Saturday, 14 January 2012

• 85C Bakery Cafe

  This is a guest post from Kirbie's Cravings.
  
  

  
  It’s been quite a while since my last post on 85C Bakery even though I’ve been there many times. 85C Bakery is an extremely popular Taiwanese bakery and cafe that comes from a chain from Taiwan. The original location opened in Irvine a few years ago, and recently a second location opened in Hacienda Heights.

  

  I’ve never been to the Hacienda Heights location,  but I can’t resist stopping by the Irvine location whenever I’m in the area. With breads literally coming out fresh every 2 minutes, how can one resist? Despite having been opened several years, the popularity only seems to grow. On weekends, lines are out the door until late at night. The line does move fairly fast though, so you usually don’t spend too much time waiting.

  What makes the bakery so popular is that it offers dozens upon dozens of different types of bread and they are constantly baking them so the bread you buy is super fresh and soft.  These bakeries are actually quite common in Taiwan, though since there aren’t many here, it remains very popular. Ironically, in Taiwan the chain is more known for their coffee (hence the name which is supposed to be the perfect temperature for serving coffee) than their bread. We saw them all over the place during our trip and my cousins were surprised to hear they even sell bread.

  

  The bakery cafe offers fresh baked breads, pastries, cakes, and coffee and tea drinks.

  There is quite a huge selection of Taiwanese-style breads which have a super soft and fluffy texture. Every time I go, it seems they’ve come out with a new item. So I thought since it’s been a while, I would do an updated post with some of the new breads.

  Brioche
  
  This is the most popular item at 85C. They make quite a few but they also sell out quite quickly. Usually they will have extras still cooling near the front of the register which you can request to add it to your stash. It’s unlike the French brioche. This bread has a much softer texture and is sweeter, but also still buttery.

  Giant Egg Custard
  
  Not quite like the egg tarts you get at dim sum. The custard is much sweeter, almost like creme brulee.

  Taro Swirl Roll
  
  The second most popular item. Like the brioche, you will rarely find it ever make itself to the shelf. But when you get close to the register, you should see some cooling on a rack and you can request a few. The outside appearance isn’t much but inside the bread is really really soft, and has almost a steamed bun-like texture. And it has swirls of taro. This is the favorite of several of my family members.

  
  I don’t remember the name of this one, but it’s one of their “healthier” breads using whole wheat flour, nuts and dried fruit.

  Blueberry bread
  
  I always enjoy this one because it’s good and one of the cheapest ones offered ($1 each). Inside there is a blueberry cheesecake cream-like filling.

  Pork Sung Bun
  
  The outside is covered in pork sung and the inside has no filling. Just soft sweet bread.

  Milk bread
  
  It’s been a while since my last visit, but I think this one was called milk bread and was the newest item when we last went. It was really good. Milky, buttery, a little more dense than some of the other breads.

  They also offer quite a selection of savory breads but I don’t like them as much between the bread base has a tinge of sweet.

  On my last visit I also noticed these cake rolls, similar to swiss rolls. I got a green tea and red bean one, and a chocolate marble one.

  
  
  Soft spongy cakes with a little cream rolled inside.

  If you are ever in the area, I definitely recommend you checking this place out. I also like getting a sea salt coffee when I’m here (you can order at the register, no need to get back in the cafe line). The cakes are good though a little overpriced. Best time to come is early on the weekday mornings when there is no line. Weekends there is almost always a line. But the wait isn’t usually too long.

  Previous posts can be found here, here, here, and here.

  85C Bakery Cafe
  2700 Alton Pkwy, Ste 123
  Irvine, CA 92606
  (949) 553-8585
  www.85cafe.us

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