The Asian Bakery & Deli

 I don't have a photo of the shop available yet so here's a few of our buns:

               BOR LOR YAU                               COFFEE BUN                             PINEAPPLE BUN

               

I opened this bakery with Hinley after a bit of a struggle with our Little Taiwan pop-ups doing Taiwanese bubble tea, fried chicken and tofu bites. We couldn't open as regularly as we wanted to and any of the local food markets were incredibly hard to participate in with everyone wanting a piece of that pie. So we decided to make our own little pie. Quite literally.

our apple pie bao

Our CRAVING ASIAN Bakery & Deli found a little space in Byker/Walker area to produce our childhood favourites: the Pineapple Bun (aka Bolo Bao, Bolo Buns, or Pineapple Bao). But wait, there's no pineapple inside!

A Bit of a Backstory

Coming from LA, I was quite spoiled by the cultural melting pot that is thanks to the vibrant international communities established throughout Southern California. Some businesses formed out of desperation to provide immigrant neighbours with a taste of home. Some became valorant competitors in town for the title of authenticity while others learned to do fusion. I see the same happening here in the Toon. I originally started the CRAVING ASIAN concept by dragging Hinley to find the best flavours in town. I realised what is so unique here could be something so basic found throughout street foods in China. Sushi? Japanese ramen? Now, even BAO BUNS are having a foodie craze here. 

I realised that instead of telling people what I think tastes good

I had to strip away any presumptions of what was truly AUTHENTIC

and focus entirely on FLAVOUR.

I think it's wrong to tell you what you should be tasting. Nothing needs to be "authentic" to taste good. If it's salty, it's salty. If it's sweet, it's sweet. Different people learn to like different things because of their upbringings, changes in the environment, but mostly from how they learned to like or dislike. 

If you like somebody, you might like what they like.

If your parents always nagged, that extra piece of vegetable might be a forever annoying thing to avoid.

So that's us.

Some down to earth, learned from nothing bakers who love to eat and we aim to create that feeling within you when you bite into the fluffiest bao.

(click the bread loaf to go to our site)

🍞