Mashion Bakery

04.18.11

What's that? 3 for $1... I'm sold!

What? Mashion Bakery for Chinese baked treats / desserts

Where? 345 Spadina ave (Chinatown; 510 streetcar from Spadina station)

Price? $1-$5 (dirt cheap)

The skinny: Chinatown in Toronto means Spadina ave. And it also means lots and lots of food places. Bakeries, you’ll find plenty. Mashion Bakery is one of those plenty but they offer buns at crazy cheap prices such as 3 for $1 or 2 swiss cake rolls for $5. Great variety, clean shop, cheap pastries. What’s not to like?

I was walking down the street, enjoying the mid-April snow and looking for a bakery when a banner across the street caught my eye. “GRAND OPENING. ALL DAY SPECIAL 3 for $1”. I’m thinking to myself, “this can’t be good…but it’s so cheap!”

How good does that look?

darn...walnut. That's a shame because I love this style of cookies but I'm allergic to walnuts....

 

There’s minimal seating, just a table with two chairs looking onto the street. Almost all Chinese bakeries will be like this, minimal seating, but huge selection of buns/cakes/pastries. 

 

To your left you've got all the prebaked/prepackaged goods.

To your right are the assorted buns that you can choose from.

(in the middle, there's a row of tables with more goodies)

Standard orange tongs dangling.

I take a look around to assess the situation before I pick up the customary plastic orange tongs and cream/taupe coloured food tray. Whatever you like, just lift the plastic cover, pick it up, and place it on your tray. When you are done, simply bring it up to the cashier and they’ll ring it up for you. So simple! :D

I didn’t want to carry too much around with me, plus I was going to make a pit stop at patachou so I only took advantage of the 3 for $1 deal.

Food in the middle AND by the cashier!

 

I was intrigued by their “white egg tart” but not enough to try one. It looked so…pale! Haha I’m guessing they decided to use the leftover egg whites from making the conventional egg tarts.

What I ended getting was a pineapple coconut bun, a coconut & cream bun, and a small egg tart. Took them home to share with my parents. We were all pleasantly surprised by the quality!

(clockwise from top): egg tart, pineapple coconut bun, coconut cream bun

The egg tart pastry was flakey and buttery. Each layer was discernable and the custard/egg filling was fresh, smooth, very creamy! 

Pleasantly surprised by how flakey and layered the pastry is! :D:D

Pineapple coconut bun: essentially a football-shaped pineapple bun with a shaved coconut and sugar filling. The topping was no longer crumbly by the time I brought it home. However, the taste was great! The filling wasn’t overwhelming and the dough itself was soft and airy.

We cut up the buns to share :D

Coconut & cream bun. Not a fan of the cream. All I can say is that for those who do like this type of bun, you’d have enjoyed it. The cream suffered some major abuse throughout the journey home…but the initial presentation wasn’t that great to begin with so nothing was lost. 

On the right is the coconut cream bun. Bun's cut down the middle and cream is piped into the fissure.

Verdict: There are countless Chinese bakeries in Chinatown alone. I usually just go to one that I pass by so if you ask me will I come back? Well...let's just say I have my days where I just want to be frugal. ;)

Check ‘em out! (review on yelp) http://www.yelp.ca/biz/mashion-bakery-toronto-2

3 out of 5 NOMs

nomnomnom