Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery

Remember to take a number and get there early for a full selection. They were out of shrimp dumplings before we arrived at 8:30am on a Sat. We were happy with the bbq buns, egg custard tarts, and taro pastries. Place was full of customers but the wait wasn’t long at all, less than 5 min.

Char Sung Hat was closed when we got there :(
Sometimes you have to settle for your second option
I was very disappointed and Sign Cheong Yuan bakery was the closest high-​rating dim sum place.
I got pork hash, chasiu manapua and butter mochi.
Pork hash ($ 0.90): basically it’s shiumai minus the shrimp. It tasted like cheap shiumai. I think I prefer siumai from Los Angeles restaurants.
Chasiu manapua: the chasiu was kinda fatty and it was nothing special.
Butter mochi: again. nothing special
They have non traditional dim sum, such as: mochi shiumai, steamed curry chicken manapua, and steamed black sugar bun.
Note to self: never settle for your second option.
QUICK TIPS: FREE CUSTARD TART WITH MINIMUM PURCHASE OF $ 10 AND Unilocal CHECK-​IN. IT IS LOCATED IN CHINATOWN.
3 stars!
Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery is kinda yummylicious!

This place was very different, you can tell there are some Hawaii twists to their items
They definitely have taro items here and run out of them by the afternoon. Besides that they have the deep fried sesame ball (Jin Dui) but they have ones that are filled with a coconut paste and one that’s filled with BBQ pork and dried shrimp. They one with met has so much filling it actually comes out in an oval shape like a football/​egg. Their sticky rice wrapped in tea leaves (Joong) was a disappointment because there was hardly any filling with no peanuts or mung bean paste or lap cheung or much meat, the salted egg yolk was really small, and the leaves weren’t cleaned very well because some of the stuff was on the rice as I peeled them off.
I really liked the honey glazed twists, the Shiu Mai, and the Pineapple custard bun was ok but not much else. If I come back I won’t order the same items besides those.

Two words for you: dried. lychee. If you are a lychee fan, you must get yourself to Sing Cheong Yuan and buy some of the dried lychee. It tastes like candy but I think it’s just the sweetness from the lychee fruit (or that’s what I tell myself as I eat 20 pieces in one sitting). That reminds me, I need to refill my dried lychee stash STAT!
I also recently had the opportunity to eat the macadamia nut candy… it’s like peanut candy but when mac nuts… say WHHAAAAT! So good! With the yummy sesame seeds and the ooey gooey I don’t know what it is and the mac nuts, it’s really a nice twist and really addicting.
Sing Cheong Yuan = the place where I fulfill my dried lychee addiction.

It is an old school bakery. I didn’t know they hand into this century.
The baked bbq bun is very good. It is a bit in the dry side and missing some buttery taste on the bun. Otherwise, it is good.
Use credit card only over $ 10.

Growing up, we would always get freshly made moon cakes sent to us every year for the Mid-​Autumn Festival by our uncle. Well, they weren’t as fresh when then finally got to us. We then found out about Sing Cheong Yuan and how they make moon cakes during the moon festival. Tried it one year and have been going back ever since. Hooray for being able to buy a few and not have to make a bunch from scratch.
Located in Chinatown on Maunakea Street, between Hotel and King Street, across Cindy’s Lei Shoppe, and next to Nam Fong, Sing Cheong Yuan has a variety of manapua, candies, cookies, and moon cakes. There is street parking on Maunakea as well as a covered municipal lot right across the street.
Great selection of freshly made moon cakes during the Moon Festival, both the traditional kind and the mochi moon cake with traditional and fruit fillings. Love the mochi moon cakes with the mochi wrapped outside and fruit fillings of Mango and Strawberry the best.
They have various manapua, steamed and baked, with a good ratio of filling to bun, with fillings like char siu, curry chicken, black sugar, and lup cheong.
I have been recently going for the manapua. Ooh, hot baked char siu manapua at 6:30 a.m. when they open is the best. A few months ago I needed to bring manapua in for a meeting and Char Hung Sut was closed. Walked down the street to Sing Cheong Yuan and now I’m converted. Not to mention that the whole box of char siu manapua, pork hash, mochi siu mai, and half moons sold out in record time. Plus, a free egg tart with a $ 10 purchase for checking in was a nice bonus. I’m salivating just thinking about it now, wishing I had a baked manapua for breakfast.

