Napoleon Super Bakery

Amazing bread! They are so cheap and so delicious. Our favorite is the BBQ pork pineapple buns (3 for $ 1), egg tarts ($ 0.9 each), custard or red bean pineapple buns (5 for $ 1.50) and paper wrapped sponge cake. We always buy a whole box of goodies for less than $ 10, just incredible There’s always a line though but it’s definitely worth the wait!

Came in for lemon roll cake. Satisfied my craving for sure. The cake used to be twice the size for about the same price. $ 4 even, cash only.

Made a quick stop here because my sister and other feLLow Unilocalers RAVE.
Tiny LittLe bakery with fresh pastries/​buns being pushed out continuousLy. Be prepared for the whoLe «sardine in a can» kind of feeL. This pLace is no joke– bumper to bumper on aLL ends.
We purchased:
–Egg Sponge Cake
–BBQ Pork Buns
–Taro Bun
Taro Bun was by my favorite amongst the pastries. It was soft, fLuffy, and just the right amount of sweetness.
Egg sponge cake did not do it for me one bit. I had one bite and immediateLy wanted to trash it. I tried to give it another bite and gave up mid way. It just didn’t taste Like the normaL sponge cakes that I’ve had eLsewhere.
BBQ Pork Bun. I enjoyed the outter dough a whoLe Lot. This too was soft, fLuffy, and with a hint of sweetness. The pork fiLLing was where it went wrong for me. I enjoy my pork to be a bit more sweeter than what NapoLeon has to offer. Meh.
I’ll be back to try the egg tarts and a few other sweets. WhiLe I’m at it, I’LL see if they have any pLain roLLs because their bread is that damn good!

Love their egg tarts.
The rest of the buns, e.g. cocktail, pineapple custard, ham & onion, were ok. The ham and onion bun is dry and dense. Their Portuguese egg tarts weren’t as good too.

Great selection of Chinese buns and my coworkers always loved seeing the pink box of goodies when I bring in silver pastries. Everything is pretty solid but my personal favorites are the cocktail buns (coconut) and the chicken bun which has a chicken patty with cheese and ketchup.

The coconut and pineapple rolls are deeeeeelicious! Very reasonable prices and a great/​fresh selection!

Chanced upon this welcoming store in Chinatown on a Saturday morning, and it drew me in with its all female crew busily stocking freshly baked buns and breads, and serving up orders for customers. They are a warm, fun lot. I picked out a ham, scallion and cheese bread and a coconut bun for my airplane ride earlier that day. I spent $ 2. While on a long cross-​country flight I couldn’t have been happier with my tasty choices. I only wish I had picked up more buns. Excellent value and strong taste. A gem!

I love their 3 for $ 1 BBQ pork buns and pineapple buns. Stuffed a pink box full of those, sponge cakes, egg tarts, and walnut cookies and everything was less than $ 10.
There kind of is a line to get into the bakery. However after you get in and get your baked goods, it’s kind of a free for all to pay. Just slowly make your way to the front and get one of the ladies’ attention to pay.
Remember to bring cash. No credit cards here.

Napoleon is one of many Chinese bakeries in Chinatown, and head and shoulders the best of all that I’ve tried. All of their offerings, whether pineapple custard buns, roast pork buns, or even dan tat, are above average in taste, quality, and portion size. Everything’s reasonably priced too.
Seems like other Cantonese folks agree too. The store is perpetually mobbed, not just for the Chinese buns and pastries that you grab from the self-​serve wall, but also for cakes and other more substantial items. There are so many people jostling about, in fact, that it’s easy to get shoved aside in either of two lines: one where folks wait patiently out the door for counter service, and a less formal one inside where self-​serve customers have their trays of selections bagged up. In particular, there’s a huge line out the door near closing time, presumably because the bakery wants to clear its daily inventory at discounted prices.
If you’re in Chinatown and looking for your Chinese sugary fix, this is the place to go. And I’ve got to note that it’s a huge gesture of me to be giving Napoleon my 888^th review.

