Kaya NYC

Really tasty bao. I catch them on Thursdays on Charlton St between Varick and Hudson. Come early if you want duck or pork belly, they have been known to run out! But if they do run out, get anything else because everything is good.

This just became my go to for every lunch when I’m in the area. The food was super fresh, tasty. Good price for amount of food you get and quality/​freshness of the food. Kaya, please always be outside WeWork!
Got the tofu and pork belly baos and veggie spring rolls. All amazing.

Delicious. Got the combo with 2 bao and 3 spring rolls. They were sold out of everything but pork belly and tofu bao but I was not disappointed. The flavors were fresh and the pork belly was tender and not fatty. Perfect spring rolls. So glad I tried it.

We got the 3 bao+drink combo. They were out of the peking duck bao, which was the one I was most interested in trying so I was a little disappointed when I found out. So in the end, we got pork belly bao, cow bao, and red curry chicken bao.
pork belly bao– extremely fatty. I love fatty food and all but even that was way too fatty and oily for my taste. the one we got was 80% fat and 20% meat. I could do without this bao.
cow bao– to be honest, I don’t remember much about this bao other than the fact that I thought it was good, but wasn’t amazing or anything like that. The meat was well seasoned and had way less fat than the pork belly.
red curry bao– the one with the most flavor in my opinion. the chicken was soft and tender, compliments the flavor of the curry very well. It was a bit on the salty side but the bao made it so much better — great combo.
*accepts credit card
*great location, walking distance from the world trade center
*friendly service

There are not too many exciting food trucks right outside my job but this happens to be one of them. At first glance the Duck Wrap seems small but having the wrap made out of scallion pancake (just slightly greasy for me) and stuffed with juicy, fatty duck meat, turns out to be just enough for lunch. Slices of mango and scallions offset the heaviness, and leaves you content — wanting to go back for more.

Kaya is one of only 3 trucks that I will regularly go to in DUMBO. The duck bao and the tofu bao are my go to orders. The popcorn chicken is a guilty pleasure of mine.
It would be great if they were around more than 1 day a week but that’s the nature of trucks.
Word of advice, get there early if you want the full choice of options, they do sell out of duck and pork belly quickly. Now this isn’t a complaint. I actually have a lot of respect for the fact that these guys do not overstock so they don’t have to throw away leftover food. I’d rather support a place that sells out of their product than go somewhere that is wasteful.

DELISH!!! The pork belly bao is something you would do very naughty things to be able to get. It’s THAT good. ANd that poppy chicken, Yes Please. Just next time I wish you guys didn’t run outta the cow!

The new truck in the Financial District has incredible roast pork-​filled scallion pancakes and cold sesame noodles.

This food cart is an excellent concept. Bao are yummy and super portable, and so it just makes sense to have a food cart that serves bao, especially since it’s the quintessential street food all across Asia. That being said, this spot is quite expensive. I tried the roast duck bao and it was okay, but not the best I’ve had, especially for the price. There is an awesome food court stall in Flushing that serves Peking duck bao that is far superior to these (so good I dream about them) and at $ 1.25 each, it’s no contest in terms of price and quality. This sort of satisfied my craving, but I won’t buy food from here again since the prices are too high for such a small portion and for a street food that goes for less than $ 2 anywhere in Chinatown. This is street food for the gentrified rich areas. Overall, decent food, too expensive for me and there are better places to get good bao.

T and I was going to go and get a salad or some sort of light lunch, but we passed by this long line and I saw Taiwanese Soda and Bao.
I am like hell why not, I have never seen this truck out here before, so T and I thought we give it a try.
T thought the portions were small, but I felt our two bao and popcorn combo were substantially filling.
I am in food coma full.
I got the Pork Belly and Cow Bao — both delicious.
Popcorn chicken was good, a tad on the salty side.
I wish they would offer different sauces to add to the chicken, like spicy and put sriracha out or something so you can squirt it on your bun.