If Unilocal allowed more than 5 stars, I would give them. Having been spoiled with excellent Chinese food most of my life, I really had high expectations of being in the midst of what is touted as the oldest Chinatown in the U.S.
I’ve ventured to several places to try two specific items that are my favorite– pork hash and manapua. The third item I had a hard time finding was custard buns.
So on my way running errands, I peeped into Sing Cheong Yuan and noticed these huge pork hash. Then on the lower shelf, I saw custard buns. I thought I shouldn’t get ahead of myself and order a lot in case I didn’t like them. I regretted not getting more after I ate the first pork hash! I tried the baked manapua and it is pretty good. There were the occasional chunks of fat but not a big deal. The char siu was sweet and the ratio to bread was reasonable.
Needless to say, I have been there five times in the last seven days! lol I need to regulate my visits so i don’t get gout! lol So, yes, I’m a huge fan. The pork hash has the right consistency of spices and green onion. The dices of water chestnut add a nice crunch when you bite into it.
I’m glad I decided to take a look inside and try. Definitely worth it.

Not only do they make the best peanut candy, but their dim sum items are really good too! I recently picked up a bunch of steamed char siu bao, half moons, pork hash, and black sugar jin dui to take to a potluck and they were a hit.
Spend $ 10 or more and show them your check-​in on the Unilocal app to get a free egg custard tart!

If you happen to be in Honolulu’s Chinatown, visiting this Chinese bakery is a MUST! It has EVERYTHING!
From pre-​packaged candies and cookies to freshly made Joong, Jin Dui, Manapua, and Gau, you’re sure to find the snack that you’re looking for. They do have Custard Tarts (Dahn Taht), but the crust isn’t as flakey as other bakeries. Their other goodies are highly recommended: «Tong go» which is the preserved (in sugar) fruits and vegetables (the kind that you’re supposed to eat at Chinese New Year), Li Hing Mui, Peanut/​sesame seed Candy, and Moon Cake (during the mid-​autumn season).
The variety is overwhelming! It’s not a big shop, but they sure fit a lot of things in there! The front door of this plain, no nonsense shop is wide open, so there’s no air conditioning. Metered parking on the street is free on Sundays, or else go to one of the Municipal Parking lots. Service is friendly and helpful if you get one of the younger workers… Haha!
Sing Cheong Yuan is just THE place to go to when you need that authentic Chinese dessert! Satisfy your cravings here!
p. s. Remember to check in on your Unilocal app for a free Dahn Taht with a purchase of $ 10 or more!

If you’re exploring Chinatown, you have to stop here. It is a landmark. Their showcase is filled with amazing mooncakes, dumplings, and treats. Everything is good. I always go home with a bag of something…

I came here when I was a kid and I remember a bunch of the goodies they offered. Now that I come back as an adult, it’s exactly how I remember it. Well it looks smaller, maybe it’s because I’m so much wider now lol. They have so many Chinese bakery goods that it’s hard to choose. Our go to items recently have been the custard tarts, manapua and the red li-​hing mui. Can’t get enough of it! Just make sure to get there early because they sometimes sell out of some items by the afternoon.
Once I take my first bite of any of the items, it brings me back to memories of my childhood. Every so often when I’m passing by, I see a group of school children visiting as part of their field trip in Chinatown. I wonder when they grow up, will they have similar fond memories of this iconic Chinatown establishment. Hopefully in the not too distant future, they will be writing a similar review of their childhood memories of the goodies they get to eat from here.

It’s that time of year: moon cake time! Mid autumn festival/​moon festival/​中秋节 is probably the second most popular Chinese holiday. Of course, a large part of traditional holidays is the food and in this case it’s moon cake. To be honest, I was never really a fan of moon cake, even though my Chinese teachers, uncles and aunties would try to convince me that it was such a delicacy because they are kind of expensive. Since then my palate has changed and I will eat a slice or two of mooncake each year.
I wanted to buy some mooncakes this year and of course trusted my handy Unilocal app to find me a good place. This bakery is also known for their plump and inexpensive pork hash, so it was a one stop shop for me before school.
Although they opened a little late, which made me stressed because I had to drive back to kaimuki in morning traffic, the ladies inside were more helpful and efficient than expected. They offer a variety of flavors including yellow lotus, white lotus, black sugar, wintermelon and ham, most with or without egg yolk. They also have «fresh» mooncakes which are refrigerated and mini baked mooncakes, which include green tea flavor.
If you purchase 4, they fit nicely into the complimentary mooncakes box, which was surprisingly sturdy and festive. Apparently my mom also comes here for mooncake, but she couldn’t remember the name when I asked her about it… I don’t blame her… I convinced her once that the mandarin translation of «little brother» was «dingding».

