If you're looking for a dessert that prioritizes texture and subtle sweetness over a sugar-heavy "punch," Chinese sweets are an absolute revelation. Great service Mooncakes are such a classic, but they can be a bit of a polarizing experience depending on the filling. Since you picked yours up from a local bakery, you're usually getting something much fresher than the tins that sit on grocery store shelves for months. read more

Best buns on Waverly. I think I rented that once. Anyway, it's a clean, affordable, simple place to grab buns without getting slapped. Pork bun was fine. Husband cake (mushroom, peanut, garlic, sesame) was dense and good. Crispy walnut roll was fluffy but maybe a little bland past the "skin". Basic, cheap, donut-shoppy ham and egg. Gummy egg custard pancake was so bubbalicious it was inedible. Bottom line: I'd go back. And not just because I left my phone charger there. read more

iCafe - Egg custard pancake, pork bun, crispy walnut roll, egg and ham, plus husband cake. - Bakeries Near Me - San Francisco, California

Nice bakery in Chinatown that's conveniently close to a parking garage and has been around for many years. It's one of my go-to spots whenever I'm craving classic Cantonese pastries. I usually stop by for their BBQ pork buns and lo bak go (turnip cake), which never disappoint. The shop itself is clean, bright, and well-organized, and the staff are friendly and efficient. They offer a great mix of traditional Cantonese favorites and some unique treats: Signature buns: Crispy-topped baked cha siu buns and classic pineapple buns Specialty mochi: Huge, soft, and filled with flavors like mango, durian, black sesame, and purple yam Traditional staples: Joong (Chinese tamales), buttery egg tarts, and steamed cakes like taro, radish, and chestnut Drinks: Hong Kong-style milk tea and Vietnamese coffee Seasonal items: Creative mooncakes and Lunar New Year treats Overall, a reliable neighborhood bakery for both everyday cravings and festive goodies. read more

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While we were looking for some Asian sweets and tea, found this bakery offering delicious Cantonese pastries like pork buns, egg tarts, and mooncakes for reasonable prices for the quality. This clean, well-organized shop has efficient staff, along with the convenient table seating and spotless restrooms. read more

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Quintessential San Francisco Chinatown cafe. Clean, friendly service, nice ambience. Great place to take a break from walking around Chinatown. First time trying a Chinese tamale! read more

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Chinatown's iCafe at 133 Waverly Place was a nice find for me! Recommended to me by seasoned diners who frequent Chinatown for all the good eats they offer. This review is for their JOONG (粽), Chinese tamales, lovingly steamed rice and savory fillings that brings you back to Mom's homemade joong's misen en place rice, mung or green beans, duck eggs, pork belly, etc., or free assembly line of Joong makers. Not unlike Christmas time Mexican tamale making! You enter the small, bright, bakery cafe in a throughway Waverly alley, clean with a few tables of two scattered around. And there's the baked goods and JOONG in glass cases on the left and seating to your right as you enter. Most will take their goodies to go but they have their regulars who buy fresh baked rolls, still warm from the oven and sit right there to enjoy! Service is quick and efficient. Especially if you know what you want and/ or are a regular. They also have freshly baked breads and rolls. I love it when i placed my order for which JOONGS I wanted, and the counter person was quick to add "...how about some bread today! It's fresh out of the oven!" LOVED and appreciated that!!! I'll be back for my beloved JOONG and freshly baked breads and rolls! read more

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Fun times in Chinatown happy ..old times with my family ..mom and fun snacks ..cute kids ..good life China nice read more

iCafe - Bakeries Near Me - San Francisco, California

I found this places back in 2018 when I worked close by. They make fresh mochi daily but they usually sell out before lunch time. Since Covid I haven't seen it in store. I went in today and asked for it specifically and they had 2 left. Jackpot! So happy to have this again after almost 7 years. They're very friendly but always assume I'm Chinese and I have to disappoint them and tell them that I'm Korean. It's never busy and it seems very clean. read more

iCafe - Mochi - Bakeries Near Me - San Francisco, California

Cozy spot with seating which feels special for bakeries here. Good spot to sit down and take a break from walking around before tackling the inclines of SF. I found the baked goods to be fresh and tasty at an average price, but I only tried the pineapple bun (bo lo) and egg tart (dan tat) which I'd say are reasonably popular and more likely to be fresh instead of sitting around. read more

iCafe - Pineapple Bun and Egg Tart - Bakeries Near Me - San Francisco, California