Cart food in New York is an art form, one only appreciated by true connoisseurs who recognize that these altars to the food gods are as far from a dirty water dog cart as a Tesla is from a Buick. You also get to try cuisines that might not survive in the über-​expensive New York City market if they were served a brick-​and-​mortar restaurant.
Kaya NYC focuses on baos, a handy food item that shares a culinary common ancestor with the South American arepa or the more familiar taco. Kaya’s choices are limited, but each item packs a wallop of flavor that is larger than you would expect from such a small package. I’ve been here twice and have had the red curry chicken, the cow (beef), pork belly, and tofu. On my most recent visit they had run out of Peking duck early, so I’ll have to go back, but I expect my experience will be similar to what I’ve already tried.
So, what was my favorite? I have to go with the pork belly. The crispy/​creamy texture of nicely cooked pork belly is hard to match, and it’s the one bao I’ve ordered on each of my visits. I’d have to rank the curry chicken as next with the tofu as last. I have a love-​hate relationship with tofu, and it’s hard for me to like fried tofu unless the outside is extremely crunchy. Tofu doesn’t have much taste on its own, but the contrasts in texture give it some interest. The sweet and sour sauce that tops the tofu appears to be the same sauce used for the satisfyingly crunchy spring rolls.
Presentation is excellent as you can see in the many photos taken by fellow Unilocalers, so they got high marks from me for that. The only negatives are around the wait – they are busy and it’s only early May, so I expect they’ll be swamped at lunch as the season progresses. Also, running out of the Peking Duck within their first 45 minutes is disappointing (their @KayaNYC Twitter feed said they started at noon and I checked in at 12:45). I’ll be back next Wednesday – they are only on Greenwich and Park on Wednesdays – to try my luck again at acquiring the duck.
Lastly, try one of their Taiwanese sodas. I had the sarsaparilla and it’s a seemingly less-​sweet version of something more familiar to Americans (I say «seemingly» because both the sarsaparilla and a can of Coke have about the same grams of sugar).
So, if you’re looking for a tasty lunch and can appreciate the hard work put in by cart food vendors, try Kaya NYC if you’re in the area.

So I read about this food truck on the Clean Plates guide. Because of the buns but unconsciously I think also for the popcorn chicken…
Their menu is small but enough options:
4 or 5 buns (red curry chicken, pork belly, tofu, duck), spring rolls, popcorn change chicken. And soft drinks.
There are a few combo options too, which are max $ 10 total, not bad and your tummy full enough.
Unfortunately I couldn’t eat on the spot so I tasted everything almost cold. Not the best either for the fried chicken and the buns.
Waiting time, quality in general and price I give it 4 stars. I’ll try again and see if they get the 5^th!
Also, red curry chicken was pulled and it makes me think of mex tacos more than chinese buns. My duck bun had not crispy skin so I can’t judge fully, but taste was good. And I would have liked a bit more meat.
The pork belly was very nice and melting 80% in my mouth. The top is when it melts 100%. Does it make sense to you?
Hope so, fellow pork belly lovers.

Good.
For $ 9, we ordered the two bao and popcorn chicken combo. What’s nice is that you can choose any two baos, so we decided on the pork belly and roast duck.
–Pork Belly: this comes with two pieces of pork belly. The pork belly is tender with just the right amount of fat, and is served on a white steamed roll with slivers of cucumber and green onions. I found this to be quite flavorful, though I wish it had a pinch more salt.
–Roast Duck: pieces of chopped/​diced duck and some duck skin on a steamed roll with hoisin sauce. Like the pork belly, this comes with green onions and sliced cucumbers. I liked this bao and thought the flavor was pretty similar to traditional duck baos, though it could have used a pinch of salt and some more duck skin. Duck baos are supposed to be fatty, but I’m sure this food truck is catering to the general public and not hard core Chinese and Taiwanese customers.
–Popcorn Chicken: the popcorn chicken could have used a bit more salt (or some Chinese white pepper), but overall, I really liked it. What I liked about the chicken here, was the pieces of meat were extremely tender and moist, and they were actually big chunks of meat. I hate when I order popcorn chicken and it’s more batter then chicken.
FYI, the other bao options are red curry chicken, some beef, and a tofu option.
The guys working this truck were really nice. The food was good, came out fast, and portions were decent. Overall, a good deal.
LPT: I don’t want to take away from this business, but if you’re in need of authentic duck baos for cheap, check out the Chinatown in Flushing, Queens.

They don’t have a Kaya NYC Dumbo, so I’ll just post my review here. (I wonder if driving across the bridge makes the food taste different).
Dumbo under the bridge! I’ve tried all the buns and I now just stick to two pork belly buns and some popcorn chicken for $ 9. A good meal under $ 10 is gold.

