Nikki Wong, an Irish-born Chinese software developer, and the woman behind baking business Two Bytes, is somewhat formidable. I’ve never really believed that there are business people out there who “just want to see people happy”, but Wong, with her unrivalled positivity and beaming smile, has me convinced she does within minutes of our chat, leaving me feeling a little guilty about my former cynicism.
I discovered Two Bytes on a recent trip to Pender’s Yard Farmers Market in Stoneybatter, where I was surprised to see homemade Chinese mooncakes on sale, and even more intrigued when I spotted beetroot listed as an ingredient. On further inspection of her informative chalkboards, I learned that while all of her Asian-inspired treats look traditional on the outside, the ingredients – mainly the fillings – of her baos, cakes and even mochi were anything but.
Two Bytes abides by only one strict rule: no animal products. All of Wong’s treats are vegan, and plenty are also gluten-free, but they weren’t always Asian-inspired or so inventive. She explains, “I started off thinking that it’d be similar to the food I cook for my partner, just energy bites, healthy snacks”. But when her first market in February didn’t go as successfully as she had hoped, she realised she needed a twist. “There were already so many places doing [vegan treats], so I thought, okay, I need to be more authentic.” Inspired by her mother’s love for making Chinese sweet treats, she decided to “bring some Asian culture into Two Bytes, because it keeps it unique”.
Wong had never seen fresh baos at stalls in Dublin, so she thought she’d try them out, starting with a vegan version of a Hong Kong classic, “char siu bao”, substituting soya chunks for barbecued pork. Since then, she hasn’t looked back. While her first few markets making Asian treats “started off very slow”, she’s rapidly gaining popularity. “Now I’m known as the bao girl! My colleague told me that while he was at Pender’s Market on Saturday, queuing up for the market stalwart Scéal bakery, he overheard girls go ‘Oh no, the bao girl’s not here today!’ before leaving… So they came just for me!”
“Veganising” very traditional Asian street food is no small feat, and Two Bytes is really treading new territory – even plain baos typically have milk in them. For Wong, adapting these foods is “a challenge, but a good challenge”. As she can’t simply follow “the same traditional recipes”, she admits that “it’s a big experiment every time I make something new”. I’m hugely impressed by her creativity. From using butter beans in her matcha mochi filling to making her own vegan cheese using Asian ingredients like rice flour and tapioca starch, Wong is inventing treats that have never been made before, and with great success.
When I ask her how she balances baking a wide variety of goods for each market with an intensive full-time job, she laughs: “sometimes I wonder… sometimes I’m like ‘is it even worth it?’”. But she quickly resumes her relentlessly positive outlook: “But I worked so hard for this and I have the insurance for the year, so I want to see how far I can get with Two Bytes. When I started off I was struggling to balance work with bao-making, just because I was so new at it… But now I’ve done it for a few months I feel like I can make more in a shorter time.”
Nikki bakes all of the Sunday before each market and if she doesn’t get them all done, she wakes up at 3am before work, bakes two lots, and repeats each day until she finishes. Two Bytes is less than eight months old, but with Wong’s impressive drive and flair for bold culinary reinvention, I think her fluffy white baos could become the sweet treat of choice for Dublin vegans.