The customer service here is very pleasant and I had an opportunity to try one of their tasty tamales (try the warmed braised pork tamale) and their egg tarts are delicious. read more

iCafe - Display of food - Bakeries Near Me - San Francisco, California

Dropped in to pick up some buns and got a bag of almond cookies. These are the best cookies I've ever had. Better than the ones sold in LA Chinatown. read more

iCafe - Gigantic pineapple buns! - Bakeries Near Me - San Francisco, California

Bad values on the Chinese tamales. Small size compared to others but more than 30% more expensive. The meat is not fatty enough, the salty egg yolk used packaged one. Dry, not oily nor crumbly. Biggest issue is they didn't use 五香粉 to marinate. So, I won't be going back. On the side note, I bought a bun and HK milk tea. Milk tea is really bad. And the bun is not worth it. read more

iCafe - Bakeries Near Me - San Francisco, California

Reasonably priced bakery located in Chinatown. They accept credit cards including Amex. Clean bakery with tables and seating inside. We got 2 bubble milk teas, egg tart and green onion bun which came out to $13.50. The 2 ladies working the counter were friendly too, answering and helping the other customers. read more

iCafe - Bakeries Near Me - San Francisco, California

iCafe is a nice little bakery and cafe located in a side street in chinatown. The inside is fairly clean with a more modern aesthetic. They have some booth seating for those who want to enjoy some bread and a hot drink while taking a break. They have a nice assortment of classic Chinese bakery staples. Everything is made well and you can't really go wrong with anything here. If wanted, you can also request for them to heat it up a bit if you plan to eat it soon. They also have an interesting assortment of sticky rice choices to bring home and prepare. Each one is quite unique and worth a try. read more

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Stopped by for a quick bite, and this bakery did not disappoint. This is a bakery many "locals" come to. Many were seniors who just hung out and read newspapers and chatted with each other. They didn't have a large variety of baked goods, but what they did have were delicious. read more

iCafe - Bakeries Near Me - San Francisco, California

Their pineapple buns are delicious! I loved their Hong Kong Milk Tea, strong and creamy. They also had Zhongxi (aka Chinese Tamales). Their moon cakes are super fresh and the best!! read more

Pastries and buns are good, particularly the crispy cha siu buns and crispy taro buns. Their sponge cake used to be very fluffy and soft. Now, the cake is not as much soft and fluffy. The pastries and buns were used to be cheaper than other bakery shops. Now, noT cheap any more BUT they are still pretty competitive in terms of quality. The menu has been simplified, some items would only be ordered in advance such as mochi. Maybe the shop becoming popular, I feel that the owner/cashier sometimes appears rude and cold to random customers. read more

This is the year tradition for NY, organic radish and taro cakes. Their Chinese organic Tamale also very tasty and many choices even vegetarian. Fresh ingredients and great service. read more

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I had high hopes when I walked in, as this place is in china town. I got spenge cake but it wasn't that spongy I have had better flavour and softer cake at multiple other places. I also got the Pineapple Egg yolk mooncake, it was good but I didn't love it either. The worst was Vietnamese coffee, she quickly put together some random coffee and added cream, I didn't even finish and threw it away. The inside of the place was clean with some seating but not going back. read more

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My mom introduced me to this cafe in Chinatown and I now claim it's my fav place for cha siu bao in the city! I love the crumbly sugar topping. My hubby also likes the hot dog bao and the hairy pork baos (i'm sure there's a better name for those, lol). Can't wait to eventually try their mango mochi--they're always out of it when I go! read more

Cash only -- thumbs down... I came here to try the different Chinese tamales but as it turns out, they only have a few selections available so the full menu you see on Yelp is always what they have. I tried the purple rice with scallop $7 and braised pork with preserved greens $6 -- both of these are way more expensive than other standard sticky rice you'll find. I was expecting the flavor to be more pronounced but it was pretty standard. Purple rice is supposedly to be healthier because it has antioxidants but the texture reminds me of brown rice -- rough and not as chewy. The braised pork one was stuffed well but overall kinda small for $7. Icafe also sells other typical baked Chinese goods but nothing that looks unique. The place is pretty low key considering it's located in one of the alley ways off the Main Street. It's a large space with tables but this morning it was completely empty. I asked the lady why she didn't have more selection and she said they don't always make all of the flavors because of limited freezer space. They had an interesting display of various ingredients that can be stuffed in Chinese tamales. Now that I've tried this, I wouldn't necessarily return read more

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It's June and the season for Chinese tamales. I was craving for a peanut one like my mom used to make. And ICafe really hit the spot. We also got some bbq buns. We ordered the peanut tamale and the purple rice with scallops. The bbq wasn't that crusty on top. The peanut tamale was excellent - very comparable to my Moms. The purple one I could do without. There were fatty pieces in there. Y read more

iCafe - Bakeries Near Me - San Francisco, California

Stumbled upon this place while walking through china town. Decided to try their taro bun (honestly so good), egg tart which was ok, and then the red bean and egg pancake which is basically filled mochi. The coffee milk tea was a little sweet for our taste. Service was quick and easy to go but they also had tables if you want to sit. read more

iCafe - Taro bun - Bakeries Near Me - San Francisco, California

Wonderful bakery with friendly staff! The shop owner can to us and greeted us. She also gave us free sesame balls! She was so sweet & the best egg tart! read more

iCafe - Bakeries Near Me - San Francisco, California

Stopped here because we both needed coffee!! One of the very few places open early in Chinatown with coffee. We each got a snack to go with our coffee; she got the bao with corn and ham and I got a cha siew bao. The coffee was just okay as were the bao. I would've liked more filling in my cha siew bao, but it was a good enough snack before doing the tourist thing in Chinatown! Just happy to support a business in Chinatown! read more

