Bake Sum

Seasonal cream bun flavors are strawberry and peach! Both are so good. The strawberry reminded me of strawberry pocky and strawberry koalas march Not too sweet, love the crispy top. We came close to closing so there wasn't much left! They updated their gift section with cute cards and riso prints! Got the gochujang pull apart for later- can't wait to try!

I love that they create Asian inspired pastries. I think it's so unique and very uncommon to play around with the different Asian flavors that exist. I've been to Bake Sum a few times whenever I'm visiting from LA and there's really not too many bakeries in SoCal that experiment the way Bake Sum does. Before leaving the Bay, I made sure to get my pastries for the road trip back. I ordered the sesame green onion bun, the spam croissant and a yuzu mint pastry that they made that day. Everything is so flavorful - crispy on the outside but buttery and soft on the inside. If you go in the morning right when they open, expect to have a tiny line but it goes by pretty quick. Everything is baked fresh and never disappoints!

I had heard such good things about this bakery, but the truth is that I don't ever find myself in Oakland in the morning. However, here I was walking on Grand Avenue on Friday around noon. The door was open, and the sandwich sign was out. There was already a steely woman with two boxes of baked goods. I was just hoping she left something for the rest of us.I quite like the idea of a female-run bakery that serves goodies with a dim sum twist. There are no cafe tables in here, so I decided to get three things to go. The first was the $5.25 Lilikoi Milk Bun sprinkled with black sesame seeds and shaped like a concha (photo: https://yelp.to/Z05tT9fmFP). The passionfruit provided a nice tropical zing. The second was the $2 Thai Tea Mochi Bite (photo: https://yelp.to/TZ_f96CKSI).It was definitely a bite much like a mochi mini-muffin. Quite good but you probably need a half-dozen to be happily satisfied. I have to say the most satisfying item was the $4.50 Ube Cookie still soft and warm from the oven (photo: https://yelp.to/vnCitixzu9). I think it was really a combo ube-coconut cookie which frankly made it even better. There are other delectables to try next time like croissants and an okonomiyaki danish. Music to my palate.FOOD - 5 stars...nicely crafted and quite delicious dim sum-style baked goodiesAMBIANCE - 4 stars...nice space, no tablesSERVICE - 4 stars...polite, a bit minimal due to waiting customersTOTAL - 5 stars...unique enough to seek out, for sureRELATED - Exploring Oakland? Here's my collection of places I've visited and reviewed: https://bit.ly/2ObVcpQ

I am drooling as I am writing this right now. They have delicious creative fusion style pastries, I love their okonomiyaki croissant, green onion twist, garlic pull twist? There are some I had in the past that are savory and they don't have it anymore. The chocolate banana croissant is a must! Too bad they are in Oakland and I am in South Bay. But they are a solid reason I'd drive up and stop by.

The name sounded familiar as I started window shopping when my friend mentioned ordering some foods from Neon. I was surprised to find my review from five months ago in writing this update.The featured item on Neon's posted menu was the crossubi (https://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?userid=saJuyv784apZzH--psHZ3Q&select=cvI_ShCenY3TL8lbp02c4A); here is their description on their website: Our take on the popular Hawaiian street snack - the Spam Musubi. Slices of spam marinated with umami sauce, togarashi, and finished with crispy parmesan cheese. It was an interesting mix with the buttery, flaky pastry with this filling (https://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?userid=saJuyv784apZzH--psHZ3Q&select=dzxOMpIFitAsizpm0T5POA), Spam and a sheet of nori. The parmesan flavor was light and, given the size of the filling ingredients, it wasn't overwhelming.Thank you, Bake Sum, for this 'crossover' pastry before I head to Oahu. I look forward to studying your offerings on Neon when I return.

Bake sum continues to be a go to pastry shop near Lake Merritt, this time to supplement a run club refuel session! I love that the menu is constantly changing, so I got to try a halo halo morning bun. Even throughout the years, the quality remains consistent and high. I enjoyed their unique chocolate chip, sesame, and ube cookies as well. The menu changes keeps things exciting.

Cute bakery with unique asian flavors! They change their menu regularly, so be sure to check out their latest menu on Instagram (@bakesumpastries).I use to visit often when they had their vegan char siu bao, which is sadly no longer available. :( My go-to items are the milk buns and green onion croissant. It's the perfect stop after a trip to the Grand Lake Farmers Market on Saturdays!

I love this bakery so much. Try as I might, I can't help but make a stop here to try some of their delicious creations if I'm in this part of town. I call it "French/Asian fusion", although I'm not sure they identify that way. The reason is because they have the French baking techniques down. For instance, their croissants are just as good as what I've had in Paris. Last month they had a pumpkin spice pastry that was layered flaky, croissant pastry shaped like a muffin and filled with delicious pumpkin cream. I really like tropical fruit in pastry, but it's not usually as exciting nor as mouth-watering as what they offer at Bake Sum. They use exotics like lilikoi (passion fruit) and ube, as well as Thai tea and Vietnamese coffee in some of their pastries, creating such delicate succulence that it's hard not to be smitten. They offer new seasonal flavors and special pastries throughout the year, which makes it even more fun to go see what they are up to. Their shop is very cute and they offer all kinds of goodies as well as pastry. It's woman owned and from personal experience, I will tell you that everyone working there seems to be enthusiastic and inspired by what they are doing, as well as offering very good service. It's mostly takeout, but there are a few tables and chairs out front on the street on Grand. They are almost always busy and bustling. If you have to wait a bit, it's totally worth it.

Really really awesome spot. I came on a Saturday morning right around 11, not realizing how popular it was. If you come at 10:55, there won't be any line, and you'll be the first in the door when it reopens at 11. If you come at 11, there will be a 30 minute wait (and at least for me, the croissubi was sold out). If you come at 11:30, there's also not too much of a line. Time your visit right!I got the black sesame kumquat bun, and it was amazing. Super crumbly, crispy edges, with a buttery and soft inside. The black sesame cream wasn't very sweet at all, but just carried a very strong sesame flavor and creaminess that balanced the pastry. Most of the sweetness comes from the sugar coating, and it's just enough. Only downside: really difficult to eat!I also got the yuzu tart, and really delicious. Cream tasted a bit different than your standard tart cream, in a really good but hard to describe way.Definitely recommend! Especially if you time your visit, you can get truly amazing pastries with barely any wait!

A great bakery if you're near lake merritt, it's really cute and small but the line was sort of heinous, recommend going earlier. I will say the drinks are pretty small for what they price them at. I got the matcha which was good but kind of expensive.I also got the okonomiyaki danish and the red bean milk bun, both of which I say were really good but you could TELL that they've been sitting out for a while and would have been way more enjoyable if they had been eaten warm. The servers also got my order wrong (and the service was not that great), but I know that they've been seeing an uptick in interest since the NYT article released on their croissubi. Recommend coming earlier (~10am) if you want to hit those on the weekend but I don't think it's that wroth it to go out of your way to get this item.