Anna Bakery

We found one cockroach on top of the food! This place needs a health inspection NOW! Zero stars should be given and this place needs to be shut down. Over greasy chicken swimming with old oil and undercooked — the chicken meat is still pink.

Unilocal 365 CHALLENGE 2014−(270÷365) «Custardy Goodness»
EGG TART SCRAMBLE –Stop #1
Killing time around Chinatown, We see this little bakery and decide to take a peek inside. I was surprised to see that it was more like a restaurant/​café in the back where they served Savory food as well, but we already had dinner plans nearby so we opted for some Egg Tarts and also a Moon Cake to try.
Sweet and dense, The Moon Cake was okay, just not my kinda snack, but we did enjoy
the warm, flaky Egg Tart which had a good custard taste. not too sweet or eggy for my tastebuds. Good to know that there are other egg tart alternatives to coose from in the same area. ALOHA!!!
Shaka Meter: \uuu/​\uuu/​\uuu/​\uuu/​4

Not my favorite Chinese bakery in SF Chinatown but it’s the closest one to my office and this spot is the cheapest option for office breakfast. Their buns are all mediocre tasting and there’s not much filling in the buns.
Only get buns here if you have too.

Cheap food and seems legit but the customer service is sub par.
If you don’t speak Cantonese you pretty much have to guess.

The Ma Tsai is better than other bakeries. Less sticky but too sweet. The texture is better, more flaky. It’s more expensive than other places. $ 1 each.
The environment is not very good and the owner is a bit too aggressive so I feel uncomfortable looking around for too long. She keeps selling things to me.

I’ve driven down Clay on my way to the FiDi a zillion times and for the first time in years, I spotted a vacant legal parking space at the corner of Clay and Kearny. I couldn’t resist but to pull into the space even though I had no real reason to except perhaps grab a quick bite. Lo and behold, I was parked right in front of Anna Bakery! Oh boy, was that a serendipitous move?
AB is housed in a building that looks like an ancient relic on the nondescript part of Clay. It fits the description of a hole in the wall to a T. The frontage looked divey and uninviting and I was pleasantly surprised to notice a respectable health score of 90 out of 100. The walls appeared to be recently painted in a cheerful white and the restaurant had a clean vibe. There were no sticky tables or floors and the condiment containers were spotless. The long and narrow dining room had a simple bakery counter to the left and a flight of stairs leading down to their well-​hidden kitchen in the basement. Everything else was basic and bare bones.
We thought this was only a bakery selling pastries, breads and baked goodies. We were wrong! There are booths in the back for sit down meals. Since it was lunchtime and the car was so conveniently parked, we decided to grab a table. We saw pictures of claypot rice posted on the wall. Since there were four of us, we ordered two claypots ($ 5.50 each) to share and two small bowls of HK street style shark fins soup ($ 3.00 each) to start. Before anyone gets excited or offended, let it be known that this wasn’t the real stuff. It had the dark color (dark soy) and the thick consistency (touch of corn starch) of «hot and sour» soup packed w/​chicken strips, thin slices of shitake and a bunch of noodle-​like imitation shark fin. It was tasty in spite of the cheap ingredients and at $ 3 a bowl… who can bitch? Add some red vinegar and white pepper… the taste had gotten better by two notches!
Among the Cantonese, this claypot rice was to die for…“lap mei farn”(aromatic waxed meat rice). The surfaces of the preserved meats looked glossy like wax but were actually meats like Chinese sausage (lap cheong), pork belly strips and smoked duck. They were steamed w/​rice in a claypot and a delicious light sauce poured over it. It was deeply satisfying but can be suicidal if you overdosed owing to its high fat and sodium contents. We tried the next claypot w/​chicken and mushroom steamed the same way. The claypot is a marvelous utensil that keeps the ingredients in high heat and allows the umami flavors and aroma to be released into the rice and the vapors wafting into the dining room. The grand finale was the thin layer of golden burnt rice crust left behind and that was chewy and crunchy. Pour in a small bowl of soup and scrape out the burnt crust for an awesome finishing.
Lo mein w/​braised pig trotters ($ 4.50) was very well done. The thin egg noodles were tossed well w/​oil and sweet soy and the trotters were nestled on top. You can sprinkle a little pepper and maybe add a dash of their house made chili sauce and dig in. The trotters were boiled perfectly so that the tendons were soft and yet had a good bite. The skin was tender although it wasn’t my favorite. Another dish was rice vermicelli (mai fun) w/​preserved snow cabbage and pork strips in a savory broth ($ 4.50). The preserved cabbage provided the right saltiness and crunchiness to the broth. Included in this price was a cup of HK milk tea which I’d say had a strong fragrant tea flavor and just the right sweetness.
Parking is a challenge but you can get nearby parking in Portsmouth Square Garage half a block away.
The owner is personable and a fine schmoozer. Although we have never met before, she spoke to my wife in fluent Cantonese like they were old buddies. She explained that AB closes at 7pm nightly as Chinatown slows down drastically in the evenings quite unlike its heydays more than 20 years ago.
In concluding, let me put my review in the proper perspective. AB does have tasty style café food. While it may lack in quality, it will more than compensate w/​its dirt-​cheap prices. Please be aware that you may be throwing caution to the wind if you’re required to follow a healthy diet. Lastly, AB is located in the heart of Chinatown and as long as you do not expect top notch service and accept everything else as down to earth w/​no frills, you’ll not be disappointed.