If u haven’t been to this part of town, or should I say China Town, I can see how it may throw you off a bit. Sing Cheong Yuan is located across this restaurant called Domo Café on Maunakea Street.
We luckily found street parking so I was able to quickly get in and get out. Parking would be a challenge since it’s on a one way street. Typical China Town fashion, characters of all sorts walking by for everyone’s amusement, haha. Really if I had the time, I most definitely would walk through China Town just to get that feel and that experience.
I got a free coconut tart just for checking in! I was so excited! I can only imagine if I actually went to a Unilocal event, haha! There were 2 Asian girls working the front while an older woman was working the back. Dirty minds, LOL… ummmmm, I meant cashiering and bringing products out. I got there at about 2:15 and the display case still had some awesome products in it. There were only 3 Pork Hash left though, it’s a good thing I called in for my order. Rule of thumb, make sure to go early for greater selections, if possible. If not call to make an order cause they do close at 6:30 I believe.
They got all sorts of Chinese goodies from wall to wall. They have the biggest rice cakes ever! I got the 6 Half Moons, 6 Pork Hash, 2 Taro Cakes, 2 Moon Cakes and Custard tarts. I believe Sing Cheong Yuan is known for their Moon Cakes, so I needed to try it.
I’ve never had White Lotus Moon cakes before. They’re heavy and dense products with a nice mellow sweetness to it. It’s almost like a manju. Same with the Taro cake, would be my first time eating it. I don’t know if it’s just me but it has a weird aroma, it smells spoiled but the taste is fine. It has minced Char Siu, chopped green onions and sesame seeds. The Custard tart to me was a little blah, but the Coconut tart (which I got for free from checking in) was good!
They also have Chinese candies and many other things that I can’t find in Hilo.
Prices are good, variety of items if you go at the right time are superb! Those who have been to China Town would know how the service is, to me it was good. I would come back for their rice cakes, pork hash and half moons. Would I be back here again, yes no doubt!

My mom had a mission for me to buy her vegetables and moon cakes to ship back to Maui with her friend. So off to Chinatown we went.
While we were down there, my BF was reminded of a little snack someone at work gave him «Ma tai su», and they said it was at Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery. So I had to stop by and check it out.
Whenever I go to Chinatown I always park in the municipal parking lot on Maunakea, closest to King St. This bakery is literally right across the entrance/​exit of it.
We had made our rounds and came here before we went to the car. The display was filled with tons of goodies that I’ve never had before, so we got to looking. They had the HUGEST sized shiu mai/​pork hash ($ 0.98). Of course we had to pick them up. My boyfriend wanted the sesame balls and ma tai su (don’t know what the English name is) but they were really good. It was like a crispy tiny Manapua. I think if the outside was saltier, it would have been good. My sister also got 4 custard tarts. So mad I didn’t see the check in offer till, now.
Also, although most of Chinatown seems to be full of foreign accents they spoke English and understood pretty well. I don’t speak Cantonese or mandarin, and not sure if Vietnamese worked with them. But we got in pretty fast.
There wasn’t really a system on how it worked, just go in and try to flag down someone to help you or stand in front of the case lol.

It’s that time of year again, Mid-​Autumn Festival, and you know what that means– MOONCAKES. I’m not a huge fan of the traditional-​flavored ones with duck egg yolks inside, so it’s a good thing that this place has so many other varieties of mooncakes to choose from; they even come in mini size. Some of the varieties include five nut, lotus, coconut, green tea, and even mochi-​filled.
Another food that you have to get when you come in here is their macadamia nut candy. Undoubtedly unique to Hawaii, this shop put a twist on the more well-​known peanut sesame candy swapping it out for macadamias.

