Adela's Bakery [International Correspondent]

 

 

 

 

Bakery: Adela's Bakery

Address: 319 Sumner St, Boston, MA

Website: n/a

Style: El Salvadorean, South American 

Price: $ 

The reason we went to this bakery in the first place was because it was close to our Airbnb. I'm personally not the biggest fan of South American baking, but some are better than others. I like Colombian baked goods, for example, and I'd never tried anything from El Salvador, so I was interested. I like trying new stuff. 

Like many Latino bakeries, the stuff is well-priced/cheap and most of it is in the window. I didn't really like that nothing was labelled so you don't really know what's what, but that's pretty common with ethnic places. I took the two items that looked the best, especially since I didn't want just plain dough (like those buns with crumble on top). I thought some jam would spice things up. The patty-shaped one tasted more like a cookie and was pretty dry. I don't remember if there was more to it than just the jam on top.... 

The square was better and more complex, with more filling in the centre, but when you ate everything at once, all you tasted was the dough and that made it also seem dry. It's cheap and I wanted to try it, but it was kind of disappointing. And I forgot to take a location shot.

 

Rating: **1/2

揚揚甜甜圈 [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: 揚揚甜甜圈 (Yangyang Doughnuts) 

Address: No. 109 Fenqihu, Zhuqi Township, Chiayi County

Website: n/a 

Style: Doughnuts

Price: $-$$ 

My final stop for famous Fenqihu baked doughnuts, I have to admit that I was most wary of this stall, especially as it's located right on Fenqihu Old Street, amid all the other predominantly souvenir stores and pushy salespeople, and yet doesn't seem to enjoy the same level of renown and crazed hype the other stalls do. This one is also the only baked doughnut stall with different flavours such as chocolate and cheese, etc. (flavours are $30 each). 

Given that they always seem ready to go on the shelves, I was also worried that they wouldn't be as fresh as other locations; however, to my surprise, the original doughnuts ($20) were very good. Baked just right with that excellent crunchy outside, these were just as delicious as the others. I felt maybe they were just a bit smaller, but that might also be due to the fact that I ate this one while waiting for the bus, knowing that this was the end of the Fenqihu baked doughnut tour... 

Rating: ***1/2

Hattendo

Bakery: Hattendo 八天堂

Address: 100 City Centre Dr, Mississauga ON 

Website: https://www.hattendo.ca/

Style: Japanese

Price: $$$

Hattendo is a Japanese cream bun chain that suddenly appeared in downtown Toronto (on Baldwin, to be exact) and fairly expanded to a couple locations, one of which is inside Square One mall's new "foodie zone". Given that so many businesses in this foodie zone come and go, I'm not sure how long this Square One location will last, but I was there to give it a try. 

Despite having one or two more items on the menu, their signature is various flavours of cream buns ($3.50). Not cream puffs, but thick, rich cream inside sweet, soft bread that outwardly looks a bit like a hamburger bun. I took green tea and white peach. I like when they're a little cold so the cream in the middle doesn't turn into a total disaster - because it was as overwhelming as I imagined. The bread was soft and fresh and I liked the taste of the cream, especially the more unique, subtle white peach filling. I just thought they were a bit pricey for what you get. 

Rating: ***

Derming Bakery [Mimi's World Tour]

 

 

 

 

Bakery: Derming Bakery (德銘餅店)

Address: No. 146 Fenqihu, Zhuqi Township, Chiayi County

Website: n/a

Style: Chinese

Price: $$ 

 

As ashamed as I am to admit it, this was actually one of the few entirely traditional pastry shops I visited during my trip to Taiwan. One reason for that is that everything is all ready-packed and gift-wrapped; it's not very plausible for one person and they never really seem fresh. Nonetheless, this one is located among the many businesses along Fenqihu's "historic" shopping street and the one thing really going for it is its pretty decor, with pastries laid out on traditional pieces of furniture. They appear to specialize in three items: flaky pastries, moon cakes and those wafer rolls - perhaps their selection changes according to season/festival, but I can't verify that. 

I arrived around 20 minutes or so before they were closing and they were already packing up - and didn't seem very eager to sell me anything. So I ran in, grabbed a green tea pastry ($40) and ran out. I wasn't in the mood for any of the bean fillings, so I was a little disappointed when I learned afterwards that the green tea filling was bean-based. Another disappointment was that the whole flaky top was stuck to the bag. Taking a picture without the bag was out of the question and even eating it wasn't so fun - I mean, you *want* that flaky dough, not just the filling. That's why I'm never a fan of this plastic-sealed business; in the end, you couldn't appreciate the quality ingredients, because the moist dough tasted like something you could buy in a supermarket.

Rating: **

Hong Kong Bakery

Bakery: Hong Kong Bakery

Address: 5407 Gateway Blvd NW, Edmonton AB

Website: http://hong-kong-bakery-edmonton.edan.io/ 

Style: Chinese

Price: $

Someone I know once went to a classic Cantonese restaurant that used to serve a predominantly Chinese clientele and asked them about a dish that could no longer be found in the menu. The waiter replied, "We don't serve that anymore, we're not that kind of Chinese restaurant". As harsh as it sounds, the same can be applied to Hong Kong bakery: they're not that kind of Chinese bakery. 

From the outside, it looks promising, but inside was quite the disappointment, both in terms of sweet and savoury baked goods. HK bakery mainstays that you almost take for granted - standards like pineapple and coconut cream buns - were nowhere to be seen that day (maybe they bake them and I just came on a bad day??), let alone more exciting items and, to be honest, if I really wanted creamy cake slices, cupcakes and macarons, I wouldn't get them at a Chinese bakery.... At least, they had egg tarts and a couple varieties of cookies. *shrugs* 

Taking both an almond cookie and (Chinese) cupcake, I pretty much exhausted the sweet selection. Both were cheap and well, tasted a bit cheap too. The almond cookie didn't even have the obligatory sliced almonds on top, but this fine crumble of leftover nuts. The cookie itself was doughy and bland. Similarly, the cupcake also lacked that signature airy, slightly eggy taste. It didn't really have any distinct flavour. Oddly enough, the sweetest item I got was the BBQ pork bun, whose filling was so sugar-loaded it was almost candied; what a struggle it was to finish it. Maybe the competition isn't that fierce in Edmonton, but it could have at least been tastier. 

Rating: **

奮起湖現烤停車場甜甜圈 [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: 奮起湖現烤停車場甜甜圈 (Fenqihu Freshly-baked Parking Lot Doughnuts)

Address: No. 108 Fenqihu, Zhuqi Township, Chiayi County 

Website: https://donut-shop-125.business.site

Style: Doughnuts

Price: $ 

This is probably somehow part of the same baked doughnut empire as the one in town, but I won't let them pull a fast one on me and deny me a separate Cake Tour for each stall! At any rate, the doughnut shop in the parking lot has its own listing for it. So there! 

Perhaps it's not guaranteed, but the parking lot stall never had a line when I was there and at the time of purchase, I instantly got my doughnut ($20). It wasn't piping hot and fresh from the syrup-coating bamboo basket like at the other stall, but it was warm and fresh... and actually I have to admit that my favourite of all the Fenqihu baked doughnuts came from the parking lot. Maybe it was that they're not so rushed here and they can achieve that perfect crispy outside and coat it in just the right amount of sweetness? At any rate, if you have to pick one: go to the parking lot/bus stop. 

Rating: ***1/2