King Bakery

Economics hurts bakeries and other eateries — cost more to make so price of product increases and size of product decreases. Oh yeah — 1 star reduction for being a cash only establishment. Anyway this is the current go to place for me in Houston for the Chinese bao so no matter price and size I go — even if size is reduced. Place has in past operTed with inconsistent hours – guess if you sell out you shut down for the day. But my experience from the past is that if you call them ahead of time, they will sometimes hold it for you — I know, not a resounding vote of confidence however I like their bao and I am not there often enough.

Bbq pork buns, banh bao, everything is yummay. I super recommend this place. Char siu goodness

Not as large of a selection of the other bakeries in Chinatown, but I loved their pork sung bun! Prices are a bit cheaper than those of other bakeries.

The treats or should I say asian treats in Houston, always a treat for to stop in for a snack.

Yeah the bakery is very plentiful and yes it ranges from cheap to cheap but thing is it adds up. Also there is a limit of $ 10 per customer. So the thing is bring cash yes do it. It will save you the headache and when you do shop away. Everything is delicious here.

CASH ONLY. That being said this is a great place. Very authentic Taiwanese baked goods and the prices reasonable.

Love this place! Pastries are authentic and staffs are super nice to me! I told her that I was coming from New Orleans, and she suggested do many things to help me keep the pastries fresh.

Their bread is pretty good. They are known for the BBQ bun. I remember they told me to come back in 10 minutes, but when I came back after 5 minutes, they sold it all. (Made me kind of sad cause i should’ve just waited there).
Overall, it’s pretty average unless you get them fresh!

If I could, I would give this place 0 stars. This place is absolutely unprofessional.
Frequently, I will come here mid afternoon around ¾ p.m., and they will be closed. I took to calling beforehand to make sure they were opened, and each time they will tell me, «Please come in as soon as possible. We might be closing early.» If your business hours aren’t working for you, maybe it’s time to change them. When they are open, there will be one or two pastries left. If you want to stay open from 8 am to 10 pm as your business hours state, make sure you have goods to sell.
The last straw was today. I called to see if they had anything left, and the lady who answered told me they did. I informed her I wouldn’t be getting there for another 40 mins. She said, «OK do you want me to save the buns for you?» I didn’t even know they did that and was ecstatic! They sure fooled me when I showed up, and there were no buns. She said, «Oh sorry someone else bought them.» The buns that you offered on your own accord to hold for me? Those buns? Ridiculous. Rude. Waste of my time. Six Ping, you can take all my money. I am never coming back.

There are 4 bakeries in the Dung Huang plaza, this one is one of my favourite as the pineapple bun and hot dog bun is most authentic to Hongkongese flavor! Best to eat pineapple bun is to heat up the bun in oven, cut ³⁄₂ from the side then insert a thin square piece of butter! Best to pair with milk tea, lemon tea for 3:30 afternoon tea!

Tried the pineapple custard bun which is a $ 1 each, pretty reasonably priced I’d say and tasted really good too. Top is sweet n crusty and inside was nice and moist filled with pineapple custard. Seemed like they just came out of the oven cz they were so warm n fresh. will try other things at this place later

This is the best bakery to get the Hong Kong Style (Canton Style) Pineapple Bread (Bo Lou Bao). It is not really pineapple nor is it pineapple flavor, this is just what Cantonese people call it. The topping of the «Pineapple» bread was crusty and full of flavor and is really the only bakery in Houston that I know of, that bakes it like how Hong Kong or San Francisco old Chinatown bakery bakes it.
Another person told me a trick, which is to call your order in so that they can save the buns you want when it comes out of the oven. This place sells out literally when the buns are out of the oven, sometimes even when the bun is still baking, it is sold out. In fact, this is the biggest difference between King Bakery and Six ping, King Bakery’s baos are always warm or Hot if straight out of the oven, when I go, which is the best way to enjoy the baos. They are not cold like Six Ping.
The second thing is the owners are husband and wife with the kids working in the front some times. They are nice, and the best part is they speak Cantonese, so you can just name the buns in Cantonese and they will let you know when the bun is ready or if it is baking or if it is sold out.
The difference between Six Ping and King Bakery is that Six Ping is more of the Taiwanese style with some Vietnamese influence (Pandan flavor) whereas King Bakery is very much Cantonese style (Hong Kong style). I grew up with the Cantonese style bread since I lived in San Francisco until I started High School and had to move to Houston. The Cantonese style buns which I grew up eating and is more satisfying to me. The Taiwanese bread I can’t really get used to since it is really so different than what I grew up with. Their egg tarts are good too when they are available.
Never bought birthday cakes here so I can’t review on that. Their baos are very delicious. Also, don’t expect too much on the décor, but seriously, Cantonese people are known for their food, so as long as the food is good, I am not too choosey on the stores décor. I rather they use the money for the better ingredients.

