Restaurant Review: Mr. Bun

MR. BUN

10828 Whyte Avenue

Instagram: @mr.bun_yilong

Co-Diners: The E.A.T Crew

I've been on a bit of a xiao long bao tear recently and I'm certainly not upset about it! Sampling all of the city's best soup dumplings is a very welcome task, if you ask me. My steamy journey took me to Mr. Bun, named Best Chinese Restaurant 2025 in EDify Magazine. As I've mentioned in past reviews, Edmonton has not previously been known for having exceptional Chinese food - but this is changing right before our very eyes. The cuisine is being modernized and elevated all over the city and this only means excellent news for our stomachs. Soup dumplings are becoming especially popular and Mr. Bun is just one of the restaurants bringing this fare to Old Strathcona. A very welcome addition! I visited on a Saturday evening and was fortunate to grab a parking spot right out front. The outside of the restaurant looks cute and small, with nice bright red signage. However, walking inside is like an optical illusion because it's so much larger than the facade would suggest. The first thing to catch my eye was the large and playful mural of the Edmonton skyline with dumplings scattered among the buildings. This mural created an overall young and hip vibe that I truly did not expect. Next I found myself transfixed by the counter area, a central nervous system, if you will. This is where you can openly view the chefs rolling noodles and preparing dumplings - a performance in itself! There are rows of teapots lined up, ready to be served. The rear dining area goes back much further than expected and there are a lot more tables in this area, including space for larger groups. We were greeted by a very enthusiastic staff member who seated us at a cozy booth near the front of the restaurant. He was very attentive and was able to make a lot of helpful suggestions in terms of the best dishes to order. The server's bright attitude continued to reinforce the atmosphere of a vibrant and fresh take on a Chinese food experience. The menu is six pages long and spans many different types of offerings, from bao to noodles. The drink of choice appeared to be tea which is not served complimentary as it is in most other restaurants of this style. I chose the Green Tea ($3.00 per person) which seemed like a classic option.

What came to the table were the most adorable personal little teapots with tiny matching cups. The green tea was warm and enjoyable. However, upon looking inside the teapot I did note that a teabag was being used as opposed to loose leaf. Somehow the authenticity of the experience was missing something with the use of a generic teabag. Although my hot water was continuously topped up in the pot throughout our visit, which was nice. The food menu boasts some very interesting dishes that I've never tried before like roasted bran and jellyfish head. I have no idea what either of these things are! As adventurous as I like to be, the Signature Scallion Pancake ($7.00) caught my eye because if it's a "signature" dish I want to try it.

It was pretty clear that this item is Mr. Bun's entry into the ever-popular green onion cake game that our city is so famous for. Everyone has got one! This version had a very crispy golden outside and wasn't served with any dipping sauce. The flavour was decent and I liked the crunch on the outside, however I found the pancake to be much too oily. Each piece was practically dripping with oil and I felt that it really overshadowed the overall flavour of the cake. Of course I was excited to try the traditional Chinese broth-filled dumplings at Mr. Bun! To refresh your memory, these dumplings are known as xiao long bao. "Xiao long" refers to the bamboo steaming basket which they are prepared in, while "bao" means bun and refers to the dumpling itself. The activity of eating them is a part of the whole experience and sipping on the broth within the bao is a very special part of eating them. Mr. Bun offers two types and I was game for trying both! Starting with the Pork Xiao Long Bao ($12.00) which is the most popular type.

These arrived with the signature flourish of steam as the xiao long lid was removed and the bao looked very appetizing. Unfortunately, these bao were a disappointment because the delicate, paper-thin wrapper was too delicate. Possibly over steamed? The integrity of the wrapper was extremely poor, which meant that there was no way to pick up a bao without the wrapper shredding or the bottom falling out completely. This happened with every single one. As such, all of the broth content was spilled out into the bottom of the basket and essentially wasted. This subsequentially removed one of the best parts of enjoying xiao long bao - the broth. Impossible to pick up because they were all falling apart, these were difficult to eat. The flavour of the pork inside was fine but the wrapper was much too wet and overcooked. Sadly, the other flavour; Truffle Chicken Xiao Long Bao ($18.00) was the same situation.

Again, the structure of the wrappers were poor and they fell apart immediately, "turfing" the contents. We tried picking them up in different ways, including using our hands, to no avail. The ritual of sipping the broth is my favourite part of eating xiao long bao so I was rightfully disappointed. I liked the unique idea of the truffle chicken and enjoyed the subtle truffle flavour. I'm sure that these ones have the potential to be really good when they're not falling apart.

I noticed Red Oil Wontons ($15.00) on the menu, a dish that I enjoy a lot.

This was the best dish of the entire meal! I loved these juicy wontons, each one generously containing a savoury meat filling. The spicy red chili oil was a delight and it packed a punch! It was a delicious treat to roll each wonton around in the oil, fully coating each one before popping it into my mouth. This dish had heat and was full of flavour. I would order this again in a flash! Mr. Bun makes their own noodles fresh each day, a practice that has become quite common among Chinese restaurants in Edmonton. (Especially with Lan Noodle right down the street.) Mr. Bun offers handmade noodle dishes as well as fried noodles and "crispy fried noodles on both sides" which I found intriguing. (Turns out it's kind of like a noodle pancake.) We chose the Shanghai Fried Thick Noodles with Pork ($22.00) because our server said that it was his favourite.

These were a pretty safe choice but I enjoyed the perfectly-cooked handmade noodles, each strand coated in flavour. The pork got a bit lost within the dish and we certainly could have chosen something more adventurous but I did enjoy having a plate of noodles on the table as a base dish. They also make stir-fried rice cakes that are topped with various ingredients that I'm sure are very good. I'd be interested to try one of those dishes next time. There are some very good dessert options on the menu and we ordered the Steamed Salted Egg Custard Bun ($15.00).

These were very fun to eat and like biting into a pillow. Served piping hot, the contents were a little bit like lava but I loved the soft bun. The inside was creamy and lightly salty in a very delicious way. I think that next time I would try the salted egg yolk sesame ball, which I believe would be similar to what I had except with a sesame ball exterior. Unfortunately, what started out as great service in the beginning disintegrated into no service at all by the end of the meal. We found ourselves waiting long stretches for anyone to visit our table or to remove empty plates. Mr. Bun has a lot of potential but I felt that it missed the mark in several crucial ways. As a bao restaurant, I would hope that they would really nail their bao... And somehow that was the worst part of the meal. It's a really cute place in an excellent location and I want to see them do well. My hope is that they will fine-tune some of their preparations and live up to what they can truly be.