BAKED Cha siu bao - Oakland

[Cindy]

Am looking for recs for baked char siu bows in Oakland's Chinatown. TIA!

[kungful]

Just did a little side by side of Tao Yuen, Wonder Bakery, and Ruby King.
I liked the wonder bakery best (your mileage may vary). The filling from wonder seemed to have to best quality pork. Nice large slices without much fat and no gristle.

[kc72]

Thx, Wonder was my go to baked char siu bao place and sheet cake place yrs ago, will have to go by again.

On a side note, a family member bought some baked char siu baos and cocktail baos from Sun Sing -- didn't try the baked char siu bao, but the cocktail bao got hard after a couple of hrs -- unlike the ones from Ruby King which were still soft the next morning.

[gordon wing]

here are some old photos that add some visuals to this topic. they're not all taken at the same time but they give an idea of the relative amounts of fill. taste is another matter: from my notes I see that I thought that Napolean Bakery had a more savory ( less sweet ) note and their dough was very light. From L-R : Napolean, Sun Sing & Wonder.

[Cindy]

Thanks, all - I go to Ruby King for their don tots and totally didn't clue in that they have baked buns as well.

Word to parents - these usually freeze well and if you put them in your kids' lunch bags, will defrost by lunchtime. :)

[Ruth Lafler]

It's easy to miss them because they don't have them in the case -- just on the big bakery racks (as with their other high-volume items). Love the freezer tip!!!!

[chefj]

Just for future reference I believe the Pinyin spelling is Cha siu bao or Char siu bao.

[shanghaikid]

ruby king and napolean are tops, kam land, tao yuen, and wonder food ok.

[gordon wing]

Sun Sing is pretty good IIRC