Chinese bakeries in Auckland

For those that are into sweets, bakeries and the like I've decided to post some of the asian bakeries here in Auckland. I remember googling asian bakeries in Auckland but there isn't much of a description on the type of food sold there. Hence here is little extract of what is available especially if you crave for something back home.

There are a few asian bakeries around in Auckland that has grown over the last few years. Classic Bake house would be my favorite because of the varieties and thier soft bread. There are 3 of these located in Greenlane, Northcote and Highland Park. My favourite there would be Pork floss roll, banana cake with a sponge layer outside, taro and pudding bread, Tuna bun and thier other speciality cakes. Thier bread is soft and the cakes are not too sweet. They also sell kuays, cream puffs, sponge cake, cheese cakes and the usual polo, red bean, taro buns. This bakery is owned by a Malaysian and reminds me of the bakeries like Bread Talk and Bread Story back home in Singapore/Malaysia. I really like it and it's quite bad because I would use to go there everyday just for the pork floss bun..now it's probably once a week because it's not on the way!

Rio bakery in Meadowlands has nice taro pork floss bun and otherwise they have similar cakes and bread with Classic Bakery. I think this is a taiwanese type bakery.

New Market Choice bakery has nice chestnut sponge cake which has a layer of chestnut paste in the middle and cost $2.10 for a piece. Thier Japanese cheesecake is also not bad although it's not sweet for me. They sell mooncakes and sometimes in the morning steam buns and siew mais. I like thier red bean paste bun because it is not full of "beans". They also have cute little chicken and tuna pies. This bakery is more towards the Hong Kong style bread.

Dominion Road Well done bakery is also not bad too, I use to buy thier taro pork floss bomb everyday before work just to satisfy my greed...when you bite into the bun the taro paste n pork floss goes together so well. Other than that, i think thier other bread is too hard not as soft and smooth as Classic Bakery. This is a taiwanese bakery. Well done bakery sells thier bread in some Star Mart located in the city as well. The costs of their bread is higher than other bakeries.

Along the same road but further away from the city is Focus Bakery which I seldom visit because it's quite far and I guess there is nothing there that stands out that I can't get from another bakery. However, it's good to know so many bakeries exists and are everywhere.

1 and a half years ago, I found a new bakery near my place called Good Luck Bakery which looked very run down and catered to the locals selling the usual sandwiches and pies. I went in and was surprised to see they sell asian breads too! Here I reckon they are good for their wife/lo por beng and mooncakes. This is owned by a taiwanese. It is just located along Manukau Road opposite Pak n save. I come here often during mooncake festival because they sell freshly made mooncakes and thier wife biscuit is not very sweet. (This is no longer there and is now a normal bakery)

There are also bakeries that are located within chinese supermarkets such as Silver Bell in Dominion Road, Tai Ping on Dominion Road, T Mart in New Market and Tofu Shop which sells Ma lai Ko (Malay sponge cake) and other kuays.

And today I found a new bakery:
Went for dinner at Meadowlands and noticed there was a new cafe opened there. It's called Baking Castle and they basically sold the same bread as other asian bakeries with one or two "different" bread. Other than that it did not stand out as much as Classic Bakery which is my favourite Asian Bakery. It was very quiet because the lady at the counter was sleeping with her head down on the table and when I walked in the ding dong sound went off and I suppose that was her que to wake up ;)



I bought a red bean pastry thing and the pastry tasted like it was left out for ages. Really disappointed.

The number of asian bakeries have grown over the years. I remember the times when Classic Bakery was the only asian bakery I knew in Auckland but now it's everywhere! You really don't have to go back home to satisfy alot of cravings now.

