Dragon Land Bakery has a C and I love it
Growing up just means that you get inundated with more and more facts. Unless you're watching Fox News all the time, then who knows what gets in your head. Sometimes it's hard to handle the truth. I was not surprised to see my favorite bakery in Chinatown get a C grade from the DOH. After looking at stats from the NYC DOH, I know that Chinatown has its fair share of C grades. But to have it in my favorite bakery?! I can't handle it! So I just eat more and trudge along. Even though I like going to Dragon Land Bakery, it's a damn shame that their bubble tea taste like ass.
The one thing I love from Dragon Land Bakery is the custard bun. I don't even know what the hell this is called in Mandarin. I always order it in English. There's something awesome about ordering in English when the people serving thinks you can speak Chinese. Other buns from Dragon Land are ok as well. The plain pineapple bun is good, so is the taro bun. I've also gotten birthday cakes from here before, but they're not that special.
What I like about the custard bun from Dragon Land is that the filling taste good. I dunno, it's more buttery than some other custard bun places. Sometimes I think some bakeries just put random yellow pudding filling in the middle and call it a day. Lame-o. So I like that Dragon Land goes the extra mile and does the filling right.
Probably what drew me into Dragon Land was that it's close to the subway. It probably isn't the best bakery in Chinatown. They only cover baked goods. They don't do any steamed stuff. So if you want a good steamed bun, you either gotta find another bakery or maybe go across the street to Sun Say Kai for some of that.
Dragon Land Bakery
125 Walker St.
New York, NY 10013
212-219-2012
(I invite you to follow me on Twitter so you can get more of my non-sense in another medium.)
How funny, I just got the custard pineapple bun and a raisin twist tonight at this bakery near by school. A 2 for $1.40 special because the bakery was closing. The custard bolo bao is called "gai young" in Cantonese. The label should read as Chinese characters. When I wasn't a vegan, I used to eat the plain ol' bolo bao and a bottle of soymilk every Saturday after school. So unhealthy, but oh so good! :)
kim
February 24, 2011 9:35 pm
how have i lived my whole life without trying something called a custard bun?!? Those are 2 of my favorite words sitting right next to each other...i think you just decided some of my weekend plans for me!
Sarah
February 24, 2011 10:24 pm
@kim,
Thanks for the tip on the catonese. I can't speak it at all so even the phonetic spelling doesn't help me much! haha. You're right on about getting one of these with soy milk... mmm.. vitasoy.
@Sarah,
Your life has a void that needs to be filled! You can get a custard bun at a lot of Chinese bakeries so you don't necessarily have to visit Dragon Land if that's out of the way for you. Fay Da has an ok one too, although they use a slightly different name that I can't recall...
Danny
February 25, 2011 10:58 am
Baw law baos used to be my favorite as a kid until I worked in bakery.
Simon
February 25, 2011 1:23 pm
Just don't get a bubble tea there. Got one once and the tapioca were hard in the middle. Ick. Never went back. If I ever do go back, I'll try the custard bun.
bionicgrrrl
February 28, 2011 3:24 pm
@Simon,
Yea... if I worked at a lot of places, the food would probably turn me off. I once washed dishes at a bakery and couldn't really eat cookies during that period. It went away though, thankfully!
@bionicgrrrl,
Word, no bubble tea there. It's terrible.
Danny
March 1, 2011 10:40 am
Passed by today and looks like they just got an A! Don't worry though, another C can happen in a few months.
bionicgrrrl
March 3, 2011 6:05 pm
Dragonland is one of my favorites as well. Love the pineapple bun. Beats the heck out of Fay Da. I would go there if it was a C.
Jessica "Su Good Sweets"
March 15, 2011 3:47 pm