I was really excited to try this cart when I heard about it. At 11:30 am, I went to the cart since I didn’t want to deal with the long lines and them running out of pork belly and duck.
There was no line when I arrived. I ordered their lunch combo of two pork belly buns and the popcorn chicken ($ 9 for the combo) and an additional duck bun ($ 4) which totaled $ 13.
I tried the duck bun first. As way of background, I am a peking duck fiend. I’ve had peking duck from many different places over the years. I know this duck bun, is NOT peking duck, but it is very similar. Kaya chopped their duck meat into small bits. I was disappointed that the bun was soggy and the duck was room temp. I was also disappointed in that I tasted duck butt/​tail. There’s a unique (nasty) flavor in the tail area that should be avoided at all costs. It tasted like they may have included some portions of the back end either inadvertently or to not waste any part of the duck. Either way, it was an unpleasant experience for me.
Next, I tried the pork belly. It was merely ok for me. I’ve had better at momofuku and a few other places. The meat had lots of five spice powder on it but was still lacking something in my opinion. I would have liked a sweeter taste – more hoisin or something. I have one other pork belly bun in the box and I am already over it and don’t want to eat it.
The popcorn chicken was alright. It was a tad too salty for my taste buds.
All in all, it wasn’t such a great experience for me and I really wanted to like them.
I may go back (because deep down, I am a masochist and because I believe in second chances) and try their chicken curry bun and their beef bun.
I am also sad to report that they no longer serve tea eggs. They said they were throwing out over 10 eggs a day. Eggs are so cheap. And they were selling them for $ 1 each. If they sold $ 50/​day and threw out 10, it would still be a good business decision to sell them since they would have more than reaped their overhead by then. If I were them, I’d give ½ a tea egg for every lunch combo. That way, people get to sample them and may come back for more in the future.

Ummm. yum! I love Kaya NYC. They set up right in front of my office building on Greenwich and Park. The servers are super nice and will give you a recommendation if the dish you want is sold out. And that’s another thing get here early or your favorites (pork and duck) will be long gone. I’ve tried their pork and duck baos and popcorn chicken. All are delicious.
Only piece of criticism… why you no there everyday?

So delicious. I’ve become an addict.
Let me preface this by saying I have not had every single thing on the menu, but I have had quite a few items. Their pork belly and duck bao are my favorites! The pork belly is melt-​in-​your-​mouth tender. The duck is so flavorful, not fatty. The chicken is pretty good. It’s not the spiciest curry, but still has good flavor. The big surprise is how ridiculously good the popcorn chicken is. It’s crispy on the outside, meaty and perfectly tender on the inside and not in the least bit greasy. The spring rolls are a little small, but flavorful, and again, not greasy. The most important thing is everything tastes the same every single time I go. I never have to wonder if they’re having an off day.
The staff is always really nice and fast. Bonus points because they take phone orders.

Just what I needed for lunch today– hot, made-​to-​order bao and spring rolls on this bitter cold day, ahh!
I got the 2 Bao/​3 spring roll combo for $ 8, not a bad price, especially to be able to have something that isn’t American food or pizza in this area. The server was really nice, and the food took only about 2 minutes. I got two of the Buddha Bao, which are vegetarian with crispy fried tofu. They stayed nice and warm on the walk back to work, and when I took the first bite, it was pure comfort food bliss. The outer texture of the tofu was pretty much perfect, and the sauce was gooey and flavorful. The spring rolls were equally awesome, and the portions were enough to fill me up for lunch without being overly oily or heavy.
Nicely done, Kaya! Looking forward to more bao in the future. If you park in DUMBO, I will be there!

Baos here are fuh-​mazing
$ 3 – 5 per Bao, and unlike trendy BaoHaus in east village they actually take care to make sure each Bao is properly prepared with meat, sauce and veggie trimmings.

For $ 8, I was able to get two baos (beef and tofu respectively) and a two or three spring rolls. It was worth it! The beef and tofu was bursting with flavor especially with the sauce and the cilantro. I’m coming back to try their pork belly and duck next time.
In addition to the baos, they have a good selection of appetizers as well.
The staff is warm to their customers, so that’s an added bonus too.