braised – Michael Eats

Great Buns at Mom’s Pan Fried Bun

Published on January 26, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 780 Burnhamthorpe Road West, Mississauga
Website: https://momspanfriedbun.com/

Mom’s Pan Fried Bun is a popular place. The first time I tried to visit, it was packed, with a mob of people waiting for a table. I showed up a few weeks later — earlier this time, at around 10:30am on a Saturday. I got a table right away, but by the time I left, it was packed, with a mob of people waiting for a table.

I tried a couple of things, and yeah — I get it. It’s quite good.

Of course, you’ve gotta try the pan-fried buns. They have a couple of varieties on the menu: braised pork, and fresh pork. I went with the braised pork, which was really, really tasty. The pork is flavourful, the filling has a good amount of moisture without being overly soupy, and the bun itself is perfectly fluffy and fresh.

That’s not to mention the delightfully crispy bottom, which adds some great texture and contrasts nicely with the soft pastry and the tender filling.

I also tried the braised pork, a delightful Taiwanese dish in which ultra-tender chopped pork is served in a savoury sauce on top of rice. This was fatty, tender, saucy, and delicious, with the zingy pickled mustard greens on the side doing a great job of cutting through the dish’s richness.

Pork Overload at Fushi Co.

Published on November 23, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 4186 Finch Avenue East, Scarborough
Website: https://fushi.co/

Fushi Co. mostly caught my eye thanks to the photos of the pork and rice they have posted in the window of their restaurant, which reminded me a lot of a mind-blowing pork dish I had in Taipei. That was back in 2019, and I still occasionally think about it. I’ll be sitting there minding my own business, and boom, I’m thinking about that pork. It was magical.

The dish I had here was a bit more deluxe — I could have had the one which just comes with braised pork knuckle, which I believe would have pretty much been identical to the one from Taiwan. But the “Signature Four Happiness Pork” comes with pork knuckle, pork belly, a bone with a decent amount of meat attached, and intestines. Why yes, I would like all the pork.

Is it too much pork? I think it’s too much pork. Certainly, it’s more pork than any reasonable person should eat in one sitting. But did I eat it all? You bet I did. Did I feel good about it after? I sure didn’t!

It’s quite tasty. All the pork is reasonably tender (even the intestine, which has none of the chewiness or gaminess you might expect), and the deeply savoury flavour is very satisfying. I wish there had been some kind of hot sauce or chili oil to kick things up, but such is life.

It’s not even remotely as good as the Taiwanese pork of my dreams (that was legitimately one of the best things I’ve ever eaten), but it’s still an enjoyable dish. Plus, at 15 bucks for enough rice and meat to comfortably feed two, it’s a great deal.

Tasty Buns at Bao Mama

Published on April 4, 2023April 4, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 100 City Centre Drive, Mississauga
Website: https://baomama.ca/

Bao Mama currently has a temporary pop-up in the Food District at Square One (until April 16th), but if you miss them there, you can check out their permanent location in Scarborough. And you might want to do that, because their Filipino-inspired buns are thoroughly tasty.

The first one I tried was the hip hipon crispy shrimp bao, which features crispy fried shrimp topped with a zingy sauce and “Asian house slaw.” The shrimp was a bit overcooked, but this was otherwise quite satisfying, with a nice contrast between the fluffy bao and the crispy fried shrimp, not to mention the tasty slaw and the slightly sweet sauce.

I also tried the triple B braised beef asado bao, which is stuffed with a generous amount of tender braised beef, and topped with the house slaw and crispy onions. This was easily my favourite of the two; that ultra-tender, very flavourful beef is something special.

They have a tangy, sweet chili sauce you can get on the side, and this stuff is a must — it complements both baos perfectly, and does a great job of amping up the flavours and adding a mild kick.

Asian Fusion Sandwiches at Just Braise

Published on January 8, 2020 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 515 Dundas Street West, Oakville
Website: https://www.justbraise.ca/

The Pho Beef Banh Mi at Just Braise in Oakville is pretty much exactly what you want it to be; it is the Brundlefly version of a bowl of pho and a banh mi, and it’s delicious.

Here’s how the menu describes it: “braised beef, pho sauce, pickled veg, cucumber, garlic mayo, hoisin+sriracha, cilantro.”

The combo of the beef and the pho sauce does a great job of capturing the flavour of that particular soup. The only issue: the beef was actually pretty dry, which holds the sandwich back from greatness.

Everything else was quite tasty — the pickled veggies and the crunchy cucumber add a nice bright counterpoint to the savoury beef, and the garlic mayo / hoisin / sriracha combo compliments the beef very well.

It helps that the bread is perfect; it’s lightly crispy on the outside, with a great fluffy interior. It’s a tasty sandwich.

Tasty Chicken at Yang’s Braised Chicken Rice

Published on November 11, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 780 Burnhamthorpe Road West, Mississauga
Website: http://yangschicken.ca/

Yang’s Braised Chicken Rice is a Chinese chain that recently opened seven simultaneous locations in the GTA. Opening one restaurant is tricky enough; I can’t even imagine what must go into opening so many at the same time.

Whatever kinks they had (and there must have been kinks) since opening in September have clearly been worked out; the food and service were both top-notch. Apparently they have over six thousand locations worldwide, so I guess opening seven more is no big deal.

As you can probably guess from the name, Yang’s specializes in braised chicken rice, a dish in which tender, saucy braised chicken is served with a bowl of rice.

You can either get it standard or boneless (I went with the former), and you can pick your spice level (I picked “authentic,” which was actually quite mild; I’ll probably go spicier next time).

It seemed a bit simple at first, but it really grew on me; by the time I was done, I was 100 percent into it.

The chicken is quite tender, and has a nice soy-sauce-infused flavour from the braising liquid. Combined with the rice and the richly flavourful sauce, it’s surprisingly addictive.

Oddly enough, however, the chicken wasn’t the highlight — it was the slices of mushroom in the sauce. These things do an amazing job of soaking up all the flavour from the dish; they’re basically chewy little flavour bombs. They’re delightful.