The AA Bakery & Cafe

One day my mom brought home a Coconut Custard Bun, it was a Twist of sweet bread filled with custard and coconut sprinkled on top, it was heaven in your mouth!
I found out she got it from AA Bakery in Chinatown, damn I’m never out in Chinatown!
Yesterday I was and I went in for a yummy coconut custard bread, after using my Chinglish with the employers trying to look for the bun, they said OHH SOLD OUT!
NOOO!!!
I ended up getting the last bacon green onion bun and a custard bun. They were both good.
I am impressed by the bacon green onion bun. It was filled with fatty bacon bits, way more than I’ve gotten at other places! And what was different? They had egg in theirs. YUMM BACON EGG Breakfast bun, Chinese Style!

Happy to find this hidden gem. Egg tarts for $ 1…got 6 to go. What a deal for golden, flaky deliciousness that is comparable to the more expensive tarts. So worth it… I’ll come back when I visit again!

Was visiting SF and Golden gate bakery is closed because they’re on vaca… boo. Thanks to an awesome SF Unilocal community, I was able to still curb my egg tart cravings at AA Bakery. And yeah, it was worth it. Buttery, flakey and not overly sweet. I should have bought more but I’m glad I came here. Staff is super fast too. I got 6 egg tarts ($ 1 each) and a coconut bun to go.
Will be back :)

Good egg tarts but not as flaky or eggy as golden gate was like 10 years ago before the main baker passed away (I am from this area). Also the egg custard was not as soft and light. A good substitute to satisfy a craving especially for $ 1

My favorite bakery in Chinatown. Get the egg tart. And the cheesecake. And bbq pork bun. Actually, everything is so good and so cheap!
I’m always surprised when I get several delicious things and my total comes out to be like $ 3.75. That’s like half a slice of banana bread at Starbucks. Go early and you can get bread that’s warm, fresh from the oven.

Golden Gate Bakery was closed when I was in town, but AA Bakery is just as good. Maybe even better since there was no line.
TIP: Staff mainly speaks Chinese, and cash only.

Because «the other place» seems to always be «on vacation,» we came here to get our egg tart fix. More than happy we did, too, because this place a gem!
First off, the egg tarts are only a buck each! Most places these days are between $ 1.50 and $ 2. With that kind of price, I wasn’t expecting much. However, I would gladly pay $ 2 for these. It would still be well worth the price. Again, I can’t compare it to the more-​famous place down the hill, because they’re always vacationing, but AA Bakery has some delicious Dan Tat.
They have many other delicious Chinese pastries here, as well. On this occasion, I tried the Coconut Cream Bun, too. It was just as good as the egg tarts. The cream had good coconut flavor and the bread tasted fresh. I wanted to try more, but I wanted to show some restraint. Stupid dieting.
Also, before you FUC my review (please?), I wanted to point out that the service is very friendly! I hope this doesn’t come off as racist, but normally at Chinese bakeries, they just seem to stuff your box, keep asking, «what else?», take your money, and throw your change on the counter. Here, the ladies were friendly, smiling, and happy to answer questions.

Like a billion of people have experienced, I was sadly turned away by Golden Gate Bakery because they went on «vacation.» I saw that AA Bakery & Café was close by and wanted to bring some goodies from SF back to school. I was in there right before closing and grabbed all the egg tarts that I could get. I bought all 12 egg tarts that were left and brought them home to reheat. After reheating my egg tarts they were so bomb! The crust was nice and flaky and the custard in the middle was fluffy and perfectly sweetened. I would like to try Golden Gate Bakery one day but it is safe to say that I have a back up that will satisfy my egg tart cravings.

I’ve been coming here ever since I was little, I’m still young and almost every time I go, they skip me. The service is unfair, but hey, it’s Chinatown — if they know you, they’ll help you first. I waited there for around 8 minutes until they’ve took my order. That’s pretty long for a place that just takes your order, puts the bread in the bag, takes your money and go. People enter and exited, they turned around to «fix» some machine and turned back when other people came in. Lady helps people around me and finally takes my order.
The food is pretty good, not bad — good enough for me to eat most of the time. Price slowly goes up, but who can blame them? SF is pricey.
If you want to go, then come in ready to yell your order and stick your money out because they may «miss» your turn. Some people there don’t have manners and don’t mind taking your spot.
I would like a bit more respect, I am a customer willing to spend money after all.

I went in here while exploring Chinatown and decided to try their egg tarts. Pretty good! I was also really excited about all of the variety in pastries they had, and honestly, if I had the time, the money, and the stomach space, I probably would have chosen to try more things… sigh.
While I really liked the variety and could tell it was pretty popular, I put three stars because I wouldn’t say it seemed like the cleeeeanest place to be getting food… just as a pointer, things were pretty crowded in there, and one of the items I bought there (a japanese cheesecake bread) seemed kinda old. It doesn’t seem like they cycle out breads that might be getting stale.
Additionally, if you don’t speak Chinese, sometimes service seems a little disjointed or rough. It can be difficult to figure out exactly what you’re getting…
Regardless of these points, I did enjoy my time there, though, and I’d suggest that your best bet is to get some of their more popular options like their egg tarts and some of their buns.

Good chinese bakery in chinatown. Sesame balls, custard buns, cream buns, egg custards, all great. Unfortunately, the lady checking me out knew little English and did not honor the Unilocal check-​in discount. Oh well. I don’t mind too well.

