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A tiny joint inside Brixton Village Market, Tiger & Pig serves Taiwanese-style bao alongside Asian barbecue and Japanese-influenced small plates. Almost every item on the menu is under a fiver, making it good value compared with other bao places.
Of the four filled buns available, three were excellent. Slow-cooked pork belly had crispy skin with soft, tender meat and tangy pickled cucumber. Panko-fried chicken was spicy and crunchy on a generous bed of kimchi, and shiitake was a bite of meaty, glistening mushroom in teriyaki and soy sauce topped with hotdog-style crispy fried onions. From the small plates, Jerusalem artichoke chopsticks with truffle ponzu – a hat-tip to the Kurobuta fave – were delicate sticks filled with umami-packed paste, while sweet potato fries came in a huge portion with mild wasabi mayonnaise.
The tofu and kimchi bao was a little lacklustre and light on the kimchi, while the whole menu was crying out for some citrus to offset the largely sweet and spicy flavours. Of the mochi ice cream trio, coconut was a sweet ball of intense desiccated coconut, but raspberry and yuzu didn’t quite deliver the desired fruit hit. Service was friendly and the place was packed, but the market seating was a little cosy, so grab an indoor bench to avoid sitting thigh-to-thigh.