(Photo: Daniel Maurer)
We’ve already added a pair of ramen mash-ups to your to-eat list today, but allow us to add another must-try. Jum Mum, the bun spot on St. Marks Place, recently added fried bao to its menu. The fried buns, which are going for $4.30, are filled with Korean-style BBQ beef, lettuce, carrots, fried onions, cilantro and spicy BBQ sauce.
This isn’t the first time an East Village spot has crisped its pliant buns — the Coffin Bao at Eddie Huang’s Baohaus puts fried chicken or fried fish between fried buns for extra artery-clog. But Jum Mum’s BBQ beef tucked inside of a sweet, crisped disc of fried dough is pretty much the Korean equivalent of the Luther burger. Order one as an appetizer before snagging some soup dumplings at The Bao, a few doors down.