I’ve decided to do a new “Tried & Tested” blog series featuring locally made products & small business that I love. If you have any suggestions of awesome small businesses to check out – please email me at: editor@capetownmylove.com ♥
I have to tell you, I’ve never met a dumpling I didn’t like… And going out to enjoy a little mixed plate of dim sum also used to be a favourite pastime of mine. BUT having delicious, ready-made dumplings in your freezer, ready for you to whip out & cook in just a few minutes whenever you like?? Well now that’s just absolute genius…
Enter: Home Bao – the home of “bite-sized happiness”, or as I’d like to call it: A delicious, flavourful slap in the face! 😉
Home Bao specialises in frozen dumplings and potstickers, but they also sell a few other things like Asian sauces, mayos, vinegars & dips, noodles & rice, frozen edamame beans, as well as a small selection of frozen home-cooked meals which you can simply reheat to enjoy.
For those who are new to the world of dim sum, they also do awesome taster boxes with a mix of flavours in order for you to get a little taste of everything and then decide which ones are your favourite…
And this was my first attempt at cooking them – please don’t judge too harshly, been staying at the boyfriend’s house for the lockdown and he has very limited pots & pans. This one was clearly too small, but they still turned out great:
My 2nd order after this one was a bit more lavish: 1 box each of the original pork, sizzling beef & ritzy prawn potstickers (20 potstickers in each box). 1 x box of the coriander chicken dumplings, and then also a bag of edamame beans which make for a very easy, tasty snack in between meals.
When I asked the boyfriend which one his favourite flavour was, he replied: I dunno, they’re all ridiculous! (ridiculous being a very very good thing of course)
Now let’s get down to the need-to-knows:
- Pricing: The taster boxes range from R65 to R85 while the normal boxes of 20 range between R85 and R140 a box. If you take a box of sizzing beef potstickers as an example – 1 box of 20 costs R90 – that works out to only R4.50 per potsticker. I think that’s crazy good, especially if you consider the absolute care & effort that goes into making them.
- Covid-19 measures: They have been given Essential Services status & are therefore able to continue operating during the lockdown. Alternative transportation has been arranged for the team members who rely on public transport, while other team members even moved in with owner, Tina Long, for the duration of the lockdown. In her kitchen, the strictest hygiene measures are being followed to ensure the safety of both her team & of course you as the customer.
- They’re doing contactless delivery: Their lovely delivery man will ring your doorbell or give you a call to let you know that your delivery is outside your door/gate. The delivery date will be confirmed once your order is finalised – so you’ll know exactly when to expect it. Normally they deliver in the evenings between 6pm and 9pm (as you have to pop those babies into the freezer immediately which is tricky when you’re office based), but while we’ve all been in lockdown they’ve changed their deliveries to day time slots from 11am to 5pm seeing as we’re all at home now.
- FREE delivery for orders over R400. Standard delivery is R40 per order, or you can (usually) collect from their premises in Salt River for free, but collection is not available during lockdown.
- Each box comes with a complimentary flavour pack which is a mix of spring onion, ginger, celery & deep fried shallots. You simply mix this with some soy sauce, vinegar & sesame oil and ta da! you have the perfect dipping sauce.
- They source their meat from free range farmers & their veggies from Umtunzi Farming Community which is a fantastic initiative which supports small-scale urban farmers in & around Cape Town.
- Dumplings & potstickers can be kept in your freezer for up to 4 weeks. But I seriously doubt you’ll take that long to devour them…
- And finally, for product updates & other news – give them a follow on either Instagram or Facebook.
Right, now all that’s left is for you to hop on over to their online store to place those orders. You won’t regret it, I promise. In fact, I predict your life will become exponentially better with each order. 🙂
xxx
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