Chia Te Bakery — Restaurant in Songshan District

原味鳳梨酥 Pineapple Pastry = TWD36 Each 鳳梨酥 Pineapple & Egg Yolk Pastry = TWD40 Each 蔓越莓鳳梨酥 Cranberry Pineapple Pastry = TWD40 Each 梅鳳酥 Plum Pineapple Pastry = TWD40 Each

No Service Charge

Established 50 Years ago, 1975 in Taipei, this is a Very Unique in that they have No Other Official Branches other than their Only Main Bakery Shop in Songshan Taipei. 只此一家, 别无分店.

The Queue Outside of the Bakery

Food Blogs weren't kidding when they say there is always a Constant Queue here at their Main Bakery.  Even at 3.56pm on a Friday Weekday, there are Over 20 People in the Queue as you can see in the Photo and Video I've taken.

That said, the Queue does Move Regularly and isn't like those Stuck Long Long Doesn't Move Type.  Mostly because this is a Takeaway Only,  there is No Dining In, and they let in 5-6 People at a Time from the Queue. The Queue is actually more to Prevent Extreme Overcrowding in the Main Store, so thats the Reason why it moves fast.

It took roughly 14 Mins to reach 50% in the Queue and was a Total of 20 Mins of Queue Time before I eventually entered the Bakery.  Now I'm someone who absolutely hates to Queue, and this is still a Long Queue, but it still felt Bearable mostly because of the Very Cooling 17C Weather actually.

Of course I did People Watching while in the Queue. Most are Tourists obviously with some Fellow Singaporeans among them  (Hahaha The Singapore Accent is Unmistakeable),  and even some Locals too. I'm surprised to see People of all Ages, whether as Young as Gen-Z Types or Older Seniors.  Some People were like doing Christmas Shopping like that,  buying 大包小包 with some even 夸张 until Carrying over 10 Stacks of Boxes on Each Hand!

I Love that once you enter the Bakery, they do have options for you to only buy 散散 Ala-Carte 1 Piece of Each Flavour if you want, especially if you are a Solo Traveller like what I did.

Interior inside of the Bakery

Once you're issued inside of the Main Bakery, you are free to explore as you wish.  As you can see in the Photos and Video I've taken, it is really just a Regular Confectionary Bakery with Stacks of their Delicious Pastries piled up neatly on Racks.

原味鳳梨酥 Pineapple Pastry = TWD36 Each 鳳梨酥 Pineapple & Egg Yolk Pastry = TWD40 Each 蔓越莓鳳梨酥 Cranberry Pineapple Pastry = TWD40 Each 梅鳳酥 Plum Pineapple Pastry = TWD40 Each

Due to Text Limit Constraints, I won't go into details describing every Pastry here. If you are interested to know more, come visit my Facebook Food Blog: "A Solo Singaporean's Guide to JB Foods (And More!)" to view the Full Review with Photos.

Conclusion and Closing Thoughts

At an Average Price of TWD40 (S$1.70) for each Pastry, they aren't Particularly Cheap  especially when compared to a Similar 旺来酥 Pineapple Cake sold in JB City Square Ming Ang at RM2.20 (S$0.70). If you really have a Craving for Pineapple Cakes, you don't really have to specifically fly to Taiwan just to eat this.  And even if you're in Taiwan, there are Many other Pastry Shops in Taiwan that sells Pineapple Cakes so you don't really have to specifically come here.

Having said that, buying Authentic Actual Made in Taiwan,  Fresh Taiwanese Pineapple Cakes  from the Famous Chia Te Bakery right here in the Heart of Taipei sure is an Amazing Feeling too!  Hahaha if you already like Pineapple Cakes, you will already have set your mind to buy these here whether I recommend it or not.

Its not just the Taste of the Pineapple Cakes.  Everything that could go wrong NEVER went wrong.  It all just worked together to give me a Very Good First Customer Experience that I won't mind coming back if I'm ever back in Taipei even though I'm someone who actually hates to Queue.  For this, I'm going to have to give this my Highest Top Score for their Achievement. Excellent!

If you are here in Taipei and like Pineapple Cakes,  don't miss out this World Famous Bakery!

Thanks for Reading. Come join my Facebook Food Blog: "A Solo Singaporean's Guide to JB Foods (And More!)" to view the Full Review...

A popular pastry shop that sells a variety of local Taiwan pastries. The Mochi mini cake is real good, very fragrant pastry with red bean & mochi inside that complement its taste. The Pineapple pastry was nice, fragrant pastry with pineapple filling that is just right (tasty & not too sweet or sour). The Cranberry pastry & Salted Egg which look similar to Pineapple pastry has the same fragrant pastry & a little pineapple pastry that help hold the taste while they are a good chunk of Cranberry or Salted Egg inside; for Cranberry it is slightly sour as per the original taste hence it's for those who like cranberry else it would taste average to them and for Salted Egg it complement the taste, both of this taste average compared to pure pineapple pastry that is better. Salted Egg Sesame Pastry is average. Doriyaki was nice as it's slightly fluffy and both the pastry & the red bean paste has flavour. Milk Cake & Sun Cake has a bland outer pastry but the filling stands out with its milky taste (having too many at once will be overwhelmingly dull) & for Sun cake it has a more balanced flavour, both tastes slightly better than average. The Green Onion Nougat Cracker is not as fragrant, same goes for the filling that doesn't stands out; it's just average in terms of taste. The Jujube Paste cake & Green Bean small mooncake was disappointing though, as the pastry is bland (taste like bland cheap oil) & the filling taste does not stand out. Expect a long queue here. With the high price for the pastry, it is recommended to get more Pure Pineapple Pastry & Mochi Mini cake and a few Milk & Sun cake, the rest you can skip for other Pastries such as the round thin skin pastries from other shops and Nuts & Almond Flakes from Jiufen Old Street/stalls...

Went on a Tuesday morning at 7.45am. There were 5 people in queue. Doors opened at 8.30am! Do not really need to browse the store if you already know what to get. Fill up the form and go straight to the cashier to tell her what else you want. Wife cake was not on the form so just tell the cashier lady directly how many you want.

Good news is they now limit to 4boxes per pax for their freshly baked cakes - wife cake, milk cake, sun cake. Not sure if any other cakes are part of this 4boxes limit. But regardless of how many pieces in a box, the max limit altogether is only 4 boxes. So I got 2boxes wife cakes and 2boxes sun cakes! I saw an old uncle being denied more than 4 boxes too. If you need more, just ask others to help or requeue within the store and go to a different cashier lady. Hehe.

Their wife cakes are freshly baked, they even packaged it on front of customers from baking tray to boxes. Wife/milk/sun cakes taste best when I toasted them at home. Crispy and flakey.

The nougat green onion crackers are a MUST BUY. I REGRET NOT GETTING MORE BOXES. SO good. Omg. Cracker was good oily and flavourfulll. Nougat was sweet and sticky but not too sweet and not too sticky. Just riiight.

As for the non pineapple pastry, hmm I think just stick to pineapple. Had the strawberry and didnt quit enjoy it. Honeydew one, was okkkk. Cranberry was nice. Dont get the longan if you dont like the dried longan taste.

Overall, worth the queue. Just go early in the morning so you dont waste time queue in the day as a tourist.

Update: my family LOVES the sa qi ma sold here! (Left in my picture; right side is from carrefour which sucked) Doesnt seem like chia te brand but wow it is...