Bao Bao Bakery & Cafe

Gold macaron was my first time. Sweet and yummy! And other breads are soft and tasty.

Finally got to cross off a long-standing bucket list item: crepe cake—and I’m so glad I did it here. I tried the ube flavor, and it was everything I hoped it would be. Beautiful layers of delicate crepes with just the right amount of cream in between, and that earthy-sweet ube flavor that’s both unique and comforting. It’s a dessert that feels light, but still delivers that luxurious, melt-in-your-mouth richness. Just a heads-up for first-timers: the crepe cakes are sold frozen, so you need to give them time to thaw. It’s worth the wait. Once it’s ready, the texture and flavor really shine through. Bao Bao Bakery has a huge menu—everything from buns and pastries to bubble tea and savory snacks. But for me, the crepe cake was the standout. It’s not something you find often, and they do a great job with it. If you’ve never tried crepe cake before, or if ube is one of your go-to flavors, this is definitely worth checking out. Sweet, elegant, and a little different from your typical bakery desserts. I’ll definitely be back to try more flavors next time.

Amazing Chinese pastry. So good. Got a curry beef bun and matcha fluff. Not too sweet, savoury curry and matcha bitterness, all tastes just on spot in both buns. That add 50C on a payment with card under 10$, but okay, some other bakeries don’t let you even let you pay under 10. Recommendation!

Cute little bakery with some great treats. We had the Ube Crepe Cake (so so good) and a honey cake. Very enjoyable and would go back!

The Matcha mango cream, custard bun was divine! It was so great with the Boba in it and perfectly creamy with the right flavors, the only critique would be if there was a little bit more Matcha flavor!!! we also had the brown sugar boba one which we also really liked, but not as much! We thought the flavors in the mango one were a bit better! We also had Ube cheesecake, which was just right, I think sticking to the buns is best because the ube cheesecake didn’t really have much flavor! Very reasonable price for how big the custard buns are!!!

**Review: Bao Bao Bakery in Chinatown, Boston** I recently visited Bao Bao Bakery in Chinatown, Boston, and had a mixed but ultimately positive experience. While the staff wasn't particularly great, the quality of the bubble teas more than made up for it. We tried a few different flavors, and each one was really good and reasonably priced. In addition to the bubble teas, we enjoyed some delicious pastries. The variety and taste were impressive, making it a spot worth returning to. The bakery also has a nice sitting area inside, which made our visit comfortable and enjoyable. Overall, despite the service, the tasty treats and beverages at Bao Bao Bakery make it a place I'll definitely visit again.

A very cute small bakery. They had a ton of sweet and savory options of various buns. They also had cute little cakes and desserts. Very reasonably priced and delicious. Friendly as well!

I bought some mini mooncakes here for the mid-autumn festival. They had a lot of options. I got lotus paste, red bean, and green tea. Overall, the mooncakes were fine. Nothing super amazing but they hit the spot. I really liked the green tea one. It had a lot of flavor. I also had lychee green tea boba because of a coupon I received from an event a while back. It was good. Nothing amazing, just lychee boba. I might come back to try their other pastries just to see what the hype is all about.

Wow...first day in Boston and found this bakery in Chinatown...a must try their cream puff ube...darn it's really good and not that sweet my next one is the mochi ube and mango.... Try and swing by...price are reasonable as well....

Another good bakery in Chinatown. I tried the coconut cream bun, pineapple bun and chocolate swiss roll cake and they were all great. Staff was friendly and everything came out to less than $10. Did not try the meat filling buns as I prefer them when they are kept warm behind the counter. Otherwise great place for a sugary treat.

This is my go-to spot for Chinese pastries. While the selection is small, they have some pretty unique choices. I always get a pineapple bun and pork floss bun and they never fail to hit the spot.

This is consistently one of my favorite bakeries in Chinatown as someone who used to work in the neighborhood, and it's still one of my must-stops every time I come back to visit. Over the years I've tried almost all of their breads, but the ones I keep coming back to are the, pork floss buns, the pork floss rolls (can you tell I'm a sucker for pork floss?), sesame balls, and curry beef buns. I also love their mochi, particularly the giant ube mochi, which is just packed with fresh ube-flavored cream. My husband is in love with their cream puffs, with his favorite being the vanilla cream puffs. He's not usually one for Asian desserts, but insists that we stop here after dinner in Chinatown every time. I also like that this bakery never seems to be super busy unlike Corner Bakery, Great Taste, or Top Bread, so it's easy to pop in and out if you're in a hurry. I also like that the prices are substantially cheaper than Top Bread, which is my other favorite. Bao Bao will always have a place in my heart for satisfying my carb cravings all these years.

