Red House Bakery and Cafe — Restaurant in San Francisco

I'm an ABC from socal, so I was raised on delicious Chinese baked goods. This bakery has tons of yummy options, but I've only tried the nai-wo bo-lo-bao (cream filled pineapple bun), red bean bo-lo-bao, and the dan tat (egg tart). It was a bit of a test of my Chinese speaking abilities (which are basically none) because the woman working at the counter didn't seem to know any English. She, like all older Chinese people, was very amused by my lack of grace in pronouncing the aforementioned treats. But, if you really don't know any Chinese you can always just point at what looks good. When they saw I was having trouble, the opened up their holding cabinet thing of buns and let me look at them.

The buns were a little flat, but that didn't affect their texture/flavor. The one thing I didn't like was that the filling of the cream bun was much creamier than I'm used to. The buns back home are a bit more eggy/custardy. This was more of a French pudding/cream. The dan tat, though, AMAZING. So good. I honestly might choose these over Golden Gate bakery. They're not as big, but I kind of like that about them, and they're perfectly flaky and light. Plus there's no line...so...there's not too much to think about if you're craving a good egg tart.

The location is close to me, so that's another plus; I don't have to drive all the way to the Richmond to get yummy Asian snacks. And, it's not quite at the heart of San Bruno Ave, so you can find parking a bit more easily.

So, if you're feeling a little bit ballsy, check this place out, it...

Breakfast service stops at 11am. We got the breakfast combo E $9.50, which is beef porridge and soy sauce chow mein with a milk tea. The toisan 台山 fried rice was excellent. It was a lot of food already but we wanted to get the pineapple buns with a slice of butter. This is great if you are eating in the dining room since the pineapple bun comes straight out of the warm bun case. They provide a knife for you to slide that square of butter inside the bun yourself. Cash only and mandatory 15% tip if you are...

I really want to love this bakery, I really do. They have some of the best Chinese pastries on San Bruno Ave (the other places specialized in steamed Dim Sum). They also serve up rice plates and noodles. However, the ladies behind the counter can be a little curt and pigeons seem to wander into the establishment on the regular. In fact, one almost got into the kitchen without anyone batting an eyelid. It is also located very far away from all the other businesses that it's...