Pine House Bakery - Richmond, BC

Mr. Piglet's just had some dental work done and he's been instructed by the evil dentist (he's actually really nice but he's still a dentist) to stick to softer foods for the day. "Chinese buns are soft!" he warbles through his demented mouth. *sigh* Alright, let's go get you some buns...

Pine House Bakery is located in Parker Place Mall at the food court, tucked away on the side. It's not a pretty place, it's not a friendly place but it's got some tasty baked goods at a cheap price.

Pine House offers the usual fare from cocktail buns, BBQ pork buns to cakes and coconut tarts and prices generally range between $0.47 (3 cocktail buns for 1.40!) to $1.00 each. We've caught them at just the right time (noonish) as newly baked items are stocked on the shelves. Excellent. Most items are average to good but there are a few which stood out. Case in point...

Chinese Donut - $0.95

The world's longest chinese donut! We measured and it was as long as my forearm! A bit greasy (it soaked thru the paper bag) but the exterior was still crunchy and went well with a bowl of hot BBQ duck congee from next door.  However, this Piglet has a feeling that if we hadn't arrived at the right time, this would have just been a chewy, oily lump of dough...

BBQ Pork Pastry - $0.80

Flaky pastry? Check. BBQ Pork? Check. Wish there was more BBQ pork but for 80 cents, it's pretty good.

BBQ Pork Pineapple Bun - $1.00

This hybrid can be found at other bakeries but the version here is quite good - a lot of tender BBQ pork and a nice balance between sweet bun and savory filling.


Other notables include the egg tart, available at an unknown price since they were stored in a toaster over behind the counter with no signage. In fact, I didn't even know they had egg tarts until I asked the cashier.  Either way, these tarts are different from the other bakeries - the crust is thicker and it has a distinct taste of coconut.  I don't know if I liked it but Mr. Piglet doesn't discriminate as all egg tarts are wonderful to him.


Overall, "good" was the keyword of this review.  We'd go back to Pine House since their buns are cheap but do keep in mind that there are tons of other HK bakeries offering the same wares, perhaps at a little higher quality at a little higher price.  Still not bad and worth a visit if you're in the area.


Pros:

• Cheap prices - even for HK bakery standards
• Buns are...  good.  :)
• Free Parking

Cons:

• Cash only
• Free Parking - doesn't matter what time of day it is, the lot for Parker Place is always bananas with people waiting in lanes, people arguing over spot, cars parked on the lines...  it's just a death trap.