Thailicious on Mitchell Street has punched a hole in the atmosphere, puffing fresh air into Darwin with its hole-in-the-wall take away of bahn mi and gua bao.

A gua-what now?

Aptly illustrated with chalk above, the gua bao consists of a Taiwanese steamed bun stuffed with sauce, greens and meat. It’s like a open faced fluffy sandwich.

The menu boasts 5 different fillings: braised pork, roast pork, fried chicken, chili beef and fried tofu. You can mix and match what fillings you’d like. We were keen on trying all, but they had run out of the roasted pig :(
We ordered a combo and a couple of extra baos just to cover all bases.

Our orders took aaaages to arrive – there was quite a lunch queue and I suppose being new they were still working out kinks in their system. The food is prepared in Thailicious’s kitchen above, then with some muscle, pulled down a service chute. (I didn’t think kitchens still used it, I was amused and delighted with.)

Finally, finally when we heard our names called. We ran to the counter to collect the baos and it was like welcoming an old friend home!

Gosh they are delicious :D

Cucumbers were thinly sliced with just enough corriander to give the baos a fresh lift. The roasted peanuts were satisfyingly crunchy and had a hint of sugar, complementing the hoi sin’s thick gooey texture. The white fluff cakes were steamed to perfection too, no soggy over-steamed bums there!

And my, oh my, the fillings were so good. The braised pork was succulent but firm, the chili beef was enjoyably spicy. (My tongue was intact and did not catch on fire, hooray.) My personal favourite was definitely the fried chicken gua bao – meat juicy, skin crispy as.
All amazing.

I think the only disappointment of the whole meal was the fried tofu. The triangle was very dry and lacked in the flavour department, compared to the other baos. Le brain would NOT stop wishing for a slathering of spicy Malaysian peanut sauce over the top, which I think would have made my belly a happy chappy.

I must give extra thumbs up to the sweet potato fries! They’re fluffy on the inside and crunchy outside, a combination chippy heaven is made of. (Oh, we paired it with Japanese mayo too. So yummy.)

The 3 baos for $12 deal is a pretty decent meal for any guy or gal, and 2 baos for $8 if you want to take it easy. My rusty brain kept going back to the fries and drink combo price though – I wish it made me feel like I was saving more.

In any case, it was a very delicious meal and I can't wait to get my next pile of baos!