I used to walk by this place every day on the way to sunday school in SF after church service by First Chinese Baptist Church. Since sunday school location moved and I’m much older, I do not walk past this quite as often. It is your typical bakery where you can get bao. I recall everyone getting butter baos as its basically bread with butter spread in the middle. I did come here because it was on the way to the parking garage and they provide the park n go stamp here. I ordered some dan tat (egg custard tarts) and I thought they were good. Everyone is in love with golden gate bakery’s dan tats, but I enjoyed this place’s tarts just fine. If I was in the city more towards tea time, I recall that this place has a really good deal for tea time but it’s rare that I’m in chinatown all day anyways.

Pastries are not fresh. The first one we tried to eat was moldy! See photo. Would give zero star if I could.

Thanks to some inconsiderate BART riders who brought their bikes into an already packed train, I wounded up missing my stop because the doors closed after they took forever to exit with their bikes. I got off the next station which extends my walk to work an additional quarter mile, which is no biggie; but old man with the Giant’s cap, if I see you and your bike again, I’ll…I’ll…tell you that your baseball team sucks (yeah, that’ll show him) =)
The additional walk did some good at least. I got to see more of the hustle and bustle of the Fi-​Di and I wounded up at Anna’s Bakery for Friday morning pastries. Definitely, a hole in the wall in every sense of the word, but the pastries were very good. Large selection of baked goods, ranging from buns to wedding cakes. By the time I brought them to the office, they were still warm but all gone soon after.

$ 1 for 3 egg custard tarts? You just can’t go wrong with that. The tart was right on– the crust was flaky and light, and the custard wasn’t too sweet. Solid.

Place wad packed at 7:30
Place is really small with only 4 booths and 3 small tables. I was seated in same table with an old chinese fellow which I didnt mind. It made my whole early china town experience more authentic.
Coffe and pastry were good. Cheap! Good place for a fast one. Chaotic place like most of chinese establishments everywhere.

This place is becoming a favorite.
Couple weekends ago, we came back because I wanted the HK street styled shark fin soup. It’s as good as I can find in SF and for $ 3, it’s a good value — in the soup, you’ll find thinly sliced mushroom and chicken and some imitation shark fin — some kind of clear noodles or ?
What we ended up ordering too was the clay pot rice — there are three options: minced beef w/​an over easy egg, mushroom/​chicken/​Chinese sausage, and pork patty with salty fish — all at $ 5.50 each. First time, we tried the minced beef and it was good. The best part — they really do make the rice in the clay pot so you get that nice crispy part on the side and bottom of the pot. It is super delicious and well worth every penny.
Came back again and tried the chicken/​mushroom clay pot rice, it was equally good — hubby actually like it better. We also ordered the garlic eggplant and pork with bean vermicelli and fine rice noodle — it was good but just lacking a little flavor.
We will be returning soon and we already know what to order — the pork patty with salty fish clay pot rice.

Anna’s Bakery almost put me to sleep forever last Friday. I was in the neighborhood, and stopped by to pick up some buns. I had to wait on line, so took a look at their limited menu. When I saw the wonton noodle soup listed, I had to order it. In addition to the wonton noodle soup, I also had to order two curry buns, a sesame bun and a cocktail bun.
And I ate all of it that afternoon.
And when I got home I fell into a troubled sleep as my belly roiled and rocked, trying to digest all the delicious treats I had inhaled a few hours early.
Note to self: moderation is key, especially when you are dealing with Anna Bakery.

This may not be *the* best bakery in Chinatown, but my family has been going here since I was a little kid (and I don’t even live in SF!). Whether it’s the jelly or cream sponge cake rolls, or the pork buns, it’s the only place for me.
For the last few years, it’s been my go-​to establishment for picking up tasty pork buns, pineapple buns and egg tarts for my lucky co-​workers — in fact it’s become something of a tradition. Sometimes I also get a curry beef puff or more often the Zongzi (sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves with egg, peanuts, chinese sausage, pork, mushrooms, etc.).
I hear they also serve other things, but I’ve never actually eaten there, just gotten baked goods to go. :)
-/\/

