Victoria Bakery [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Victoria Bakery (維多利亞烘培工) 
Address: No. 73, Hengyang Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei 
Website: n/a
Style: Chinese
Price: $$ 

((No clue what happened to this location shot; even a total Photoshop overhaul couldn't save it...)) Hengyang Road may not be very long, but it's home to more bakeries than you'd expect - including this Old World-inspired bakery with upstairs cafe. Judging simply from walking past it all the time, at different hours of the day, I'd almost want to say that Victoria has to be the busiest of the bunch. This is usually because the bakery is either good or cheap... or both. In this case, I'm leaning towards the latter, though I've found they do sell out early and the late-night reduced baked good rush you find at other bakeries are limited here to a few loaves of bread, so the selection is best the earlier you go. Even at around noon, many shelves were already cleaned out. Labels not only include English, but have key ingredients listed in both Chinese and English - a rare find anywhere, though the lists aren't exhaustive.

Though larger in size than the average sweet bun, the coconut cranberry twist ($45) was a good find. It's hard to find baked goods with fruit in any Chinese bakery. Even when they do have something, it's usually with jam or some sort of questionable fruity gloop, so I really liked the addition of the dried cranberries (though a little more wouldn't have hurt). The slight tartness complimented the more subdued flavour of the coconut, which was generously interwoven throughout the dough. The bread itself was fluffy, moist and tasty. The only minus was that whether it was the bread or coconut filling, it was strangely oily, preventing you from having a lot at a time.

Rating: ***