The Verdict
BAO FITZROVIA is the Windmill Street expression of the BAO team's Taiwanese culinary identity — a larger space that allows a more complete menu than the Soho original's small-plates format, including the braised pork rice and other preparations that communicate the full depth of the group's engagement with the Taiwanese culinary tradition. The Charlotte Street neighbourhood provides the Fitzrovia context for a restaurant whose east London original was its founding statement.
The Taiwanese menu at BAO Fitzrovia reflects the team's ongoing engagement with the tradition: the more complete format allows the braised pork rice whose preparation communicates the Taiwanese home kitchen's specific relationship with slow-cooked pork, the lu rou fan whose all-day cooking communicates genuine patience, and the expanded cocktail and whisky programme that communicates the team's ongoing research into Taiwanese drinking culture.
The Fitzrovia Windmill Street location provides the neighbourhood context: the creative and media community of Charlotte Street, the proximity to the Tottenham Court Road and the advertising and production companies that cluster in the area, and the specific professional audience whose food knowledge demands what the BAO team delivers.
Why It Works for a First Date
BAO Fitzrovia's complete Taiwanese menu — the braised pork rice, the fried chicken, the expanded cocktail programme — gives the first date the most complete available expression of the BAO team's Taiwanese culinary knowledge in the neighbourhood whose professional character communicates genuine London food culture.
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