[1] When Hongkonger Jay Yip Kin-heng and his wife, Jessica Hui Mung-sze, arrived in Vancouver, Canada, in 2020, they never thought that they would open their own business just two years later. But last December, they launched Petite Bao. The shop serves Asian-inspired burger fillings between two Chinese-style steamed buns, or bao.
[2] The restaurant has fitted right into its location in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood. This area has many small, independent businesses. Petite Bao has won over residents with its Asian burger concept and vegan options.
[3] The most popular bao items on the menu are the pork belly bao seasoned with sesame sauce, lemongrass barbecue sauce, shiso and pickled red onion; the buttermilk fried chicken bao dressed with Zhejiang vinegar, cucumber kimchi, coleslaw, honey mustard mayonnaise and jalapeño; and the Canadian Wagyu bao with confit tomato, Cheddar cheese, shiso, caramelised onions and crispy bacon. The steamed white buns might sound familiar because the couple said they visited Little Bao in Hong Kong and liked the concept. But at the time, they never thought of opening something similar in Vancouver.
[4] Yip and Hui arrived in Vancouver at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020. Yip and his family were already Canadian citizens; they immigrated in 2001 when he was 10 years old. He grew up in Vancouver. After graduating from secondary school, he returned to Hong Kong and studied business administration at Hong Kong Open University. In 2014, his family opened a Korean takeaway on Kimberley Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, where he entered the restaurant business by helping out.
[5] In 2018, he enrolled in the Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Shanghai for a one-year course. By this point, he had already met Hui, who was working in a shop down the street from the Yips’ business. Their mutual love of food led her to join him in Shanghai after they married. There, she learned how to make bread because she loved eating it.
[6] After a year, the couple returned to Hong Kong and both found work at high-end French restaurant L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon. Yip also worked at Épure, in Tsim Sha Tsui’s Harbour City mall, and The Pawn, in Wan Chai, before they moved to Canada. Yip started a catering business and worked as a sous chef at the popular Canadian restaurant chain Earls for about a year and a half.
[7] By 2022, the couple had decided to open their own place. They wanted to combine Asian food with the popularity of burgers, which led to the bao. It took Hui three months of working with a locally based Chinese pastry chef to come up with a steamed white bun that was neither too soft nor too dense.
[8] Petite Bao has also just launched a plant-based bao using OmniFoods’ golden fried “fish” fillet and “luncheon meat”, which is diced and fried to simulate the flavour of bacon. The dish is paired with Brussels sprouts. And, just in time for summer, Yip plans to unveil a brunch menu with Asian influences and possibly dessert.
Source: South China Morning Post, March 24
Questions
1. According to paragraph 1, what dish is sold in Petite Bao?
2. Decide whether the following statements are True, False or the information is Not Given in paragraphs 2 and 3. Blacken ONE circle only for each statement. (4 marks)
(i) Petite Bao is in a neighbourhood that is famous for its variety of vegan food options.
(ii) All of Petite Bao’s bestselling items do not have meat.
(iii) The couple got their idea for Petite Bao from another restaurant that sells similar items.
(iv) It was the couple’s lifelong dream to open an eatery in Vancouver.
3. Put the following ingredients mentioned in paragraph 3 in their respective categories below. (3 marks)
4. Find a word in paragraph 4 that refers to “a shop that sells meals that you eat somewhere else”.
5. In paragraph 5, what did Hui pick up while she was in Shanghai, and why? (2 marks)
6. Yip and Hui were colleagues at according to paragraph 6.
A. The Pawn
B. Épure
C. L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon
D. Earls
7. Who helped Hui come up with the bao recipe used at Petite Bao?
8. Find a word in paragraph 8 that means “to make something seem like something else”.
9. Arrange the events in Yip’s life in chronological order. The first one has been done for you. (4 marks)
A. He moved to Canada and obtained citizenship. 1
B. He went to study in Shanghai for a year. _____
C. He worked in high-end restaurants in Hong Kong. _____
D. He started his own business with Hui. _____
E. He started working in his family’s restaurant. _____
Hongkongers Jay Yip Kin-heng and Jessica Hui Mung-sze opened their restaurant in 2022. Credit: Petite Bao
Answers
1. Asian-inspired burger fillings between two Chinese-style steamed buns / Asian-inspired burger fillings between bao
2. (i) NG; (ii) F; (iii) T; (iv) F
3. Types of meat: pork belly; Wagyu
Types of sauces: Zhejiang vinegar; honey mustard mayonnaise
Extra fillings: jalapeño; caramelised onions
4. takeaway
5. She learned how to make bread because she loved eating it.
6. C
7. a Chinese pastry chef based in Vancouver
8. simulate
9. B (3); C (4); D (5); E (2)
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