinese bun, street food London, yum bun pork belly, Yum Bun review
Waking up in the morning & reading this post first thing has set me up for a very good day. Thanks!!
Eat.St is fabulous! I was there Friday and brought a friend new to London, and his eyes were on stalks. I got to try Buen Provecho for the first time, too. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what the fuss is about – his salsas and guacamole are amazing, but I wasn’t convinced by my chile verde enchiladas. My friend raved about the pibil though, so it might be that my pork avoidance keeps me from appreciating it fully. Oh well.
Oh yeah, the pork pibil is by far the best one! That’s such a shame. I was there Friday too. We may have been chomping away next to each other.
Momofuku’s version is pretty damn sexy so this HAS TO BE TRIED. I tried making these at home about a year ago and it was a disaster, mainly because I went to the pub ‘just for one’ and proceeded to get hammered and forgot about my proving buns.
Well, I wouldn’t know about the Momofuku version so please don’t blame me if it isn’t as good! Yes I remember you telling me about BUN GATE. I tried making them too and they came out fairly well but I didn’t think they were quite light enough, so didn’t post the recipe.
Wish I worked closer to Yum Bun…
I am in complete agreement. I first tried Yum Bun at Hackney Broadway Market last year and it was indeed a near perfect sandwich experience!
Excellent! Great to hear some more love for the Yum Bun.
Reblogged this on Either/Or/Bored and commented:
In London? Please send me this sandwich!!!! next day delivery pls.
My (American) friend Rachel lives in Mortlake just across the street from an American Sandwich Deli called ‘Pickle and Rye’. May I suggest you meander over there some day?
Hi Jen. Yeah, Pickle and Rye has been on my list for ages and I’ve been talking to them on Twitter. Only prob is it’s a right bastard for me to get to. That said, might amble over this weekend.
Eat.st needs to open in West London. Yeah, k, thanks, bye.
And SOUTH LONDON SOUTH SOUTH!
I’ve only just seen this… Better than Momofuku? Sounds a brilliant reason to try it… As I loved their pork belly buns. I’m a greedy glutton.
According to my mate, yes! I can’t say though as I’ve never been. I know these ones are bloody delicious though.