Kam Do Bakery

Bakery: Kam Do Bakery (金都餅店)
Address: 4328 No 3 Rd, Richmond BC
Website: n/a 
Style: Chinese
Price: $$ 

Kam Do is one of the more premium Chinese bakery chains in Richmond; of course, they still have a wide selection of classic HK-style sweet and savoury buns and cookies all laid out in plastic bins throughout the large space, but they specialty here seems to be the fancier cream cakes and Chinese pastries sold either individually or as elegant (and expensive) gift boxes. After all, you don't often go to a Chinese bakery and everyone in line is buying flaky pastries and wife cakes.

Another distinction is that these flaky pastries come in a variety of fillings that you don't see elsewhere. Anything from traditional lotus paste with preserved yolk to more uncommon pineapple walnut or green tea with pine nut.

I really only came for a bun, but I thought I'd give the pastries a try while I was here. I took three: date, lotus paste and red bean ($2/each). The dough was perfectly flaky and airy with a great crunch upon biting into it. Inside, the filling was super generous and flavourful. Sometimes, all you taste in these fillings is sugar or it's so indistinct you can't really tell what it is; here, the filling was thick and pronounced. As unusual as it was, the date actually had to be my favourite: it wasn't sweet and molasses-like like I was expecting, but was really smoky. Similar to the dried/smoked plums used to make Chinese plum compote. It was so good! One of the best Chinese pastries I've ever had.

Rating: ***1/2