Kimbo Sesame Bun: I no longer live close to an Asian grocery store, so on my last day with a rental car, I made a trip to Albany's Ranch 99 and stocked up on frozen asian foods, like dumplings and buns. There were many brands I recognized from my days reviewing frozen buns from Hmart, but I decided to take a risk and purchase one I hadn't seen before named Kimbo. Lucky enough, these Taiwanese buns turned out to be quite good. Steamed in my rice cooker, the bread is soft and fluffy and barely sweetened. Th... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended ranch99 taiwanese bao kimbo sesame bun 3.5
Maxim Bakery Pork Bun: Maxim Bakery is a local Flushing chain that sells a variety of Chinese pastries and treats. For just $1.30, you can get a sizable Asian pork bun: it has a fluffy and slightly sweetened steamed bun exterior and meaty interior with a thick, savory sauce. This bun puts all food truck baos to shame, both in terms of flavor and value (you could easily pay 5x as much for 1/4 of the size). No one seems to speak any English, but they are accommodating and friendly nonetheless. 4.0/5.0
recommended flushing bao maximbakery pork bun 4.0
Breadtop matcha red bean bun: Breadtop is an Asian bakery chain in Australia. There is one close to the hotel I'm staying at in Brisbane, and it offers staples like sausage buns and sesame balls but also modern takes, like this matcha red bean bun. Unfortunately, the bun was unsuccessfully; the dough had very little matcha flavor, and the red bean filling was overly sweet and uninspired. The dusting of icing sugar made it messy to eat, without much added flavor. 2.0/5.0
breadtop bakery bread matcha redbean asian australian 2.0 red bean bun
Paris Baguette whole wheat red bean bun: A sad, generic pastry. Bread is unsubstantial and mostly flavorless, filling is overly sweet. 1.5/5.0
parisbaguette redbean bread bakery pastry asian avoid whole wheat red bean bun 1.5
Meisum Bakery peanut bun: Generous mochi dessert coated with coconut shavings and sweet peanut filling. The mochi itself is plump and soft, barely sweetened, while the peanut filling is slightly crunchy, lending a surprising texture. Overall, a very satisfying (and cheap!) snack. 4.0/5.0
mochi bakery chinatown boston sweets peanut nuts coconut asian chinese recommended bun 4.0 meisumbakery
Haioreun Mellow Pumpkin bun: A surprising and interesting take on a sweet bun. Filled with sweet pumpkin (and similar in texture to red bean paste), the filling has a clear pumpkin flavor that also tasted a bit like cantaloupe. Altogether, though, the filling is 2x too sweet. The bun steams up well and is soft and neutral. 2.5/5.0
korean hmart haioreun mellow pumpkin bun 2.5