Classic Bakehouse:
1 Marewa Road, Greenlane
1-33 Pearn Road, Northcote
329 Aviemore Road, Highland Park

Well Done Bakery:
283 Dominion Road, Mt Eden

Choice Bakery:
8 Teed St, New Market

Rio Kitchen
B5-125 Meadowland Drive, Howick

Good Luck Bakery:
774 Manukau Road, Royal Oak

Bakers Castle:
Meadowland Drive, Howick

Focus Bakery:
867-875 Dominion Road, Mt Roskill

Craving for pancakes

I had cravings for pancakes every weekend, not the ones at macdonalds and not wafers...I wanted pancakes drizzled with maple syrup and topped with bananas. So we googled pancakes in Auckland and couldnt find anything so decided just go to Parnell and check out the cafes.

I've always wanted to try Dunk cafe when I go to the post office while working at Euroasia...and so we did! And guess what???? There were pancakes!!!! Blueberry pancakes, banana and bacon pancakes....yum yum. I had the berry pancakes and it was hmmm nice but it felt a little strange having warm pancakes with COLD berries...it just didnt go for me. However, it satisfied my craving for pancakes. The hot chocolate was creamy and SWEET! As you can see I had a very "sweet" time.




Marcus had hash brown tower which has baked beans (which causes gas by the way), mushrooms, hash brown, bacon topped with an egg. It wasn't that tall of a tower though.


So...I would definately go back again and try other food. They have cabinet food and lots of slices as well and DATE SCONES!!! Now i know where to go for pancake cravings...and i'll try the banana and bacon next time! Coffee is great too because it's allpress coffee which is always good!


Dunk Cafe

Location:
297 Parnell Road

7/10 for food because they served me COLD (more like frozen) berries on my pancakes
7/10 for service
7/10 for atmosphere, can be abit noisy as the cafe is not that big

Carol and Paul's wedding day

Carol's wedding was amazing! Her wedding was held at Huia beach which is about 40 mins drive from the city. The weather was part raining part sunny like a typical Auckland weather. It was beautiful as because gathered around to witness the union of the lovely couple Carol and Paul. The wedding started off with harps playing, ceremony,tea ceremony, photo taking and lots of fruits to munch on before lunch at the Huia Hall.



Her wedding gown was beautifully made by her sister Charis within less than a month! I know...they are all really talented hats off to them!
All the bridesmaid made thier own dresses.

Carol made her own wedding cake and I think her friends helped decorate it with icing. The cake was yum!! I think it was fruit cake and chocolate cake. I had the chocolate cake which was moist and delicious..


I did't have battery left on my camera so I couldn't take the food that people contributed. There were curry chicken, curry lamb, salads, chickn nibbles, wild rice, pasta salad, lots of fruits, bee hoon, and big prawns followed by slices and the wedding cake.


Carol left with Paul on his motobike.....broom brooom..quite a nice picture actually with the bride on the motobike taking off!!!

Dim sum in Auckland

Different dim sum places serve different things and hence if you have a certain craving you will have to drive all the way to that place just to eat it!

Here are some dim sum places that have thier own specialty besides the usual Siew Mai, Har gau, sar siew pao, rice rolls, etc etc. There are other interesting dishes that I wouldnt have tried because I am more interested in the sweet stuff...so you wont really find any thing about chicken feet, pig stomach etc etc...

China in city : Durian and cream mochi

Grand Harbour in city : vanilla ice cream mochi

Grand Park in Greenlane: Polo Bao with custard inside : one of the best polo buns in Auckland, Pastry roll with taro paste topped with almond flakes

Star cafe in Dannemora : Ma Lai Koh : a brown sponge cake

Sunworld in New Market: Still one of the best Lotus (ling yong) Bao

Sichuan in Remuera: Red bean bao (not that great but if you are craving for red bean baos they have them here), Char Siew baos here are small and juicier than others

Crown at Papatoetoe : Dorin says got Durian egg tarts which I'm still yet to try!!

Overall, I think most of these dim sum places have thier own good points. However, Grand Habour and Grand Park has more variety but very very busy...

Many dim sum places closed such as KK in Ellerslie and Lotto in New Market and perhaps more have closed and I'm unaware of.

