Purple Yum Bakery Cafe — Restaurant in Lexington

An absolutely amazing gem in Lexington! My wife and I love everything that we’ve tried here and strongly recommend trying them if you haven’t yet. A few things to flag in particular.

First, almost every baked good is priced at 2.99, which is an outstanding value. Second, because of the recipes used, many of their products are yeasted doughs instead of more European-style flaked pastries. The flavors used are also rather subtle and nuanced, meaning you shouldn’t expect sugar bombs or extremely rich/decadent deserts—that’s not the goal. (The exception here are their wonderful cakes, which are somewhat more expensive. If you do want a heavier dessert, however, it’s hard to beat a 20-layer chocolate crepe cake!!)

Instead, their products are light with nuanced flavors which provide a delightful end to a meal without feeling like you’ve just consumed straight sugar. We’ve found this makes them wonderful on especially hot and humid days—something like the coconut palmier, for example, is hard to beat as the final bite of any day. All of which is to say we strongly recommend this place and hope it remains a city treasure for...

Most of the place that seem like they should have pastries in it are empty so you end up circling a few small cases with other customers making an already small space feel claustrophobic. The entire store is CLEAN, and all their fixtures look new.

The pastries themselves are…ok. Very very little variation in flavor and texture which sucks because visually they look amazing. It really felt like each item I tried had some kind of serious flaw, cheese honey mayo was very greasy, creme bun had no flavor, all the savory options were sweet and all the sweet options weren’t as sweet as the savories etc etc.

Their customer service was great, guy running the register was thoughtful. Not many other staff about to interact with but nonetheless the store was immaculate. Definitely saw more than one of their employees eating in the back and not wearing gloves.

I’ll be back to see how they evolve because you can see and taste the potential. You should go too because their pork bun slaps, they have little cheese cakes that look like cheese, and they deserve an...

The inside is well-decorated and inviting, but the buns I tried simply weren’t good. They were all very airy and bland — I expected the custard to be rich and sweet, but it was fluffy and tasteless, like sugar-free whipped cream. The caramel cream bun tasted identical to the coconut cream bun: both flavorless. The pork floss bun was unique but once again not tasty at all. I didn’t try any of the cakes, so maybe they’re better.

Another thing that detracted from the experience was that you serve yourself — you get a tray and tongs and pick out what you want. Of course, this means every item is open to the public. There’s no telling who or what has touched your food throughout the day before you buy it; in a perfect world, this would be okay, but I can only imagine all the coughing, sneezing, and god knows what else happening all over the food. As you know, the public is disgusting. I think it would be much nicer if an employee got everything for you, like at a normal bakery. Especially since they also ask for a tip, even though you do...