Asian Bakery Checklist
I love a good bakery. It’s one of my favorite places to explore when traveling to a new country—sweet and savory carbs always hit the spot. Living in San Francisco spoiled me since the Chinatown bakeries serve warm, fresh, inexpensive buns all day long. I could walk 10 minutes from my apartment and eat to my heart’s content for a few dollars (those were the days). If you’re ever wondering what to try, here is a round up for my favorite treats.
Sweet
- Pineapple Buns (Bolo Bao)- sweet bread with a crunchy sweet crust. Some have filling and some do not. Don’t be fooled by their name – pineapple buns—they don’t taste like pineapple. The buns get their name from the crunchy crust topping just resembles the skin of a pineapple.
- Dan Tat- egg custard tart
- Pork Sung Bun- sweet bread topped with dried shredded pork
- Coconut Cream Bun- sweet bread split down the middle and filled with cream and sprinkled with dried coconut
- Coconut Bun- coconut filled sweet bread, sometimes called a cocktail bun
- Baked BBQ Pork Buns (Cha Siu Bao)- baked buns filled with sweet bbq pork
- Sponge Cake- fluffy, spongey and eggy cakes that aren’t too sweet, usually they come wrapped in paper
- Swiss Rolls- light, spongey, slightly sweet cake that is rolled and filled with cream. Can come in many different flavors
- Sesame Balls- deep fried sticky rice balls filled with red bean, lotus or sweet black bean.
- Custard Buns- usually decorated with a little swirl on top, these sweet buns are filled with custard
Savory
- Mantou- Steamed Bread
- Hua Juan – Twisty steamed bread with green onions
- Hot Dog Buns- a meal on the go! Similar to pigs in a blanket or a kolache but much larger and can sometimes come with toppings such as cheese, green onions or corn.
- Curry Puffs- fluffy puff pastry filled with a curried beef
- You Tiao- deep fried dough, not sweet so don’t be fooled when people refer to these as donuts
- Zong zi- sticky rice with different fillings wrapped in a bamboo leaf
- Green Onion Bread- sweet bread topped with green onions, sometimes comes filled with shredded pork
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