Saint Germain Bakery (Markville) — Restaurant in Markham

West coast showin' us some love! So glad they opened up a branch here in Markham!

At first, I was quite skeptical... in Markham area, we have tons of Chinese bakeries and everyone has their favourite. But I do believe that Saint Germain is a place to pay attention to!

First of all, if you're looking for cheap buns - 3 for 5$ kinda place - this is not it. You're paying quite a hefty price for buns. Because it's situated in Markville Mall, foot traffic and rent for them is high - so you would expect a very busy place with higher prices.

I love how some of their buns are placed on warming plates so when you grab them, they still feel like their "Fresh out the Oven". I haven't seen that in the GTA really... Also, they have schedule in their front cashiers that tell customers which batch of breads are coming out soon - so literally "Hot and Fresh out the Kitchen" ;)

Recommendations:

BBQ Pork bun - THESE ARE BOMB. They have a great ratio between bread, small air pocket, and steamy, sweet, bbq pork meat

3 Cheese Toast - doesn't look the prettiest but it's super addictive - gooey when warm and so good

Coconut bread loaf - It's quite different from other coconut loaves - it has a very caramelized exterior and just a plain white loaf inside - tastes great when toasted in an oven at home - not sweet and heavy like other loaves

Marriage Pies (Lopor Bang) and other flavoured pies - most bakeries I see don't sell this too often since it's more of a traditional sort of pastry; it's flakey and filled with a moderately sweet paste; I think back in the 90s this type of pie was more popular but I feel like more and more bakeries are opting out - love how they have other flavours of pies that are more savoury

Most bakeries would feature their HK style tea, but it seems this place likes to feature their "fresh" almond milk (hung yaan seung) - it's quite tasty overall

CAKES (individually sliced)! Love em all, especially the fresh mango one :)

Skip: Bolo bao (pinepple bun/BLB) - It's a solid BLB but not the best - wish Vancouver could bring over Lido bakery - now that's a BLB

Customer service wise... it is a bit slow for their line ups because they're bagging up each individual bun and what not. I've had worse customer service at some bakeries so I would say it's a pass/green...

Terrible experience from this bakery. The pastries and cakes aren't that great there anyway but it was the closest bakery to us. We were looking for a cake and decide to order online and take advantage of the online discount but it required two business days in advance (looking for a cake for the next day), so we called to check if they can make it in one day and they said yes. Then we asked about the online order with 12% cake promo and the lady on the phone said that one is usually for online order but since we were going to order, they would accommodate the discount for our order and apply the discount for us when we pick up the cake on Saturday. She also let us know we can get the VIP card after the purchase since they have a promotion. However, when we picked up the cake today and told them according to what the lady told us on the phone yesterday, they said they will not give us the discount for the cake which is not consistent with what the lady said. It's NOT really about the discount, its about the CONSISTENCY and the PROMISE. If you cannot do that, you could have told us you cannot give us the discount over the phone when we order rather than giving a fake promise. As a customer, we still have an option to buy / not buy the cake from you (since there are so many bakeries in Markham) Even when you let them know about the inconsistency between the phone order and pick-up they just don't want to care. Terrible experience and will never purchase from there again. Told some of our friends about this experience after and they were saying they don't order cakes from there anymore since their cakes taste so bad. I wish I...

This bakery, located inside Markville Mall, has been doing fairly well and has been open for a few years now. However, I can only give it three stars. It’s yet another typical Hong Kong–style bakery selling outdated items. The fillings are old-fashioned, the bread-making techniques show no innovation, and even their cream cakes feel stuck in the 1990s. What’s more, the prices aren’t exactly cheap.

I don’t intend to stir up any tension between people from mainland China and Hong Kong, but as someone from Shanghai, I have to say—even back in 2008, bakeries in Shanghai, like 85°C and other emerging brands, had already surpassed this kind of Hong Kong-style bakery in terms of quality and creativity. In recent years, brands from mainland China like Heytea, Lelecha, and M Stand have offered customers a wide variety of innovative, flavorful, and beautifully crafted breads. In comparison, most Hong Kong-style bakeries in the Greater Toronto Area still seem to be stuck in the 1990s. They show little interest in learning from their peers in mainland China, Japan, or South Korea.

This is honestly quite unfortunate, because it gives many non-Chinese customers the wrong impression—that this is what Chinese bakeries are like, when in fact the reality is far more diverse and advanced.

Frankly, I have no idea who their target customers are. Perhaps it’s mostly older immigrants from Hong Kong, looking to relive a taste memory from 30 years ago. But with all due respect, it’s 2025 now, and younger generations simply can’t accept this kind of stagnant, complacent approach to...