Would love to know more places that serves good dim sums! Any suggestions please let me know ;)

Now I have to remember to take pictures so that I can show you how they look like!

Dreamers Cafe

This morning I met up with Carol and my cousins LE and Dan at this cafe just along Great South Road. The first time that I went was with LE and I was happy! Why? 1) They had date scone. 2) they had banana cake, both of which falls in my favourite bakery items and 3) The cafe was not a normal cafe as I expected.

Thier food cabinet which consist mainly of sweet food:


Ok, so I've tried the date scone and it was alright. Banana cake was quite nice but there was this strong taste and LE thought it was chocolate but I think it was just the black bits of the banana when cooked.

Soy hot chocolate:


It is basically part cafe part jewellery shop that sells bags, gifts, books, hand made jewelleries. It seems like the smaller and hidden away the cafe is, the better the coffee and the ambience. As you can see, the tables are right next to the items. Actually it reminds me of the chocolate boutique in Parnell where we sit next to the chocolate gifts, dairies etc etc.




Dan and LE posing:


The cafe was part indoor and also outside in the patio which is great for SUMMER!

This is us girls outside the cafe which if you never go in, you will never know what goes beyond: It's a little bit like knowing God haha I know it's random...well if we don't allow God to come into our hearts, we will never know how GREAT he is and what is install for us!


Btw, this catch up was to hear the happy story of carol's engagement! SO so so HAPPY for her!!!! It's so romantic....you should hear thier story and thank God Paul didn't get any injury on his feet while hiding the ring box in his sock the whole time!

Dreamers Cafe

Location:
148 Great South Road, Remuera (next to post office)

Ratings:
7/10 for food
9/10 for service
9/10 for atmosphere for being outdoors and indoors

Banana leaf rice in Auckland

Today I tried for the first time banana leaf rice in Auckland..Yes I have never seen a banana leaf meal until I was having a holiday in KL in June this year. It was definately an experience to see how the food were served and the banana leaf being used as the plate!

They had a $14 buffet special on Sundays whereby you get 2 types of curry, side dishes, rice and popodums. Buffet so you can keep asking them to refill the dish.



The side dishes were probably the nicest haha. They had shredded carrots, cabbage, lentils, tomato onion dish. All the side dishes were really tasty:



Thier teh tarik and roti chanai were not as nice as the one in Sri Putri. Overall, I think this place is good for their banana leaf rice but to have other malaysian style dishes I still prefer Sri Putri in Panmure.


Here they only serve 1 roti with one curry whereas in Sri Putri, they serve 2 roti and 2 curry at the side:

Found a new Kaya toast place in Auckland

Hui Cheng told me she found this kaya toast place that sells things like yakun in Singapore...I honestly didn't believe her because my whole life here i've never heard of a place that sells kaya toast etc! She made it sound so nice and I went to visit that place the next day with Charlotte because she took half a day off work.
The place is called Kaya + Toast coffee club.


Had a very big lunch so i was too full to try any of thier toast but couldn't resist not having a teh ice since im there! Charlotte was there just to accompany me and she was so into the comic books that was there!




We talked to the owner who came from Seremban?? All I know about that place is the bus stops there for a break when im travelling between KL and Singapore. See those white and blue glass containers by the glass - they are the toppings for the toast such as peanut butter etc..
The guy behind is the one making the drinks and boil eggs while the owner makes the toast.


Not bad..They had things like milo dinosaur toast, peanut butter, kaya, half boiled eggs.

The teh ice tasted like back home so not bad but the only downside is the price of these things and the location unless you live in the city because it is located in Imax. It cost $3.50 for a teh ice so about the same as a cup of coffee. I didn't check the prices for the other food but I can assume it will be about $5 or more for a toast.

The good side is that if you are craving for kaya toast and good funny comic books you can find it there as well as other fellow malaysians and singaporeans there! there! While we were there, it was so interesting to see the reactions of all the malaysians/singaporeans coming in! It reminded me of myself and from the expression of Hui Cheng while she texted me about this place!