I like coming here because it’s ridiculously cheap. But I wouldn’t say that the bread is amazing.
I like getting their egg tarts ($ 0.80), green onion pork sung bun ($ 0.80), and mini red bean buns (5 for $ 1.50). Their egg tarts are light and flaky which I like. The green onion bun is pretty big and savory. They have a good amount of green onion and less pork sung, but you can still taste it! I prefer the smaller red bean buns more than the big single red bean bun because you would get more surface area for bread (yummy crispy top crust). There’s a good chunk of red bean in there too (in the big one, I thought the red bean paste tasted a little funky since there was a lot… maybe because it didn’t taste that sweet).
I wouldn’t get their curry beef bun or regular pork sung bun (unless you like their sweet mayo). I had no idea what I was eating when I tried the curry beef bun because there was no flavor of curry and the beef had the texture of spam or something. It was really hard to tell. The pork sung bun just had too much mayo for me (which I don’t like, and I only wanted the pork sung part).

Had to try this bakery since the line was out the door to get in…
I came back the next day early in the morning to get my hands on some delicious baked goodies… and there was so much to choose from. I ended up buying a whole box of goodies for $ 6.00! a box of the Po Egg Tarts is really what I should have gotten… because it was amazing! I like them better than the regular egg tart and that was tasty!
Some of the other baked goods were ok… nothing really stood out to me. the BBQ pork bun was fresh and hot off the steamer! I would probably go back to have that again.
I’ll definitely be back for the po tarts (which BTW I had to do some research to find out why they were different) and I think what’s different about them is the richness since it uses more of the yoke from the eggs. and «po» is short for Portuguese.

And then came the second bakery to try and dethrone Golden Gate Bakery. But was it possible? Was it possible? Well to see, Napoleon Super Bakery. Their egg tarts were flaky and had butter. It was delish! It was 80 cents and I liked it, but since it was the second stop, we only got 1 egg tart :’(
They had really cheap and weird combos for bread (good for me, I guess?) but they were all really cheap! I wonder how they tasted.
Lemon cake was alright, the lemon taste was a bit weak but the cake itself at least wasn’t dry.
They also had some pineapple custard buns– good when you eat hot! :) Hahhahaha.
There’s a line, so you need to fight your way to get in it!

8÷2÷15: WOW. Just wandering around in Oakland, taking a walk, we happened to come in here just to check things out. Everything looked pretty good so thinking I would pick up my breakfasts for the whole weak, I picked out I think 5 or so sized pastries and cakes… easily enough to fill to the brink a medium-​size pink cake box. It was a lot of food. Then I left to go out while my gf looked around.
When she came out she told me the price, and my jaw dropped! Like a little over $ 4!!! That is an amazing amount of food for $ 4. I was expecting at least double that!
I’ve already eaten half though, cause it’s all pretty good. Totally should have bought more!
Anyway, this is probably the very best price I could ever imagine for good looking and tasting Chinese pastries… Or heck, even crappy pastries should cost more.
⁵⁄₅
#chinese #bakery #chinesebakery #pastry #chinesepastry

I haven’t had their egg tarts but we ordered a cake from them and it was no good… all cream, no cake… Their cake to cream ratio is totally off!
I remember picking up other baked goods from them and nothing really stood out. For the higher mark up, I expected a better bao. :(

