Once again, I was influenced by this blogger from Xiao Hong Shu (XHS) and it brought me here to this Taiwanese Bakery. Apparently they have been around for years and they always sell out their products by mid day. The staffs were really friendly and they kept calling me "da mei nui" - meaning beautiful lady. Not sure if it's a marketing technique but I think it worked really well. I grabbed a lot of products including all the recommended products from XHS:
Pumpkin Toast - Taste: 4/5
Chocolate bread - Taste: 4.8 / 5
Greenbean Pastry - Taste: 2 / 5
Pork floss roll with egg wrap - Taste: 5 / 5
Custard bun (not shown in the gallery) - Taste: 3 / 5
Taro bun (not shown in the gallery) - Taste: 3/5
Birthday bun with red bean paste filling - Taste: 3.7 / 5
My favourite were the pork floss roll with egg wrap and the chocolate bun, but the pork floss roll was the winner! The pork floss was mixed in with the mayonnaise, and it married well with the sweetness of the bread. The egg wrap isn't noticeable as it's paper thin and only added greasiness to the bun, which is the only flaw from this pastry. Not a big deal though.
Runner up is the chocolate bun which reminds me of the chocolate bread from Royce Chocolate Bakery in Hokkaido. The chocolate bun wasn't too sweet since they've used dark chocolate to make these, and you can find dark chocolate chunks in the centre.
I didn't like any of their sweet filled buns, including the taro filled buns, the birthday buns, and the custard buns. I think I will avoid their sweet pastries as it's a bit too sweet for me.
The Pumpkin loaf was very fluffy but a bit expensive considering there's no filling inside. I guess the pumpkin loaf just meant it's made out of pumpkin puree yielding a super soft texture, but it didn't add any extra flavour to it. Nine bucks for this loaf is a bit expensive. I'd avoid the Taro loaf for the same reason. Other bakeries offer bread loaf, minus the fancy name, with a similar texture at half the pricing. I can also make similar loaf with the help of Tang Zhong or left over mashed potato - just saying!
The least favourite product here was the green bean pastry. I'm more familiar with the mung bean/ green bean pastries from Hong Kong and the fillings are normally smooth and the outer layer is flaky. Their Taiwanese green bean pastries are a lot drier inside, which I'm not used to. A lot of bloggers highly praised their green bean pastry though, so I guess it's a matter of preference.
Overall, these are some great quality bread and pastries and they are very soft and fluffy, but I wouldn't say it's worth the drive to purchase their products. Many bakeries in Richmond also have similar quality bread including Janice Cake Shop, La Patisserie, Saint Germain, Price Smart and the Boss Bakery.
This little shop only opens four days in the week including Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm; and their products often are sold out by mid day. They are closed on the weekend making it extra inconvenient to support them.
📍Location: Here
💵 Price: $3 - $5 per product
🤤 Overall Taste: 4.3 / 5
🕯Atmosphere: NA
🪑Seating: NA
📈 Price Performance ratio: 4.4 / 5
Retention Rate: 50%
ℙ𝕣𝕠𝕤:
🍴Soft and fluffy buns
🍴Has a lot of fun options
🍴Friendly staff
🍴Reasonably priced
ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕤:
🍴Sweet filled pastries are too sweet
🍴Odd hours of operation
🍴Closed on the weekends
🍴Limited stocks - products are usually sold out by mid day
𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
🍴Great buns but not worth the effort to visit them with their odd hours
