It’s been two months since my last Twin Cities restaurant report (of two lunches at two locations of El Super Taco) but here I am again. I have for you today a look at a restaurant we’ve been wanting to eat at for the last seven months: Zao Bakery + Cafe. They opened on University Ave. in St. Paul (where else?) just short of Dale last December and were rapturously received by the masses for their self-service offerings of Chinese buns and dumplings and other snacks as well as a limited offering of noodles, noodle soups and congees from the kitchen. These are all things we enjoy very much and hence our desire to eat there. Why it took so long, I can’t quite explain but we did finally get there last weekend. And I am glad to report that we were not disappointed in the slightest by it. Herewith the details.
The family that owns Zao Cafe also apparently owns Basil Cafe next door (or is part of the same extended family). The interior of Zao Cafe has a similar stylish modern interior. Lots of blonde wood, lots of windows, lots of bright natural light. The interior is divided into two sections. On the left as you enter are the display cases where the prepared dumplings and buns and so forth are housed. You pick up a tray and a pair of tongs and make your selections from the labeled cases as you make your way down to the cashier. Here you pay for what you’ve selected and return the tongs. You can also place your order here for any of the hot dishes (there will be a menu on the table where you pick up the tray and tongs). If you’re getting your food to go (as many customers were on Sunday) you take your order and fuck off.
If you’re eating in you head to the other side and hope there’s a table free. This was a bit of an issue at first on Sunday as there aren’t very many tables and all the four-tops were taken when we arrived. Two trays full of goodies in hand, we grabbed two adjacent two-tops and then moved to a four-top when one opened up—which luckily was before our hot dishes arrived (you get called from the kitchen window when your order is ready and pick it up yourself). After that the seating area emptied quite dramatically; I guess a lot of people come for breakfast/brunch rather than lunch.
What did we eat? A lot. We couldn’t decide on a reasonable order of the buns and things and solved the problem by getting an unreasonable number of things to taste and taking unfinished portions home to eat the next day. Our selection from the cases included the following:
- Hot Pork Floss Bun: Very good.
- Hot Dog Flower Bun: Striking looking but just okay, we thought.
- BBQ Pork Bun: This was the baked incarnation and was quite good.
- BBQ Pork Steamed Bun: Also quite good.
- Pork Steamed Bun: But we preferred the plainer version.
- Ham Sui Gok: These fried glutinous rice dumplings had a curry beef filling and were excellent.
- Egg Tart: Quite good.
- Sesame Ball: Decent.
- Youtiao: We got a couple of these fried dough sticks to eat with the congee we also ordered.
Speaking of which, we also got three dishes from the kitchen:
- Sesame Noodles: We got this with the ginger chicken topping (the other options include shrimp, meatball and tofu+mushroom) and it was very good; and it packed an unexpected kick.
- Congee: We got it with shrimp and it was excellent.
- Egg Noodles: We got it with roast duck (the other options are ginger chicken, red bbq pork, and pork +shrimp wonton + red bbq pork) and it was very tasty as well, especially with a bit of the excellent chilli oil added from the container at the table.
Portion sizes are pretty large for everything and predictably we ended up getting a brown paper takeout bag and taking a fair bit of the smaller things home to eat the next day.
For a look at the restaurant and everything we ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much it all cost and to see what’s coming next on the food front.
In addition to the portions being large, prices are also quite reasonable. All of the above plus a hot ginseng coffee and a soda plus tax and tip was just short of $100. Once again, we took away lots of leftovers. Service was also extremely friendly and helpful. All in all, the place had a very nice vibe. If we lived within easy reach we’d probably swing by often to pick up snacks to eat at home with tea; and I’d probably hit that congee up quite often for a quick nourishing breakfast or lunch. If you do live closer and haven’t been yet, I recommend them highly. Keep in mind that they are only open till 5 pm (they open at 9) and are closed on Thursdays.
Alright, what’s next on the food front? If our plans hold, I should have another Asian restaurant report from St. Paul next Wednesday. Before that, however, I’ll be finishing up my reports from Tokyo this week and getting started early next week on either Kyoto (where we went from Tokyo) or Seoul (where we went from Kyoto).