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I've been here twice now. Most recently this past Wednesday on our ebike ride. A must stop for some of us. Hubby insisted on buying the Chinese tamale. He wanted choice B but I think we got choice C. No matter. I wanted one of their pineapple BBQ pork buns. Sold out. At 11:30am. Just as well. Bought a ordinary pineapple bun and a sponge cake. Both eaten later at home. Good. Reheated the Chinese tamales for dinner later. No hair found in it. Whew. Hubby enjoyed them. Comfort food. read more

iCafe - Chinese tamales - Bakeries Near Me - San Francisco, California

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Nice to find CNY cakes that are low in sugar and without preservatives. I tried the coconut milk mush gao and red bean cake. They taste good. read more

Oddly, despite previous reviews, there was not a single mochi to be found. Seemed like they were working on tons of rice wraps though. Being in a baked goods mood though, I stuck with the pastries, which were all quite nice. BBQ Pork Bun: The one I got was still warm from the oven. Being so fresh, the sugar on top still had that nice crumbly texture. And such soft bread. A really wonderful experience. Purple Yam Pastry: Similar to the BBQ pork bun, but filled with a sweet taro paste. Was also fresh from the oven. The filling was a little sweet, but not too sweet, which was perfect since the sugar on top was there. Sponge Cake: So light and fluffy. Like an angel food cake, but all to yourself. So easy to eat this quickly. Egg Tart: Not warm, but a few seconds in the microwave at home fixed that. Jiggly center and flaky crust. It's not Golden Gate Bakery, but at least they're open. I kinda like the buns here more though. Hot Dog Bun: Pretty standard. Though a much thicker hot dog than normally found in buns like this. Soft bread bun. Very filling. read more

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Best BBQ pork buns I ever tasted! The BBQ pork is not dyed red. The bread is really soft inside and slight crispy outside! All we can say is yum! Also tasty: little chicken biscuit! Crispy and crunchy just right! Bring back childhood memories! Will definitely visit again when I am in San Francisco Chinatown. read more

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When I was a kid, Sundays were usually a day of going to have dim sum w/family or visiting family with a big pink box filled with pastries from one of the bakeries in Chinatown. The one pastry I didn't like the most was the "Paper Wrapped sponge cake". I think it tasted too plain for me and not sweet enough? My ahem..older relatives loved it! Maybe it helped that it was soft on the gums? The crazy thing is I've slowly grown to really like it over the years. Maybe because I don't eat it as often and there are not big pink boxes laying around my house every weekend? Icafe makes this paper wrapped sponge cake really well! They also have very tasty BBQ pork and Taro buns! I'm not a big mochi fan but they have supposedly one of the best mango mochis. Parking in all of Chinatown is difficult. You can get in and out of the shop rather quickly and they prefer CASH! read more

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A shout-out to iCafe Bakery, two days before Chinese New Year. Bought a savory daikon cake and a sweet water chestnut pudding today, great taste and beautiful packaging. $45 for both, each a hefty kg, with a complimentary small dish of XO sauce. The staff was friendly and helpful, especially the cashier who greeted customers with auspicious New Year sayings. We left happy. read more

iCafe - Savory daikon cake and sweet water chestnut pudding. - Bakeries Near Me - San Francisco, California

Excellent CNY cakes like turnip cake and 年糕！This is my go-to bakery in Chinatown. They take cash and credit cards.

Great service and great food. Their roast pork buns are better than the good mong kok place! Egg tarts and milk tea were also good. The milk tea is HK style milk tea and the lady brewed it fresh. It surprised me because I was just expecting the typical $1.00 milk tea but it ended up costing $4.00. Was slightly peeved but after sipping it, I realized it was all worth it. They also have seating here, so if you need to rest your feet after climbing all those hills walking around SF, give this place a go. No frills, good food, good service. read more