Best Egg Tarts in the Bay! And for a mere $ 0.80 each.
What sets Napoleon Super Bakery egg tarts apart from the rest is their flaky, buttery egg tart shells that are filled with a light, slightly sweet creamy custard. Not your typical Chinese bakery’s thick-​crusted egg tarts that are often filled with a gelatinous super-​yellow pudding, exuding an off-​putting rich yolky aftertaste.
SALE:
Be prepared to wait in long lines outside the bakery throughout the day, especially after 5pm when the day’s remaining items go on sale.
One hour before close, all goods in the self-​serve acrylic bins to the left of the door + dan tat (egg tarts) are placed on cookie sheets and marked down to 50% off (doesn’t apply to items remaining in glass cases).
VISIT TIPS:
The lines are lengthy, thankfully turnover is high so have an idea of what you want to order once you step foot into the doorway (so much pressure!). English is limited, if you can’t speak /​read Chinese (me), it helps to know the names of the menu items (I’ve learned a few things thanks to all the years of dim sum with my family).
Your first visit can be overwhelming but no worries — just check out what the customers ahead of you are ordering and don’t be afraid to ask /​try new things.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
* EGG TART (dan tat) — light custard, flaky crust
* PINEAPPLE BUN (bolo bao) — what do you mean there’s NO pineapple in this bun? Oh… it’s named after the crisscross pineapple-​esque pattern of the golden buttery crust atop this sweet bun
* BBQ PORK BUN (char siu bao) — not skimpy on the filling, they sell out fast!
* HOT DOG BUN (hotdog bao) — kids love the mini version of this handheld snack.
ADDITIONAL LOCATION:
They have a sister bakery by the same name in the City on Stockton, between Jackson & Washington.

I wandered into this bakery one morning before work and was instantly hooked on their delicious baked/​steamed goods. This shop is very small, but they do an excellent job using what little space they do have to display tons of delicious treats. They sell everything from pork buns to whole pies and everything is dirt cheap and excellent quality. I would like to be able to suggest one specific pastry here, but I can’t, everything is just so Damn addictive, you might as well just try them all for yourself.

This place is small, has a ton of people lined up and crowding the counter, but a good selection and is pretty cheap. I first came here to get a cake for my Grandma’s birthday. Got a simple 8″ or 9″ round fruit cake for $ 16 (tax included)! Super cheap compared to most Asian bakeries that I’ve been to. The cake was actually really good. The cake part itself was nice and fluffy and the whip cream wasn’t overly sweet. The fruit inside wasn’t half bad either considering most of them aren’t in season.
I went back another time to try their egg tarts. I thought the were pretty good. The crust was nice and flaky and there wasn’t too much crust that it overpowered the tart, and the egg part was perfectly and lightly sweet.
Overall, I like this place for Asian bakery goods. I would recommend. Just watch out for the lines and the ladies who think they can cut you in line.

On one of my first trips to chinatown, I decided to stop in, seeing that it was packed with people. ZOMG the buns are so good! I especially like their taro bun. It’s crispy on the outside and filled with tender sweet taro filling. My only critique is that it’s kind of large and I have no self-​control so I end up eating a whole one and feeling bad about it later.
The egg tart is also good — very silky filling, super flaky pastry and just the right amount of sweetness. The only drawback about this place is that it’s often packed and paying is hard. You have to fight your elders to get to the counter and literally shove your tray in someone’s face before they decide to service you. I seriously have waited quite a while to pay and in the meantime gave a bum that was asking some money since there was no way I was going anywhere for a while. I’ve frequently contemplated just throwing down some cash and leaving but alas I needed a stupid bag for my treats.

Growing up, I remember that if we ever went to Oakland (usually stayed on the SF side due to the gangstas getting to hyphy for us), we would always go to Napoleon for their custard buns, egg tarts, chicken buns (kind of like bbq pork bun but bigger, steamed and with chicken mushroom and other goodies like eggs and veggies inside).
So when I found out I was flying out of OAK, I had to stop by. Chinatown Oakland is a lot sadder than SF Chinatown. It is smaller, there are more bums, though there has been some remodeling in the area so not all the buildings are beat up and dingy. Enough about the location, the buns! So delicious per the usual. I got egg tarts, chicken buns, and some dim sum items. Delicious, this bakery is awesome, if you are in the area, you have to stop by!

Came here for the egg tarts. Enough said. They’re pretty big with a decent price so it’s hard not to splurge for more! The crust is flaky with a smooth, eggy filling. Each bite has a perfect crust to custard ratio and I was left filling very satisfied.
The carry all your regular breads, pastries, and cakes that comes with a very reasonable price. I would come back!