Double-​yolk moon cakes are delicious and lucky! Driving through Chinatown, we saw a line of people waiting in front of this store. A huge banner outside stating Fresh home-​made moon cakes, and at the same time, a car was leaving, which gave us the perfect opportunity to park and get moon cakes.
This Chinese bakery presents a variety of moon cakes. I was looking for moon cakes with double yolks and no nuts. I found at least 3 different choices.
As soon as we got home, we cut up the moon cakes and shared. It was so sweet, creamy, sticky, fresh and heavy at the same time. Just what a delicious mooncake should taste like.
The mooncakes range from $ 5 – 6 dollars each.

I remember as a young girl celebrating the Mid-​Autumn Moon Festival with my family by eating moon cakes and listening to the legend of the woman flying to the moon. I also remember that I didn’t really like moon cakes, especially the ones with the duck yolks inside them.
But in recent years, partly out of sentiment and the rest out of desperation not to lose all of the Chinese culture I was raised with, I’ve been celebrating the annual festival with a moon cake.
It wasn’t until this year, that I read Melissa Chang’s article in Frolic that I learned of moon cakes that I would actually enjoy eating. Sure, they aren’t so traditional, but let’s face it, neither am I. I bought a couple from the Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery in Honolulu’s Chinatown to share with my family. My two kids just loved the mochi moon cake filled with black sugar and I was amazed how much I enjoyed the five nuts moon cake. They also offered fruit filled mochi moon cakes and also all your traditional moon cakes as well. Even mini moon cakes and pig shaped ones are available!
It was so delicious that I am tempted to return to the bakery before Sunday’s Mid-​Autumn Festival holiday. I’m ecstatic to continue this tradition (even with not-​so traditional moon cakes) with my family.
Check in with your Unilocal app and you will receive a free custard tart with a $ 10 purchase. Those babies were delicious!!!

This bakery bakes delicious chinese pastries. We bought the coconut tart and the hong kong bun or gai mei boa I would recommend having both!
The hong kong bun is exactly the way i remember them with a delicious coconut filling and flakey white rice dough. Delicious!
The coconut tart has the same coconut filling as the hong kong bun.

If it weren’t for the reviews from some of my fellow Unilocalers, this place wouldn’t have gotten my attention at all and I would still be going to the other manapua shops around the Chinatown neighborhood. Fortunately for me, I found a place I really like!
Since childhood times, I grew up eating manapua, pork hash and half moon. I’m pretty sure just about every child who grew up here in Hawaii has done the same. From Chinese restaurants to your neighborhood manapua man, we all had our fair share of these tasty treats.
As for this place, I fell in love at first sight when I seen the over-​sized pork hash & half moons! You can’t compare the size from the typical manapua trucks against Sing’s! It looks like their on steroids compared to those hahaha! Their pork hash are monsters compared to other manapua shops! Not only the size that is good about it but they are very delicious as well. The prices are reasonable. It’s just a few change short of a dollar per piece. Can’t go wrong! That is why I like to order atleast a dozen each of their pork hash & half moon per visit.
The service here is awesome! I have been coming here alot, so much that the workers here notices me and ask if I’m getting a dozen of their half moons. When they get busy and yes they do, they still manage to get everyone in and out as quickly as possible.
I’ve also tried a few other treats, like their Rice Cakes, Rice Crackers and Banana rolls to name a few. They have a pretty good selections of crack seeds. This place gets a high rating from me!
They also accept credit cards, which is always a plus!
Parking can be hard to find on the streets but there’s alot of garaged parking lots near this establishment.

OMG!
Oh my Goodness–
where have I been & not know that this place actually exist?
I go to Chinatown often, every weekend, all my life!
I’m missing out! until today. (thank goodness!!)
When I got to the office this afternoon, my co-​worker said there is manapua/​dim sum
Where from, I asked?
I figured it was either from Royal Kitchen, Char Hung Sut, or Chun Wah Kam.
She said its a long name, haven’t heard of it before,
so the Box said: «Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery»
What, where is this place? haven’t heard of it?
so I eat my manapua (steamed) & a mochi rice ball
& oh WOW!
I never had dim sum for so long & it def. hit the spot.
The Manapua bread is so soft & there is a good amount of filling of char siu.
It was very good! Very tasty! (the bread & meat ratio perfect!!)
The mochi rice ball was good too!
After eating them, I Unilocaled this place on my phone &
discovered many new things about this place.
YES! I am def. going to stop here soon! to get the other «goods»!!
Thank you to my co-​worker (from other team) for bringing goodies back from here.
&
I’m so happy that I get to bring home a few manapua, since no one wants them.
Score! ;0)