Taipan Bakery, Chinatown, NY

FS recently discovered her love for cake. She happened to find this bakery, which has her taro bun and... mousse cake, many different kinds of mousse cake, where chocolate was the unpopular one. FS had chocolate and it was light and fluffy and delicious.

On Yelp, it's Tai Pan, but as you can see from the sign, it's Taipan Bakery so FS goes with then sign.

Taipan Bakery (links to Yelp page)

194 Canal St
(between Mott St & Mulberry St)
New York, NY 10013
Neighborhood: Chinatown

Inside the bakery:

FS's purchased goodies (the trifecta of tea, chocolate mousse cake, and taro bun): 

Chocolate Mousse Cake:

Close-up.

The mousse cake has a thin cake wrap-around (the spotted portion). Inside, the top half is chocolate mousse and the bottom half is chocolate cake.

The taro bun:

The top part is actually flecked with small pieces of the same dough as the bun, but since the pieces are small, when baked, they become crispy. So the top part is nicely crunchy, which is common in most of Taipan's buns.

The taro inside is lightly sweet and very obviously mashed taro instead of a sugary taro paste, which might have less taro.

FS can't wait to go back to New York and sample more food.

Golden Steamer, Chinatown, New York

The Food Scavenger loves Yelp. However, there are never enough pictures for FS. FS wants to see the food, see the restaurant outside, and also see the inside of the food itself. FS has been tempted by many pictures of buns and then been struck by the mystery of it all, since the outside looks perfectly scrumptious, but what about the all important stuffing, the inside, the what makes a bun more than a piece of hollow bread?!

Today's post is devoted to the Golden Steamer in Chinatown, NY.

What wonders are hidden in Golden Steamer's bag?

Golden Steamer (links to Yelp's page)

143-A Mott St

(between Hester St & Grand St)

New York, NY 10013

Neighborhood: Little Italy

Oh, steamed buns. The indulgence of any poor college student, who just wants some pillow-y, edible fluff in their life, perhaps savory with ground pork and vegetables (with the tantalizing link of Chinese sausage and the refreshing hard-boiled egg nestled within) or sweet with red bean paste.

To note: FS neither speaks nor reads Chinese. The receipt was in Chinese. Thus, FS knows she was charged $4.00 each for two containers of buns and $3.75 each for one container. 

The Savory Bun with Ground Pork and Vegetables (came in a pack of four):

Look at the size of this thing in comparison to FS's hand!

Alone and beautiful...

 

The juicy, beautiful, scrumptious insides...

Close-up.

The Sweet Bun with Red Bean (came in a pack of six):

Alone and beautiful.

Inside.

Close-up.

 The Sweet bun with Pumpkin (came in a pack of six):

Beautiful.

Although there seems to be not that much filling, the filling was just enough to accentuate the pillow-y softness of the bun.

Ah. Yet again, looks little, but when eating it, the proportions seem perfect.

Ah...

FS also froze some of the buns. (Not that they lasted the week, but FS thought she'd be perfectly judicious in preserving her buns integrity.) The buns freeze very well. Simply place in a bowl and cover with a wet paper towel and heat for a minute to a minute and a half depending on your microwave's strength. To test whether the bun is ready, simply press on the bun to check that it is pillow-y soft and hot. This is the same procedure even when the buns are fresh. The heating time, though, is below a minute in the microwave.

The Food Scavenger in New York: Day 1