Formosa Bao Brings Taiwanese Street Food to Long Beach

Formosa Bao Taiwanese Cuisine offers steamed buns, baked potstickers, traditional soups and other Taiwanese street-food favorites in Long Beach, Washington.

Located at 811 Pacific Avenue South, the small restaurant provides something distinctive on the Long Beach Peninsula. Its menu combines traditional Taiwanese flavors with vegan dishes, gluten-free alternatives and approachable choices for customers experiencing bao for the first time.

Traditional steamed bao

Bao are soft, fluffy buns traditionally cooked with steam and wrapped around savory or sweet fillings. They are popular throughout Taiwan as portable meals, snacks and street food.

Formosa Bao offers several meat-filled varieties, including barbecue pork, curry chicken, pork sausage, beef and spicy chicken.

Sweet red bean bao provides a traditional dessert-style option. Red bean paste is commonly used in East Asian pastries and steamed buns, offering a mildly sweet and earthy flavor.

The veggie and curry-tofu bao provide plant-based alternatives. Even the restaurant’s Nutella bao is identified as vegan, giving guests an unconventional sweet choice.

Gluten-free sticky-rice bao

One of Formosa Bao’s most distinctive features is its gluten-free menu.

Instead of using a traditional wheat-based bun, the gluten-free selections surround the filling with sticky rice. This creates a different texture while retaining the portable shape and satisfying qualities associated with bao.

Sticky-rice choices include lemon chicken, pork sausage and beef. Vegan versions are available with sweet red bean or vegetables.

People with serious allergies or celiac disease should still speak directly with the restaurant about ingredients, kitchen procedures and possible cross-contact before ordering.

Handcrafted baked potstickers

Formosa Bao also specializes in baked potstickers filled with pork, beef, spicy chicken, vegetables or shrimp.

The vegetable potstickers combine tofu and glass noodles with sesame oil, shallot oil and several vegetables. They are identified as vegan.

The shrimp potstickers are generously filled, with chopped shrimp and pea shoots inside each dumpling.

Baking gives these potstickers a different texture from traditional pan-fried or boiled dumplings while preserving the seasoned fillings and folded-wrapper experience.

Taiwanese soups

Traditional Taiwanese beef soup is one of the menu’s most comforting choices. The soup features beef in a deeply flavored broth with a modest amount of spice.

Ginger-sesame chicken soup offers a warming combination of chicken, ginger and aromatic sesame flavors.

The vegan hot-and-sour soup provides a plant-based version of the familiar tangy and peppery soup.

Formosa Bao also connects Asian flavors with its coastal location through Tom Yum clam chowder. This creative dish brings the sour, aromatic and mildly spicy character of Southeast Asian tom yum to a chowder made for the Washington coast.

Skewers, breads and traditional snacks

The menu extends beyond dumplings and soup with beef and pork meatball skewers. Each skewer provides a convenient street-food-style serving.

A tofu skewer offers a vegan alternative. Other plant-based choices include green-onion bread and garlic flatbread.

Traditional Taiwanese tea eggs are another noteworthy selection. These are made by cracking the shells of hard-boiled eggs and simmering them with tea, spices and sauce. The process creates a marbled pattern beneath the shell while allowing the seasoned liquid to flavor the egg.

Rice, noodles and daily meals

Guests can add steamed rice or vegan yakisoba noodles to create a larger meal.

The restaurant also offers a changing daily meal that pairs meat with either rice or noodles. This gives returning customers an opportunity to try preparations beyond the regular bao and potsticker selections.

Because daily offerings may change, customers should check the restaurant’s Facebook page for current availability.

Numerous vegan choices

Formosa Bao has one of the more clearly identified vegan selections among restaurants on the peninsula.

Plant-based choices include veggie bao, curry-tofu bao, sweet red bean bao, Nutella bao, sticky-rice veggie and red bean bao, vegetable potstickers, tofu skewers, green-onion bread, garlic flatbread, hot-and-sour soup, steamed rice and yakisoba noodles.

The variety allows vegan customers to assemble a complete meal rather than choosing only a side dish.

A distinctive addition to peninsula dining

Taiwanese cuisine reflects the island’s history and incorporates Chinese regional traditions, Japanese influences and ingredients developed through Taiwan’s own food culture.

Bao, dumplings, noodle dishes, tea eggs and richly flavored soups are central parts of that tradition. Formosa Bao makes these foods accessible to residents and visitors without requiring a trip to a large metropolitan area.

Its mixture of traditional recipes, creative coastal influences and clearly marked dietary options makes Formosa Bao one of the Long Beach Peninsula’s more distinctive casual restaurants.

Location and restaurant information

Formosa Bao Taiwanese Cuisine
811 Pacific Avenue S.
Long Beach, WA 98631

Restaurant information, menu updates and operating hours:
https://www.facebook.com/formosa.bao.taiwanese.cuisine/

A previous Surfside Washington News feature about the restaurant is available at:
https://surfsidewa.com/2026/06/06/formosa-bao-brings-authentic-taiwanese-street-food-to-the-long-beach-peninsula/

Menu items, daily specials and operating hours may change. Customers should check the restaurant’s Facebook page before making a special trip.