REVIEW: Folkestone Street Food: The Bao Baron

Chef and bread enthusiast Greig Hughes creates a flavour rave on Folkestone’s Harbour Arm

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It’s not exactly breaking news to reveal the obsession the nation currently has with street food. But it is oh so delightful when you find a trader that is A) different, and B) packed with imagination.

Down on Folkestone’s trendelicious (yes, it’s a word) Harbour Arm, local chef Greig Hughes has decided that this summer was the right time to transform into his alter-ego. By day he is a baker at the seaside town’s ever-rising Docker Bakery (@dockerbakery), but by night (and weekends - 12pm til sold out ), he is known as The Bao Baron (@thebaobaron).

If you are a fan of the Asian-style steamed buns, then this guy is gonna knock your flip flops off. We know this because, as with all our reviews, we went to try it out first before we tell you.

The melt-in-your-mouth, lighter-than-air buns provide the platform, but the flavour rave that gets your tongue bouncing comes from the carefully curated fillings.

On our visit we tried all of the below:

  • Lamb, pomegranate molasses, purple french beans and pickled ginger

  • Pork shoulder, plum porter and soy, red cabbage and puffed rice

  • Sriracha cauliflower sunomono (Japanese cucumber salad dressed with sweet vinegar) and vegan mayo (ve)

  • Miso aubergine, spiced beans and pickled carrot

You can choose any two for £6.50 or three for £9. Get three. Trust us.

Each bun has its own unique flavour and offers a tasting menu-style mini dish (in a recyclable box) all on its own. The little touches that Greig administers really make each bun stand out. For example, his own take on Mexican-style refried beans in the Miso aubergine bun, or the tastebud tingling, homemade pomegranate molasses. How do you even do that?

The former chef at Samphire, Whitstable, Greig (but please always address him as ‘Baron’) also offers rice bowls for something more hearty, as well as a proud range good local beverages in the form of Hope & Patience beer and The Bye Bye Sky Green Tea Saison from Faversham’s Boutilliers Brewery, or the Nightingale Cider from Tenterden, or the Life in 3D beer from nearby Docker.

Each element of the experience is focused on flavour and a bit of adventure for the palate. It’s really worth a trip.

And if al that isn’t enough for you, you can also sit on the harbour arm and watch paddleboarders continuously fall off their SUPs. Heaven.


For updated menus and opening times visit https://www.facebook.com/thebaobaron/




Food and DrinkJoe BillNews, Street Food, The Bao Baron, Folkestone, Folkestone Harbour Arm, Docker Bakery, #Keepitkent