So bummed. I used to be such a big fan for their Pineapple BBQ bun. The sweet topping and the savory BBQ pork inside. Soooo good. I got some yesterday and was so disappointed. :(. There were barely any BBQ pork in it. Quality control very needed. You just shouldn’t put something out w barely any fillings. I paid for BBQ pork and there are hardly any. ;(. We got 6 and I checked the other buns. Some are in the same sad Portion. Only 1 – 2 are half decent.
The egg tarts are still good thou.

Amaaaaazing egg tarts! I actually got a $ 1 egg tart for a colleague’s birthday and he was so happy!

I’ve eaten at a LOT of Chinese bakeries, and I still think the best pastries I’ve had are from Hong Kong. Sadly, I can’t just fly there every time I have a craving, but I thought The AA Bakery was pretty good! It’s nothing special and doesn’t have a lot of available seating, but their selection of pastries for sale is pretty diverse.
You’ve got the standard pineapple buns, roasted pork buns, and hot dog buns, but I was pleasantly surprised to see they had less «common» stuff like giant sesame red bean balls and buns filled with cream and covered in dried pork. I got an egg tart and a pineapple custard bun, and I only paid a little over $ 3 all together! The egg tart was pretty good with a smooth creamy filling and a sturdy pastry crust. Unlike some places that basically use a puff pastry dough, the tart was buttery and medium-​thick, just the way I like it! The pineapple bun was a good size and filled with a pretty yummy custard.
Like any Chinese bakery, you have to be a little aggressive getting their attention or other people will just cut you in line and get their stuff first. They’re pretty quick though so go here if you want a quick snack!

AA Bakery makes the BEST egg tarts in the world!!! I’ve eaten egg tarts all over the world but AA has them beat. If you have good timing and get the egg tarts when they are still hot or even warm from the oven, you will be in culinary heaven! The egg custard is perfectly sweet and the flaky buttery crust is amazing! I love to enjoy my egg tarts with a cup of hot tea.
I’ve been here numerous times for their egg tarts but recently discovered that they also make delicious hot food too. I tried their stew beef won ton noodle soup and it was so damn good! A very generous portion for less than $ 6.
This small bakery has a few tables but it’s usually crowded so expect to share the long table with the locals who eat here daily. If you want to buy pastries at the counter, be patient. The locals are usually not polite and won’t wait for their turn. You just have to be assertive and speak up to order.

This is by far my favorite food place in San Francisco! The baked goods are incomparable to those produced by any bakery that I know of on the east coast. Each pastry that I tried were super fresh, flaky, and simply melt in your mouth, leaving you wanting for another one. I bought over a dozen different types of baked goods from there, but the highlight of the show were the egg tarts.
On a sale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the best egg tart that I had ever tasted, I would give this egg tart a score of 10,000,000,000,000. They were simply that amazing, from the buttery, flaky crust to the flavorful custard. It was the most dense egg tart that I had ever held in my hands, which made it all the more satisfying to eat. Once I ate my first egg tart from the bakery, I immediately returned the following day to buy one for each of my friends back at home. Even though it required brainstorming of clever ideas to carry the tarts back given my limited luggage space, the extra effort was worth seeing the delight on my friends faces as they enjoyed their egg tarts. The following weekend, I visited a chinatown on the east coast in pursuit of egg tarts that were worthy of the AA Bakery’s egg tarts, but failed miserably. So definitely enjoy these while you are in the San Francisco area!
And if only they had a buffet style option! If I could pick any bakery to win an all-​you-​can-​eat lottery for, I would pick this one, hands down.

This bakery is surely happening! I walked in here on a Saturday afternoon and it was packed with customers. It is an old school bakery with old school pastries such as pineapple bun, BBQ pork bun, jelly rolls, etc. I was here to get some buns for my son so I ordered a few variety including BBQ pork bun, Pineapple Bun and Scallion Pork bun.
Their pineapple bun is alright. The top isn’t as crusty as I have had before from Wonder Bakery in Oakland. The Pork Bun is good because you can see actual pork and gravy but it is kind of skimp. The Scallion Pork bun is surprisingly good.
Overall, the buns here are good and very inexpensive at about 90 cents a piece. I am still on the hunt for the best bakery in SF Chinatown!

$ 1 egg tart! $ 1 delicious egg tarts with flacky butter crust and perfect custard.
I had egg tarts in Macau and honestly this one is almost as good! (Hint: Get it while it’s just out if the oven, but don’t burn your tongue.)
The taste is great because it’s not too sweet. And the consistency of the curstard was right on!
This bakery also has a bunch of other type of pastries, cake and buns. Will get to all of them once I am done munching on these lovely egg tarts.

Came by for some baked goods the other day and it was quick and easy! Unlock Grant Ave, there were no tourists nor long lines (aka Golden Gate Bakery)
Service was quick and they put everything into a box and even tied it all up with red string to make carrying it home easy! (…unlike other places that some odd excuse to not provide a box…)
Baked BBQ Pork Buns and Curry Beef Buns are my favorite!
After buying 8 assorted items, the tota

In the hustle and bustle of Chinatown, it can be quite overwhelming when it comes to making a decision about where to stop for a quick, cheap snack. I’m happy to report that I found a unique place that is sure to please.
AA Bakery has plenty of sweet and savory snacks. Now, like most Chinatown takeout locations, it doesn’t appear to be sparkling clean and extravagant. It contains the basics, a counter display with rows of goodies, a helpful staff, and a small area to sit and enjoy a quick meal.
I went with a ham and corn bun as I wanted something for a grab-​and-​go brunch. The prices here are incredible! Since this bakery is SO affordable, I plan on grabbing an array of pastries next time.
Also, make sure to check out the gorgeous cakes and fruit tarts here. I made a mental note to remember this place the next time I need a cake to celebrate a special occasion.