The window where they rolled the bao dough in front of the sidewalk is papered over.
Master Bao, the northern Chinese bun and dumpling restaurant at 3524 Kingsway, has closed after about 15 months.
We drove past the unit in early August and found the glass covered and inside being gutted.
The restaurant sits in the small Kingsway strip near Aberdeen Street, the same row as Happy Tree House BBQ, and it opened in May 2025 in the space that had been Love For Pho.
No closing notice went up on the door and nothing was posted online, which is how most of these end now.
What made this one worth a stop was the setup rather than any single dish.
A stainless counter ran along the front window with the dough laid out under plastic, so you watched someone portion and roll while you waited for your order.
Behind it, a banner promised only fresh pork foreshank and no shortcuts on ingredients.
The pork and beef buns opened at $1.99 each, the salty tofu pudding was marked NO.1 on the menu board, and the rest of the room ran through hand-folded dumplings, wontons, lamb soup and Taiwanese beef noodles.
Master Bao came out of the same operation as Chinese Baozi Master, the Yaohan Centre food court stall in Richmond that draws a modest line most weekends.
That stall is run by Lydia Li, who owned four steamed bun restaurants in Dalian before moving to Canada after the pandemic and rebuilding the menu here.
It trades on the same $1.99 bun and a northern Chinese breakfast board of soy milk, tofu pudding and fried dough sticks, and it has kept a lineup going since it opened.
The Kingsway room was the scaled-up version of that counter, with tables, a full kitchen and a menu three times the size.
It is also the one that closed.
Both smaller counters are still going.
A second Master Bao opened later at 4621 Kingsway in Burnaby, across from Station Square and a fraction of the size, and it remains open, as does the Yaohan stall.
The unit did not sit empty for long.
For several weeks there was no word on who was next.
Then the signs went up. Dao Field, the Hunan noodle shop from Richmond where bowls start at $10 and the noodles are refillable, is taking the space.
Master Bao Kingsway joins other recent Vancouver closures including Kuro Katsu, Fable Diner, and Unni Pastries.
For more new and upcoming food spots in Metro Vancouver, take a peek at our tracker here, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
Address: 3524 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC
Google decides which local food news you see. Tell it you want Noms
One tap adds Noms Magazine as a preferred source. No signup, no email.