{"id":9878,"date":"2016-12-23T15:10:55","date_gmt":"2016-12-23T23:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/?p=9878"},"modified":"2020-07-14T21:36:48","modified_gmt":"2020-07-15T04:36:48","slug":"chinatown-cocktail-crawl-part-4-bao-bei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/chinatown-cocktail-crawl-part-4-bao-bei\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinatown Cocktail Crawl Part 4 – Bao Bei"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Stop #4 of our Chinatown Cocktail Crawl, we found ourselves sitting in the middle of the narrow dining room at Bao Bei<\/a>.\u00a0The place was fully packed even on a\u00a0Monday evening and seemed to be\u00a0the most popular among the places we had visited.<\/p>\n

A Flashback to my\u00a0last visit to the restaurant<\/a>\u00a02 years ago, \u00a0the\u00a0experience at\u00a0the restaurant consists of mixed feelings. Although the dishes seemed authentic, I just didn’t find them exciting\u00a0for anyone who eats Chinese food so often\u00a0like myself. I do like\u00a0simple dishes that are tasty,\u00a0but it is\u00a0hard to justify with paying a lot higher\u00a0for simple Chinese dishes, which are much\u00a0cheaper at traditional Chinese restaurants.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0our visit today\u00a0seemed to be\u00a0much more successful, as we found that representation of integrating Chinese fare\u00a0with western\u00a0elements. The cocktails here were great examples of East meeting West in flavours.<\/p>\n

The Midnight Lucky<\/strong>\u00a0has this smokiness that almost put a\u00a0savoury\u00a0 quality to the drink. The first image\u00a0that jumped to my head was \u00a0the one of the cocktail weiners. \u00a0Consisting of \u00a0gin, spiced orange shrub, smoked lapsang tea and lily flower, the botanical properties of gin and other ingredients pulled the smokiness back, making the drink\u00a0more balanced.<\/p>\n

The Curse of Lo Pan<\/strong>\u00a0seems to be\u00a0inspired by Pisco Sour but with an exotic touch of\u00a0cardamom and some sweetness from Fino Sherry. It was a sweet and sexy drink.<\/p>\n

The Hong Kong Nocturne<\/strong>\u00a0is featuring Chrysanthemum infused white rum, cynar, oloroso sherry and grapefruit.\u00a0The name is inspired by a popular musical in Hong Kong in the 60’s.\u00a0I think I could get\u00a0used to the idea of infusing tea into cocktail, as long as the tea flavour is not over can you buy modafinil over the counter <\/a> powering. The tartness from grapefruit worked nicely with the subtile tea aroma, which was quite enjoyable.<\/p>\n

The Old Master Q<\/strong> sounds right up Kristina’s alley as she loves her bourbon, with\u00a0date infused Bourbon, Averna, dry vermouth, pink peppercorn, and peach bitters. It was\u00a0definitely an experiment of many different flavours, which is why bourbon is such a good one for making powerfully flavourful cocktails.<\/p>\n

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From top to bottom clockwise: Midnight Lucky<\/strong>, The Curse of Lo Pan<\/strong>, Hong Kong Nocturne<\/strong>, Old Master Q<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Cocktails<\/a>
Cocktails @ Bao Bei<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the shared dish, we trusted Kristina’s enthusiastic recommendation of the Beef Tartare<\/strong>, which looked quite straight forward. The flavours of the beef reminded me of Cantonese steamed meat pie, which probably came from white pepper, garlic or\u00a0other Chinese spices. But the whole experience of having a “raw meat pie” was much better than it sounded. I did enjoy the dish and found it a great complement to our cocktails.<\/p>\n

\"Beef<\/a>
Beef Tartare<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Bao<\/a>
Bao Bei @ Chinatown<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bao Bei is known for their hip Modern take on Chinese cuisine. However, their list of original cocktails is more attractive to me and a better representation of the concept than their food menu. Having said that, for pairing sophisticated cocktails, \u00a0simple food dishes worked out for us after all.<\/p>\n

Also see:<\/p>\n

Chinatown Cocktail Crawl Part 1 – Mamie Taylor’s<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Chinatown Cocktail Crawl Part 2 – Juke<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Chinatown Cocktail Crawl Part 3 – Juniper<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Chinatown Cocktail Crawl Part 4 –\u00a0Bao Bei<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Chinatown Cocktail Crawl Part 5 –\u00a0Keefer Bar<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Website and menu:<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/bao-bei.ca\/<\/a><\/p>\n

More reviews:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Bao<\/a><\/p>\n

Location:<\/strong><\/p>\n