Huge disappointment with the lychee macaron. Am happy with the mango matcha mochi. If you go get the mochi. Stay away from the lychee macaron. Try the various pineapple buns.

The bakery was so cute and all of the pastries we tried were so yummy. The staff was super nice too!

Still a lovely little bakery in the heart of Chinatown! To this date, they still have the best (and arguably most authentic) pineapple buns, coconut custard buns, and pork floss buns. They're definitely still my go to bakery whenever I visit. I would argue that their non-Asian bakery items are just on-par, so this applies to the cookies and macarons and their crepe cake. All things considered, I would also their their tea/drinks are more sub-par. Definitely go for the usual Chinese bakery selection and you won't be disappointed!

Shout out to being one of the few bakeries in Chinatown which actually has HORLICKS in stock! This drink was super refreshing, perfectly sweetened (especially on a hot day)... I don't think I've had a Horlicks as an adult haha so it was really refreshing. Didn't get any pastries/sweets but their cookies are really good and they have a wide variety of desserts to choose from! Their store is really bright and the desserts are nicely arranged - will definitely be back the next time I want to treat myself to a Horlicks! The ambiance is really cute too, like a pretty Asian bakery :)

There are a fair amount of bread shops in Boston's Chinatown and this one has been one of our go tos. We got a variety of their breads and enjoyed them all. Their prices are reasonable to us and their employees are nice.

Cute Asian dessert place. Take out/carry out only. Asian inspired flavored. Service was fast as not many customer in the store. Wanted to try everything but was full eating all day so opted for the crepe cake. Crepe was beautifully made. My husband said he tasted the ube but I didn't. You can add an additional $2.5 to add boba on top. May go back for the macaroon.

Unpopular opinion: this place is great aesthetically but only OK in taste. I suppose the standards are somewhat different since I'm visiting from NYC and the competition amongst the bakeries there is no joke. I bookmarked this place a week before my Boston trip and I was so excited to check them out since they definitely appeared to be the most popular and aesthetically pleasing amongst my generation in Boston Chinatown. I was most interested in trying their ube selection. We ordered a mix of pastries and cake slices. I'll only comment on the ones I tried: the ube crepe cake and ube cookie. The ube crepe cake was decent, and I liked that it wasn't too sweet but there wasn't enough ube flavor in it for you to tell its ube. If anything, it tastes more like taro. The cookie, however, was a straight up disappointment... it was pretty hard and tasteless. I'm not saying that it'll break a tooth, but it definitely has a tougher texture than that of Amay's brand almond cookies. And if you never had an almond cookie, then the closest thing I can possibly compare it to is a biscotti or a Lotus cookie. Apparently, there was a restaurant annexed to the shop. We originally thought it was part of the bakery but found out it wasn't in a rude way. The whole experience was mid mainly because I don't support them charging nyc prices if they're not going to deliver nyc quality. People of Boston will likely continue support them regardless since there really aren't many better options in the area.

I have an addiction of checking every single Chinatown each place has. Even though Boston has a small Chinatown, there are some great bakeries you should check out. One of the bakeries I went to is Bao Bao Bakery. The cashier asked me if I wanted something sweet or savory, I said sweet and reccomended me the pineapple bun with taro. I ended up getting it and I found the pineapple bun very flakey and buttery. Great texture and the taro filling was yummy. The subtle sweet and nutty flavor is what I've been looking for as the flavor combinationes worked well! I wish there was more taro filling because it was so yummy, I wanted more. Definitely a MUST-CHECK out bakery in Boston.

The cafe was very clean and the pastries looked very fresh! I had an Ube Mochi which was perfectly chewy and soft. The flavor was spot on, very delicious treat! I also had a taro filled pineapple bun and it was amazing! The filling was not too sweet and the bread was fluffy. There is a $10 minimum for credit/debit cards so heads up!