Really cute cafe shop. They have an array of Chinese pastries and also "the best mochi in SF Chinatown" according to one of the signs hung up in the door. The pastry we purchased was just fine and they only accept cash. We initially came here to look at wedding cakes and were a bit disappointed when the lady came and spoke to us, showing us more pictures on her phone of cakes (in addition to the binder of cakes available). The problem is, she started talking about the cakes and then abruptly handed us a card and said "call me" which kind of didn't make sense because we were right there with questions to ask. But the prices were a bit higher than other places we looked at so we just left and decided to contact them another day if we did decide to return regarding wedding cakes. Some of the pictures were the exact same as in other chinese bakeries making wedding cakes so we decided that there was probably some photo stock place in which such shops get the wedding cake photos. read more

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If you love Zhong, you'll love iCafe from the traditional Cantonese style Chinese tamale to a red rice version (my fave), to even a vegan one and many variations in between in between iCafe keeps coming up with new versions. Also offers mochi ice cream. My favorite was the mango flavored one. Also seasonal treats like moon cakes. Her barbecue pork buns and egg tarts are quite delicious. ICafe is owning operated by a single woman who delightfully speaks Toisan dialect as well as City Cantonese. Yeah, everyone speaks a little Mandarin nowadays as well. I usually buy a bunch of stuff to last a few of weeks. Zhong is freezable, as I learn from my mom who gifted me quite a few every year, when I started to be on my own. So go and treat yourself and your family and friends. Oh, this is a cash basis business. And if you call ahead, they usually will gather your order. Or if it's busy, they will place you first in line because you called in your order. You have to tell her that because like many small popular, Chinatown shops, there's a crowd and hubbub! All part of the atmosphere. I read more

This used to be Wonder Foods bakery and they were known for their cocktail buns. Mom and I were craving cocktail buns so we stopped here. It was hot, straight out of the oven. Unfortunately, it's not as good as Wonder Food or other places in Chinatown. New owner, new recipe? Unfortunately, it didn't make the cut. read more

iCafe - Cocktail bun - Bakeries Near Me - San Francisco, California

Me: "Hi, do you have the durian and mango mochi today?" Lady: "No, sorry...we're sold out. We usually sell out by 2 pm." Me *super bummed*: "Ok, thank you." *Calls the next day* Me: Hi, will you have the durian and mango mochi on Sunday morning?" Lady: "Yes, we will!" Me: "Ok, great, I'll be there." *Sunday Morning* My sister: "Hi, can I get two durian mochi and two mango mochi?" Lady: "Did you pre-order?" My sister: "Ummm no." Lady: "Pre-orders only." WTF? How hard is it to tell customers that the mochi is pre-order only?! You had two opportunities to. TWO. Many of us are trying to support as many small businesses as we can. It's difficult to support iCafe when the staff/owner is so inconsiderate of people's time. P.S. - There was zero language barrier. read more

For years, this was Chinatown's most popular bakery and coffee spot for the neighborhood workforce. Many of new immigrants who came in the '70's and '80's will remember this location as the home to Wonder Bakery, the pioneer and staple for pre work breakfasts or coffee/tea. It was a social place where the mostly male customers would congregate and talk about their jobs, the news, relatives, or what's going on on the home front... double participle! The baker and owner Alex then moved on to open his namesake bakery on Clement near 6th Avenue where it thrived for many years. This place has changed hands a number of times... who knows how many?! iCafe started on Walter Lum Place just a block or so down the hill. When they closed, I wondered why as they were known for the mochi with fillings (black sesame, red bean, green tea, mango, etc). I actually like this location better since there is more shopping and dining foot traffic on Waverly. I enjoyed several of their unique pastries, not your typical pineapple, gai mei (chicken tail) bun, or ham & egg bun place. They offer some cakes but it's their specials that make this different. There is a self serve coffee station and some cold drinks in the refrigerator for customers who may want to dine in. There is a TV to keep the waiting workforce occupied until their businesses open. Can't remember whether they still have the Lotto board that reminds me of the Keno boards in Nevada casinos. Stop in for local neighborhood bites or a cheap cup of coffee. Your wallet will appreciate it. read more

The very best place in Chinatown to get pork buns and egg tarts. Found this place when taking the Gray Line San Francisco tour and this was a stop on the list. You really can't go wrong with ordering anything! Everything was absolutely delicious and fresh. read more

This place must have some incredible Mochi!!! I came here based on the positive reviews and recommendations from several people. The staff were very friendly and felt bad when they had to break the bad news that they were all SOLD OUT of all Mochi. I order on a Sunday around 1130am. I asked if I should come back earlier in the morning and they told me that they are actually sold out of Mochi until 2/18/2021 (3 weeks wait) due to all the preorders for Chinese New Year and are ONLY TAKING PREORDERS FOR MOCHI. Therefore, my review is is for the sponge cake. They are super large, light, and fluffy!! I'll write an updated review when I try the Mochi (even more excited to try it now since I have to wait. I'll make sure to call and preorder when I can stop by again). In the meantime, enjoy photos of my dog Mochi and the delicious sponge cake! read more

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