Hot Asian Buns is a slow-grown hit in Sanford

If ever there were a food deserving of the rabid anthropomorphization that’s happened in recent years, of being made into a sticker or keychain or plushy or adorable, squishable throw pillow with expressive eyes on the perfect, white expanse of its broad side, it is gua bao.

And I like to think that these jolly, marshmallowy delights, a Taiwanese street food that originated in China’s Fuhian province, would giggle at the prospect of being adored to the point of consumption. For one look at the pork belly confit handheld from Sanford’s Hot Asian Buns , the most traditional of its small but growing roster, and there’s only one thing you’ll be thinking.

Hot Asian Buns co-owner/manager Chau Vo prepares a pork belly confit bao in the Sanford restaurant. This bao is the most traditional offe