Bao Bao has been open since my college days and we used to order various pastries for school events. For that reason, I knew that they'd have a good selection of the standard items: pineapple bread, red bean buns and the like. I hadn't visited them for a while so I was glad that they were still open and curious to see if they offered new items! It looks like the store changed locations from where it used to be (based on what I remember) but it's still in Boston's Chinatown! I found a lot of pastry favorites and ended up purchasing an almond topped sponge cake, pineapple bread, two types of red bean buns (one was swirled in and the other had it as a filling), a matcha cream roll cake and macarons! The macarons were definitely new so I was curious to try them out and gifted them to a friend (very pretty and good variety of flavors). I ended up going twice to Bao Bao over two days. The first day I was there the staff was nice when I had questions about macaron flavors etc. The second day, there was one employee (different person) who seemed like she was in a bad mood and unfortunately she was a bit rude especially when I asked clarification questions about how to best store items, etc. That was unpleasant and unfortunate so hopefully you get the nicer staff when you visit. Their prices for breads and pastries are pretty reasonable and the taste met my expectations! I can't speak to the macarons as much since they were gifted but they looked very nice. I'd definitely come back if in the area since I love having these breads for breakfast!

Cute cafe in Chinatown! Me & my friend stopped by here in the morning to grab some pastries for breakfast. They sell boba too but we opted for just pastries in the mean time. I got the scallion bun & pineapple bun and they were good! It was also pretty inexpensive too and everything looked really good!

Boston Chinatown continues to impress with its modern bakeries that innovate. Bao Bao mixes your traditional Chinese bakery with some pan Asian flavors and does so quite successfully. The bakery has your usual set of buns and cakes but has some unique items like ube rolls and ube cookies. We got the cookies and some roll cakes since we were pretty full from lunch. Cookies had good flavor (we got the ube and matcha cookies) but were a tad hard (wished they were softer). Roll cake was decent but needed more ube flavor. It's a definite must try if you like Asian baked goods. It's not the most traditional but it might be the most unique in the neighborhood.

I was so excited to try this place! We stopped by after some dim sum to pick up some goodies for later. I got an Ube white chocolate chip cookie and some Ube puffs. Total was $11 which was alittle pricey in my opinion but whatever I wanted to try them. First off cookie was super hard and overbaked. Very disappointing. I couldn't taste any Ube. The small Ube puffs I got in this fancy looking box looked great but it tastes bland and not good. I threw away the sweets after the first bite. I wish they didn't make the cream puffs out of almond flour since I can't have those due to an allergy. Maybe other items are better but I did not enjoy what I got.

I was craving some rolls and white bread so I stopped by this cafe. I got a lemonade and a yuzu cake roll, as well as a loaf of white bread. Compared to New York prices this was very expensive but tax is lower in Boston. This bakery also has a variety of non Asian desserts such as crepe cake and macarons. The service was quick and prompt, no complaints there.

Too sweet! I wanted to like this place so badly, but everything I had was too sweet. The biggest disappointment was the macaroons. I tried several flavors, and all of them were extremely sweet, enough to where I threw them away. What a waste of money. The actual cookie has a good crunch, but the V filling was super sweet. I do not recommend getting macaroons here. I recommend going to Faenul Hall. The green tea was good. Tasted like any other green tea. Not memorable in a good way. Unfortunately, I will not return.

Now this place is fancy for a little Asian bakery. Everything was made to perfection and picture perfect hence why price reflects in comparison to other stores in Chinatown but definitely worth the experience. The macaroons were very flavorful and cake was just right! Yum!

3 stars for the drink, and 4 stars for the food coming to an average of 3.5. Along with the standard Chinese bakery selection, there were also macarons, crepe cakes, and cheese cakes. Food I've tried: - MATCHA MILK TEA ($3.50 - 16 oz): very standard matcha flavor in milk, with an overly sweet syrup. Overall, it was ok as I usually like my matcha flavors to be more intense. - ALMOND STRIPS ($5.75): these reminded me of the butter ring cookies found in those round tin cookie containers (that usually holds sewing supplies). They were buttery and good, not too sweet. The thinness of the cookie gives it a nice crunch. I didn't taste too much of the almond flavor in the cookies, though there were sliced almond slices on top of the cookies and a generous portion of it at the bottom of the bag. Atmosphere: - It is a pretty small bakery, no tables as it is to-go only. - There is a entrance to their sister restaurant, Double Chin in the bakery itself. Service: - Pretty standard, got our drink orders at an appropriate time. Overall: - Standard Chinatown bakery experience.

