Mr. Mark Bakery [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Mr. Mark Bakery (馬可先生健康烘焙)
Address: No. 130, Hengyang Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei
Website: https://www.mrmark.com.tw/
Style: Chinese
Price: $$$

Mr. Mark markets itself as a healthy bakery alternative and, admittedly, they do have a lot of rye and whole wheat bread and buns with more health-conscious additions like sunflower seeds and turmeric, though they do have classic ingredients like pork floss, cheese and green onion; for those tired of the same old white bread available in just about every bakery, Mr. Mark may come as a breath of fresh air. Those looking for something on the sweet side, however, may be disappointed - like me! I don't know whether it was because I came near closing time or not, but besides large cream Swiss rolls, there was literally no sweet baked goods. I had to make do with the closest thing I could get to "sweet", though even then I found their selection expensive. Even the discounted closing time price of $60 for a single bun seemed exorbitant to me.

Being greeted with a complete lack of sweet Cake Tour-worthy treats though friendly service (otherwise, I would have considered leaving), I took what I considered the next best thing: the apple cream bun ($88 regular, reduced to $60). In my mind, I was envisioning more a pastry/milk cream, so in this I was also disappointed to discover a cream cheese filling with chunks of cooked apple. The apples added a well needed dose of sweetness to the bun, but the whole grain bread, resembling a dinner roll in taste and texture, simply didn't match the cream or apples. It sorely needed something else, even something healthy like almonds, streusel, a dash of cinnamon... Overall, not that good and definitely not worth the price.

Rating: **