I travel a lot for work. Since having my son I have managed to get travel down about once a quarter. One of the perks of traveling is trying new restaurants, which is right up my alley.

Recently, I was in Knoxville on business and spent the evening at a very quaint restaurant. The atmosphere was so laid back  and actually more of a lounge feel. Many people don’t know this about me but I love Asian cuisine- authentic or fusion, its all deliciousness.

As a home cook it’s incredibly hard to conquer so there won’t be any recipe postings here. One of my favorites which has been so difficult to find in Memphis is Bao.

So imagine my surprise when I ran across a Bao inspired dish in Knoxville. Let me tell you it was pretty darn good. The bun was soft and fluffy with smokey chicken topped with a spicy aioli & Kimchi inspired slaw.

You may be saying, “Jen, when did you start eating Bao buns?” I’m so glad you asked.

A few years ago a my girlfriends and I took a trip to NYC and our curiosity landed us in china town. No doubt we were looking for cliche’ tourist deals that we never found. But what we did find were streets filled with small bakeries and eateries. We had dinner plans, so I thought a snack would be great. I ended up to full to eat dinner and perfectly satisfied with the chicken & pork filled bao.

That’s when my obsession with this amazing asian inspired savory pastry began. Not since my first Jamaican meat pie as a child had I ever been so happy with a protein wrapped in a pastry 🙂 .