I always get Mochi from this place and it is SO GOOD. Definitely get their Thai milk tea Mochi and their ube custard Mochi. Both have yummy custard inside and the Thai milk tea Mochi has tapioca pearls inside! (The matcha Mochi was filled with coconut shavings so I wouldn't order that unless that's what you like). I also just tried their ube pearls and I would say they aren't a perfect replacement for tapioca because they don't have that bouncy chew - it has the texture of a jelly but a bit harder. Good low cal replacement though!

Stopped here to the bakery, clean and all items pre packaged. The wife's melon cake was too much crust, little winter melon filling and too dry. The taro creme roll with pork sung was mixed; the taro and creme was a great smooth balance, but the pork sung was soggy and not salty. Will try it without the pork next time.

The actual product looked nothing like the prior pictures! And the taste was terrible! The ube white chocolate chip cookies were the dry as the desert, bland, and has a rough texture. The chips also had no flavor. Disgusting! Also tried the matcha cookie and had no flavor either! Their Japanese fluffy cheesecake was meh. Also on the dry side. Avoid this place!

The boba mille cakes were ok. The rainbow is just food color. We got the boba one. Very mild flavors. The cookies I still haven't tried bc it took me 2 days to eat the Mille cake. Overall small place with some dessert options. They do serve fruit drinks.

We were not expecting anything snd oh boy we were sooo pleased! We loved the coconut bun, the pineapple bun, the mocha was to die for, the taro bun great. Out least favorite was the egg tart. I will come back for the mochi. Best I ever had.

It's a small place but what a nice place to eat baked goods. The employee was very nice. We ate a crepe cake that was just delicious. I would go back the next time I'm in Boston.

The bakery was good & staff are nice. When my bf & I went there around 7pm most of their stuff was gone. We ended up getting brown sugar crepe cake, macaroons, and Ube roll cream cake. The crepe cake is a no go to my bf, 2/5 Some Macaroons were hard but they all tasted the same Ube roll, the creme in the middle was good but the cake was bland and a bit more dense then preferred ( I think it was a bit dry too) Food wise I would give 2/5 but the service was nice so 3/5 I also think if we got the bread that were more sealed or went more early, maybe the pastries would've been better

Really nice Chinese bakery that has been a staple of Boston Chinatown. They used to have a huge selection of mousse and fruit cakes, but their selection has changed quite a bit over the years. But in terms of Chinese buns and pastries, they are hands down the most consistent and quality in Boston Chinatown.

11/5/22 -red bean bun: definitely one of the better red bean buns that i've had! the inside is soft and chewy. it is pretty airy on the inside though, which means that it can get squished pretty easily if you're taking it to go. the red bean filling wasn't too sweet, i just wish there was a bit more of it! but for only $1.70, i think it's definitely worth the price. i could maybe see myself getting it again if i'm ever craving it! (4.5/5)

You HAVE to get the brown sugar boba crepe cake here. I don't know what else to tell ya! Ok I guess I could also tell you that everything here looks amazing. Picture-perfect. And the service is quick and courteous. I only got the crepe cake, but everything else was tempting! I'd like to try one of their savory baked goods from their case too, or an ube roll cake. But hey, back to the brown sugar boba crepe cake. A lot to say, an honor to eat. Each crepe is so thin and perfect, and the layers between are so creamy and light. They give you a container of boba to pour over the crepe cake, which is fun, and YES I took a video of it. I'll surely stop by every time I'm back in Chinatown. It's also across the street from Gourmet Dumpling House -- get their juicy dumplings.

Must spend over $10 in order to use credit card. To make the $10 we threw in an egg custard tart, it looked good but was just so so. Our breads were all great. But the best was the Thai Tea flavored Mochi ball. It was fist size and not too sweet, just what I like. The surprise is that I found boba in the middle. Added to the chewiness and so fun to eat!

Not the warmest staff but damn are the pastries good. Everything I bought here = AMAZING! Their ube and matcha cream puffs are too die for. I loved their pineapple buns as well. I believe cash only.

I enjoyed the strawberry birthday cake I got from here. The other desserts looked good too so will have to go back and take a look.

Pretty good. Nice little bakery. Had a Matcha cream puff. Not fresh (but it was late on a Thursday so not unexpected either). I plan on returning for a second try soon.

