Bao Kee Restaurant

The inspiration

Bao Kee Restaurant is the Hacienda Heights outpost of Bao Kee Cafe, a South El Monte restaurant the owners opened in 2022¹ . The kitchen pairs that Toisanese cooking with soups built on ingredients from traditional Chinese medicine traditions^1,2 .

Who's behind it

The pair then opened a second, larger Bao Kee in Hacienda Heights with a broader menu that adds Hong Kong-style roast meats^1,2 .

What to order

• Steamed pork belly with shrimp paste: tiles of pork belly with a shrimp flavor that comes on pungent, then mellows .²
• Nourishing herbal soups: the restaurant's signature soup category, made with ingredients from Chinese medicine traditions .^3,1
• Clay pot beef offal: listed among the signature dishes, alongside other claypot preparations .³
• Hong Kong-style roast meats: added at this branch, from barbecue pork to crystal chicken .

What people are saying

Critics at the Los Angeles Times point to the soups and the Toisanese dishes as the reasons to seek Bao Kee out, describing the regional cooking as rarely seen in Los Angeles or blended so deeply into general Cantonese menus that its distinctions are hard to spot^1,2 . Reviewers also describe fresh ingredients and generous portions^4,3 .

Why you should try it

The Hacienda Heights branch serves Toisanese specialties such as eel claypot rice and steamed pork belly with shrimp paste that are rarely highlighted elsewhere in LA² . It also brings together the herbal nourishing soups, expanded roast meats and claypots in one larger dining room^3,1 .