(See pics)
Today is Mid-​Autumn Festival and last week I decided to try one of the moon cakes. Usually I get them imported but fresh ones are always better.
Well, I went back and bought a whole box! They are so delicious, fresh, light sweet with great egg yolks and a hint of the nuts. They also make special taste mini mooncakes such as strawberry, water melon and mango flavours. I saw them taking the freshly baked ones that are just packaged from the kitchen to the shelf.
Just can’t get better than that.
I have also been coming back at least once a week (have to curb my bakery crave sometimes) for the bakery items. Having tried most of the other bakeries this is by far, not just in Chinatown, but including Richmond and Sunset, with the best bakery food. Why? Because the kitchen is right there and they bake all day. Fresh is the keyword.
Best is their egg custards (even better than Golden Gate), pineapple buns, «sala» bun, and everything you have seen in Hong Kong cafes, they have it plus more. All these are still sitting on the baked pans, the very traditional way of serving instead of fancy plastic ones.
I sometimes also pick up some home made style lunch here. Today I have rice with dried scallops with eggs and a soup, both were good.
The shop is very tiny with few decorations and many might wonder how they survive and if they are any good. If you come early in the morning around 8 to 9am, you will soon realize that they must be doing catering for other places because you will see people coming in having trays and trays of baked goodies onto some small vans.

If there’s one thing I like more than cheap food, it’s not having to wait in line for cheap food.
After spotting a line at Specialty’s, but not wanting to walk to Café Venue for a breakfast burrito, I decided to just head to work and starve. But as I headed up Clay, I spotted «Anna Bakery» across the street and decided to go in for a try.
No, they ran out of chicken bun. Sorry, they didn’t have any garlic bun either.
Whut!
So I decided on a curry beef bun and an onion bun. The curry beef bun was warm, and IT WAS YUMMY. I wish it’d been heated up a bit more, but the beef was shredded really, really finely, and the curry wasn’t overpowering. The bun was really soft (and a bit greasy), and I think I finished the whole thing in a total of 4 bites.
The onion bun was meh; it was your typical Chinese soft bread with bits of green onion stuck in the creases, and it wasn’t as warm as the beef bun. I wish it’d had more onion or savory flavor, but it was a fairly decent size (bigger than the beef bun).
$ 1.70 to tide me over until lunch. Not bad. Typical of CCG places, this bakery is cash only. I spotted other moon cakes, cookies and pastries, and I believe they also serve hot food, as there were other people sitting inside eating. The ladies weren’t overly friendly, but that’s also expected of a CCG place.
Sigh, another place for me to stuff myself and then wish that I had my running shoes with me.

This place kinda dirty. Walked by once n saw lady swating flies! I sure hope it dont end up in my food. But the following is much more important: while on my way back from peet’s i was craving for a cocktail bun. I stopped here, stood there for a min or two… No greet. Since i was in a rush, i said cocktail bun please! I was expecting this bun to cost roughly .35 to .40 ! Well, i got charged .65! WTF?
Yea. I will not be comin here no mo. Im just eating it. N its not sweet, but very butter-​ee tasting! Yuck

I’d come here to grab breakfast before starting my day. I always order the hot milk tea and a pineapple bun. Yum. Reminds me of childhood.
Parking is impossible in the morning, let alone in the afternoon.

If you prefer your buns baked rather than steamed, go see Anna.
Her pork and hot dog buns are my absolute favorite out of the many places I’ve tried in Chinatown. The bread is eggy and soft and delicious. She makes a wide assortment of sweet and savory buns for breakfast… two of my other favorites are the green onion and ham & cheese. The quality is such that restaurants also buy from her: I’ve seen the racks of aromatic buns and breads being loaded into a van in the mornings.
She also serves coffee and there’s a seating area beyond the counters if you want to sit and stay awhile and eavesdrop on some gossip in Cantonese.

This past Friday on my way back from lunch, I was strolling through Chinatown in full anticipation of getting a freshly baked custard tart. However, to my utter dismay, Golden Gate Bakery is closed until the end of August. All of a sudden, I felt like Shirley MacLaine in the hospital scene of «Terms of Endearment»…
«It’s past ten. My daughter is in pain. I don’t understand why she has to have this pain. All she has to do is hold out until ten, and IT’S PAST TEN! My daughter is in pain… Can’t you understand that? GIVE MY DAUGHTER THE SHOT!!»
«It’s past one. Golden Gate Bakery is closed. I don’t understand why I have to have this craving. All I had to do is hold out until one, and IT’S PAST ONE! I need a custard tart… Can’t you understand that? GIVE ME A CUSTARD TART!!»
Unfortunately, I had this Oscar-​winning outburst in the middle of Portsmouth Square where no one knew what I was saying while they were gambling. Within my sight was Anna Bakery, and I got a ninety-​cent almond cookie. That was a big mutha, a little stale, and most definitely not a custard tart. Stop asking if I’ve taken my medication!
COOKIE — 3 stars… big, crumbly cookie… probably not wise of me to eat it above my keyboard
AMBIANCE — 3 stars… gets awfully crowded in there, even at lunch
SERVICE — 3 stars… I pointed, she got it… yep, 3 stars
TOTAL — 3 stars… another Chinatown bakery is a good find even out of a moment of desperation… GIVE MY DAUGHTER THE SHOT!