The Baos DIY Pad Thai Kit and Green Curry Honest Review

For my sister’s birthday, she specifically requested for Thai food. I’ve been eyeing The Baos for awhile now, ever since they showed up on The Tummy Train‘s list of recommended eats to try! Unfortunately, they’re located pretty far from me – at Eastwood, to be exact. So I kept waffling, but as soon as my sister requested for Pad Thai – my brain jumped straight to The Baos.

Without further ado, let’s discuss their food offerings!

The Baos Review Verdict: Distinct Thai Flavor, with an incredibly easy to cook DIY kit concept

 

What I ordered:

**Price indicated based on what I paid for at that time. I believe they’re raising prices soon though 🙁

• Green Curry (PHP 500 for 3-4pax): Ingredients include chicken, curry paste, palm sugar, coconut milk, fish sauce, veggies (eggplant, carrots), kaffir lime leaves, Thai basil
• DIY Pad Thai Kit (PHP 240 for 1-2pax): Includes marinated chicken, rice noodles, sweet/sour/salty sauce, and aromatics (tofu, bean sprout, lime, crushed nuts, chili, chives)

They do have a cooked Pad Thai version, but as I needed to pick up the day before, I decided to purchase the DIY kit instead (which is slightly pricier given more packaging costs), in order to ensure the freshness and preserve the wonderful taste of the pad thai.

 

Ease of Ordering

Ridiculously easy, and they’re SUPER accommodating.

To order, simply message them on their IG page: thebaosbaos

They were actually closed on the date I wished to pick up the food items (fun fact: my sister and the owner’s brother shares the same birthday!), but they were nice enough to help me brainstorm alternatives. In the end, we agreed on picking up the day before – purchasing the green curry cooked (it becomes even yummier when you heat it up again the next day), while opting for the DIY Pad Thai Kit instead.

Payment channel: BPI, Unionbank, GCash

Pickup point: Le Grande 1, Eastwood, QC

 

Packaging

The packaging is SO nice. My OC self is pleased.

Let’s start with the Green Curry first. This was placed in a plastic case, with their logo neatly emblazoned to seal the package. Pretty standard.

Their DIY Pad Thai Kit, on the other hand, was just super cute! On the package itself, you had a barcode, which when scanned will bring you to a Youtube video, which provides step-by-step instructions on how to cook the Pad Thai.

No internet or too lazy to scan the barcode? No worries, each of the ingredients have been carefully sealed (I particularly love the glass jar used to store the sweet and sour sauce!), they’ve provided detailed step-by-step instructions on these sealed packages as well. You just need to arrange from STEPS 1 to STEPS 5!

 

Cooking Instructions

For the Green Curry, simply microwave for 3 minutes, then mix well. It’s a bit icky to look at before mixing because you’ve got all these oil rising to the surface. Just mix well, and I guarantee you’ll be too blown away by the taste to even think of all those oil 😉

On the other hand, the DIY Pad Thai Kit necessitated some additional cooking. But the instructions were supremely clear, and everything was already clearly prepped so this was incredibly easy

STEP 0: Prepare your egg. I really love egg so I went a bit overboard here and used up 5 eggs (for 5 pax). Scramble the egg well and set aside

STEP 1: Grab the mini tub of oil from the tub of noodles. Use about 1/4 of the oil to fry the marinated chicken (in medium low heat). After cooking, set aside the cooked chicken

STEP 2: Using the same pan, add additional oil (if needed) and saute everything in the Aromatics pouch for 1-2 minutes. This pouch has tofu, garlic, onion, and… other stuff (no idea what those are – but you can see it in the photo!)

STEP 3: Dump the tub of noodles into the pan, and toss the noodles to make sure it soaks in all the oil and flavor

STEP 4: Grab the sweet/sour/salty sauce bottle. Shake well, then pour over the noodles in the pan. Increase the heat so that the noodles can absorb all the flavor. Toss the noodles to make sure the sauce is well distributed.

When almost all the sauce has been absorbed, push the noodles to the side, then pour the raw scrambled egg to the pan.

I made a mistake here! Because I used so much egg, my pan was literally swimming in egg. LOL. If you have a lot of egg like me, pour in a couple at a time. Get the egg cooked, move it out of the way, then resume pouring in remaining egg

Once all the eggs have been cooked, mix mix mix!

STEP 5: Add back the cooked chicken, the tub of nuts and chili, chives and the sprouts. Turn off the fire, and keep tossing all these ingredients together so they’re mixed well. Squeeze the lime over the dish

STEP 6: CHOW TIME

 

Taste and Value for Money

Green Curry

I LOVED the Green Curry. It was so spicy, but it’s got that distinct Thai curry flavor that I can’t seem to replicate with my curry powders. Having said that, I did find the serving size rather small. The Large serving (PHP 500) is meant to serve 3-4 pax, but I don’t think it would’ve sufficed for 3-4 pax if this was the only viand purchased.

Verdict: Taste was great – VERY Thai green curry, but I do wish serving size was larger and that there were more fillings inside.

 

Pad Thai

Hmm, I don’t know if my expectations were too high or maybe I didn’t cook it well, but I thought the Pad Thai was just fine. It wasn’t amazingly WOW, but it wasn’t bad either. Overall, I think it was a bit dry (maybe I should’ve taken it off the heat earlier), and I disliked the marinated chicken’s taste.

I really like the DIY packaging though. So even if I wasn’t wowed away by the taste, I think it’s a cute little gimmick and something you can do when you’re too lazy to prep and want something simple and easy to cook for your family.

Verdict: Taste was ok – but the DIY packaging makes up for it!

 

So, would I order again? Maybe. It’s SO far though. Shipping fee is so expensive… But if they come out with new offerings and more DIY kits, I may stock up and order again!