Chinese bakery

Chinese bakeries in big cities like Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and across the world in Chinatowns, serve traditional Chinese goods such as mooncakes, sun cakes, and wife cakes. Such establishments may also serve tea, coffee, and other drinks.

Bakery types

There are generally two types of Chinese bakeries: Hong Kong styled bakeries and Taiwan styled bakeries. The baked goods in these two types of bakeries differ although they may sell some of the same goods. For instance, the Bread Cake was developed in Taiwan styled bakeries while the Cocktail bun is a Hong Kong style product. Hong Kong, in particular drew its western influence from the pre-1997 British colonial and European style western pastries. Another type is Malaysian Chinese style bakeries which can be found in Malaysian cities with large Chinese populations, such as Penang, Ipoh and Malacca and offer certain innovations that cannot be found in China itself.

Eastern-origin pastry

* Almond Biscuit: A golden, delicate cookie with a light almond taste.
* Banana roll
* Beef Bun
* Cha Siu Baau: This bun can be steamed or baked and is filled with roast pork and onions.
* Cocktail Bun: These are sweet and filled with shredded coconut.
* Cream Bun
* Curry Beef Triangle
* Egg Tart: This is a delicate pastry tart with a lightly sweet golden egg custard filling.
* Ham and Egg Bun
* Lotus seed bun
* Marry girl cake
* Mooncake: The traditional variations are heavy lotus seed paste filled pastry, sometimes with 1-2 egg yolks in its centre. Modern variations have altered both the pastry crust and filling for more variety. These are served at the Mid-Autumn Festival.
* Nuo Mi Zi: A sweet glutinous rice dumpling with different fillings such as red bean paste, black sesame paste, and peanuts.
* Paper Wrapped Cake: Spongy and light, these are plain chiffon cakes wrapped in paper.
* Peanut Butter Bun
* Pineapple Bun: This bun does not contain pineapples, but derived its name from the 'pineapple-like' appearance of the top which is a tender crispy, sweet, golden crust.
* Pineapple Filled Bun: Like a pineapple bun, except with fillings such as custard and red bean paste.
* Sausage Bun
* Sachima
* Sou
* White Sugar Sponge Cake
* Wife Cake: A round flaky pastry with a translucent white winter melon paste centre.
* Zin Dou
* Zong

Western-influenced pastry

* Swiss Roll
* Maxim cakes
* Napoleon

Drinks

* Tea
* Bubble Tea ("Boba"): Large tapioca pearls are served in tea with milk.
* Milk tea: black tea sweetened with sweet evaporated milk.
* Coffee: usually served with light cream.
* Yuanyang: a blend of tea and coffee, popular in Hong Kong.

External links

* [http://www.chinatownology.com/bean_paste_pastry.htm Bean paste pastry, Tau Sa Piah]
* [http://www.chinatownology.com/chinese_pastries.html Chinatownology: List of most popular, most interesting Chinese pastries]
* [http://www.foodsf.com/ Foodsf.com is an Online Chinese Bakery - Deliver to anywhere in US]
* [http://www.chinatownnewyorkcity.blogspot.com Chinatown New York City Blog that talks about types of Chinese baked goods and where to buy them in Chinatown]
* [http://www.taipan-bakery.com/ Taipan Bakeries - Chinese bakery chain in New York City]
* [http://chinesefood.about.com/library/blbakeryquiz.htm Chinese bakery photo quiz]
* [http://chinesefood.about.com/od/desserts/ More information about Chinese desserts]
* [http://www.littleviews.com/home/newyork/chinatown-bakeries.cfm?KW=&date_range= Chinese bakeries in New York]
* [http://www.chinesebakery.co.uk Tai Pan Chinese Bakery In Wing Yip Centre - Purley]