Shinn Bin Bakery [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Shinn Bin Bakery (信賓蛋糕)

Address: No. 124, Shengli Road, Zuoying District, Kaohsiung

Website: n/a

Style: Chinese

Price: $-$$

Located a few steps away from Lotus Pond's famed Dragon and Tiger Pagodas, there's Shinn Bin bakery, an old-fashioned, rather cluttered bakery with a little of just about everything and boasting an indoor/outdoor retail space. At least, I think the booth right out front selling cream puffs and various fried foods belongs to them? At any rate, typical of this kind of bakery, the prices are very good, the baked goods are fresh and plentiful, albeit with that mass-produced, identical look to them. However, it's always hard to escape that in a Chinese bakery. I stuck to the inside this tine, where they've got gift boxes, savoury bread and cake slices - it was another one of those dilemmas as to what to pick out and what I couldn't exactly stand to look at anymore (sorry, I was on a bit of a pineapple bun and milk cream bun hiatus at this point... XD). 

A lighter option is the castella cake ($25). They also sell cake slices that also appear to be made from the same dough, so I don't know what the difference was. This was fresh and fluffy, though I was frustrated that the top - which is the best part - got glued to the plastic, resulting in an awful picture and a lack of texture variety. It also lacked that spongy density and more pronounced eggy taste of a real good Taiwanese castella. However, despite lacking that extra depth, it was a good example of a classic sponge cake, just as Shinn Bin itself was a good example of a classic bakery.

Rating: ***