Has it only been a year since I wrote my first review for King Bakery? I suppose so.
I don’t have much to update on asides from the fact that the pork buns and the pineapple buns here are amazing! I used to stop by during lunch just to get one of each, some milk tea from across the plaza and just hide out form my coworkers when I just wanted an Asian fix.
However. holy macaroni do they run out of pork buns FAST. Incredibly fast. As soon as they’re out of the oven, some ass hat has decided to buy all of them! They’re only $ 1.25 or $ 1.50 each too so why not get a dozen or two? It can’t possibly hurt now can it?
If you want pork buns, you may have to wait it out and see if any come out of the oven while you’re still in the plaza. They’re amazing when they’re right out of the oven too. So sit tight, wait for pork buns and then RUN to get your paws on a few.
P. S. Cash only! The rest of Chinatown is pretty much cash only anyways so come prepared or miss out on delicious baked goods!

There are many bakeries in Chinatown, but this has got to be the best. The breads and buns aren’t as flashy as the ones at Six Ping, but they are so fresh and delicious. Unfortunately, people love this bakery so much that the best baked goods are frequently sold out.
Everything I’ve tried has been great, but if you’re lucky enough to arrive when the sweet-​and-​savory BBQ pork buns are available, thank your lucky stars, buy multiple, and wolf them down in the parking lot before they have a chance to cool down. These are the most popular buns, and they often sell out before they even make it to the case, so ask the cashier if there are any available behind the counter.
The almost equally elusive egg tarts are also excellent with a flaky, buttery crust and a just-​set custard.
I normally am upset when places are cash-​only, but since just 5 quarters can buy a heavenly BBQ pork bun that can function as a light meal, I’m willing to go digging around my car for change.

Amazing breads that always fresh baked. So ridiculously yummy and incredibly cheap. UNBELIEVABLE! Only about $ 1 for a delicicous bread with different choices of filling inside (custard, taro, red bean, BBQ pork,…)
Only 2 downsides that the choices are really narow. Second is, I came here twice, hoping to try their eggtart but it always ‘baking and will be available in xx mins’.

My favorite bakery to go when i crave for some sweet bread.
My fav: hotdog in the blanket, pineapple custard bun, beef curry and bbq pork bun.
I don’t really recommend the one with on top. It tasted bland and not so good.

I’ve been wanting to come to King Bakery when I found out they have BBQ buns. I unfortunately was not able to come by until 5pm which of course by then there were only a few items of baked goods to choose from. I chose the coconut raisin, shredded pork, and 2 egg tarts. They still had pineapple, corn, taro, and cream left also I believe.
I saw that you can order 10 BBQ buns, I’d like to place an order ahead and pick it up in the morning if that is possible.

Nom nom nom nom nom
Just like MC Hammer, this little bakery is too legit to quit.
I’m not usually one to go to an Asian bakery because I like my pastries sweet and sugary — think chocolate chip cookies, tres leches, 16 layers chocolate cake and the likes. So Asian bakeries were never on the radar for me.
However, I was in Chinatown and I was kind of hungry, but not too hungry to want to eat a full meal. I decided to swing by here to pick something up. As soon as I entered the bakery, it looked like the store had gone out of business! Everything was gone! No egg custards, no pineapple bun, nothing! They only a few selections left. And this was only around 5 pm! Made me wonder how good could they really be?
I decided to try a few selections of whatever they had left: The shredded pork bread, the BBQ buns, and the coconut raisin bread. Well, all I have to say, what the other Unilocalers are saying about this place is pretty much on the money! The BBQ pork bun is oh so good. When I let my boss try one at work the following day, he really enjoyed it. He said that it’s like Kolache with an Asian twist. The shredded pork and coconut raisin breads didn’t disappoint either, although personally I think they could add a little bit more coconut.
Now you combine all these yumminess with the low pricing! Each bread is priced $ 1 and up. I think the most expensive selection I had was the BBQ pork bun and that was only $ 1.25. What?! The guy who was working at the bakery when I came in was super helpful also. Come on! This is Chinatown! I expected worse!
You better believe that I’ll be back here for more!

This review is only for their birthday/​special occasion cake — you know… the typical Chinese-​ish layer cake that’s not as sweet as American cakes, with fruit between the layers and fruit on top.
Maybe we just got a dud, but it was one of the saddest Chinese cakes I’ve ever eaten. The cake was chewy/​dense (like it didn’t rise completely perhaps), and the fruit filling was 90% cantaloupe. What the? What about grapes, peaches, strawberries, pears, all the other good fruit? Hmph.
The only good thing about the cake was that the frosting/​icing was pretty decent. Oh, and it looked pretty.

I’m so disappointed that I never came across this place back in high school. I found out about this place via friend and I heard amazing things about the buns here so of course I had to stop by when I came back home to visit from college.
I got the pineapple and BBQ pork buns and WOW. These are hands down THE BEST buns I’ve ever had in my life. They were beyond delectable and I just wanted more and more and more. Everything is very cheap too. The pineapple buns were $ 1.00 each while the BBQ pork buns were $ 1.50 each as of January 2015.
As most places in Chinatown, King Bakery is cash only! No surprise there. If you are in the area, I would HIGHLY recommend coming by this place. I promise you will not regret it. :)