Popped into here after dinner on a Sunday afternoon. Options were more limited since a majority of the shelves were empty but we were still able to fill our tray with goodies. My friend and I got the custard bun, pineapple custard bun, honey roll, matcha roll, ube cookie with white chocolate chips and matcha cookie with dark chocolate chips. From our options, I loved the coconut custard since the bread was so soft. However, I wish the custard was more creamy and soft and same goes for the pineapple custard which had a slightly crunchy top layer. The honey roll was subtly sweet and soft. I'm not sure how the cookies were since my friend took them home but they were harder than I would have liked in my opinion. Overall, would love to come back when more options are available. Workers were friendly and prices were reasonable.

Love this bakery. Got 3 coconut cocktail buns, 3 cream buns. They are all so delicious. What I love about this place was that, the texture of the buns are nice and fluffy. Everything is nicely packed. Also they have tons of Ube and taro bakery goods. Homemade mochis are in the fridge too. I will surely come back to try something else.

This place is definitely pushing the envelop of Asian fusion desserts. I like to stop here if I'm in the mood for something interesting. Everything is always prepared really well just I am more traditional so not everything pleases my palate.

Excellent desserts. Never been to Boston and we wanted to goto Chinatown. After dinner we found this place and the desserts do not disappoint!

Nice, clean bakery. Everything is mostly individually wrapped already. You can grab what you want and pay. I would say the selection is very limited for traditional Chinese buns and cakes. I've had the pineapple buns from here before and they are comparable to other bakeries in Chinatown. Prices are $0.20-$1 more here for the same buns/breads. Today I had the curry beef baked bun. It wasn't really great. Hard to peel off the paper wrapper on bottom and not a lot of filling. Bread part is very airy and soft though. Flavor is mediocre. Don't recommend

Now this is a bakery, nice fresh raisin bread, and desserts. The Ube cake is spectacular with chunks of soft taro, and light creamy icing. Matcha roll wow, so good. Will definitely be back soon.

Awesome Chinese bakery. Love the ube and matcha cream puff as well as the pineapple custard buns. They also make gorgeous cakes. Have not tried them though.

I booked this cake with them and the baker made the cake exactly the way I wanted!!! They are very flexible with the style as long as you know what cake you like. You can even bring in the decorations u like to have!!! Would definitely recommend it and book cake from them again!

We got a mini bao cake . It look so cute , but the taste was kind of flat. We asked for mango filling but got purple slices with the smallest amount of mango. It is a 6 inch cake for $38. Remember to being cash because they will charge you extra to use credit card. The cake was definitely cute to look at but that was about it.

We LOVE this bakery!! If you're a matcha/ube enthusiast you NEED to check this place out. They have all sorts of matcha and ube desserts that are so so delicious! Our favorites are their cream puffs which are HUGE and so fluffy and perfectly sweet. Their roll cakes are also great and easy to take as a snack. Some other things we liked are their mochis and cheesecakes!

Went here twice last week on a Wednesday and Friday around 9:30am and I was the only customer there! Egg tarts--my favorite--weren't ready yet both times sadly but I got to try their taro bun and pineapple bun instead. The taro and pineapple buns were so delicious, I had to go back to get more! You can pay in cash or card. Love the pineapple buns the most. Hope I can try their egg tarts one day!

I went here after going to double chin next door. I was pretty full by then and only got an egg tart to try with my boyfriend. It's not bad! It taste like what I expect in an egg tart and the crust was nice and flakey! I really wanted to try other stuff since they looked really good, but I was full and didn't want to carry stuff around as I explored the city more.

Pros: -Nice ambiance -Inexpensive -Fun buns (see trio bun below) -- Taro Bun Sweet bun with a taro filling. The taro was not super noticeable. The bun was fluffy and sweet. Trio Bun 3 small buns attached in the middle. Red bean, custard filled, and taro filled. Then only downside is that there's not much filling inside.

The desserts were pretty affordable and they had a great variety of flavors including BOBA!! I got the rolled chocolate and ube cakes and the puff ube. The puff ube was my favorite and the filling inside was amazing. The cakes were pretty dry and flaky so I couldn't even finish it.

Was hoping for more cake options but i was late in the game...managed to snag the last cake viewable at the time, a mango one. Delicious cake and light frosting. Will be back to try other goods.