icafe Bakery

Women owned business in Chinatown, good quality bread and pastries. Mango mochi is a must try, very popular, always sold out.

The bbq pork bun here was delicious! It was both savory and sweet and made a nice breakfast. They also serve coffee here as well and other pastries

Bad values on the Chinese tamales. Small size compared to others but more than 30% more expensive. The meat is not fatty enough, the salty egg yolk used packaged one. Dry, not oily nor crumbly. Biggest issue is they didn't use 五香粉 to marinate. So, I won't be going back. On the side note, I bought a bun and HK milk tea. Milk tea is really bad. And the bun is not worth it.

We got red bean pancakes and an egg tart. They were amazing. The egg tart had an amazing texture with flaky crust and the red bean pancake was nice and chewy.

Best BBQ pork buns I ever tasted! The BBQ pork is not dyed red. The bread is really soft inside and slight crispy outside! All we can say is YUMMY😋 Also tasty: little chicken biscuit! Crispy and chewy just right! Bring back childhood memories! Will definitely visit again when I am in San Francisco Chinatown.

Perfect place to get a desert after lunch at spicy shrimp ; but great place to sit too. Love their coconut pie. Love this street as it has got neighborhood vibes like no street in Chinatown ; I like candy colored signage

TLDR: strong milk teas and delicious pastries for great prices I got a HK milk tea, a pineapple pork bun and an egg tart for $7.50. The HK milk tea was a tad bit sweet but full of tea flavor and very silky. The egg tart was just right with a crispy crust and not too sweet and solid egg custard. The pork bun had a good filling not too sweet nor salty. Would definitely come back again for some other baked goods and the milk tea

When I was a kid, Sundays were usually a day of going to have dim sum w/family or visiting family with a big pink box filled with pastries from one of the bakeries in Chinatown. The one pastry I didn't like the most was the "Paper Wrapped sponge cake". I think it tasted too plain for me and not sweet enough? My ahem..older relatives loved it! Maybe it helped that it was soft on the gums? The crazy thing is I've slowly grown to really like it over the years. Maybe because I don't eat it as often and there are not big pink boxes laying around my house every weekend? Icafe makes this paper wrapped sponge cake really well! They also have very tasty BBQ pork and Taro buns! I'm not a big mochi fan but they have supposedly one of the best mango mochis. Parking in all of Chinatown is difficult. You can get in and out of the shop rather quickly and they prefer CASH!

Pastries and buns are good, particularly the crispy cha siu buns and crispy taro buns. Their sponge cake used to be very fluffy and soft. Now, the cake is not as much soft and fluffy. The pastries and buns were used to be cheaper than other bakery shops. Now, noT cheap any more BUT they are still pretty competitive in terms of quality. The menu has been simplified, some items would only be ordered in advance such as mochi. Maybe the shop becoming popular, I feel that the owner/cashier sometimes appears rude and cold to random customers.

iCafe is a nice little bakery and cafe located in a side street in chinatown. The inside is fairly clean with a more modern aesthetic. They have some booth seating for those who want to enjoy some bread and a hot drink while taking a break. They have a nice assortment of classic Chinese bakery staples. Everything is made well and you can't really go wrong with anything here. If wanted, you can also request for them to heat it up a bit if you plan to eat it soon. They also have an interesting assortment of sticky rice choices to bring home and prepare. Each one is quite unique and worth a try.

Dropped in to pick up some buns and got a bag of almond cookies. These are the best cookies I've ever had. Better than the ones sold in LA Chinatown.

Bad values on the Chinese tamales. Small size compared to others but more than 30% more expensive. The meat is not fatty enough, the salty egg yolk used packaged one. Dry, not oily nor crumbly. Biggest issue is they didn't use 五香粉 to marinate. So, I won't be going back. On the side note, I bought a bun and HK milk tea. Milk tea is really bad. And the bun is not worth it.

Reasonably priced bakery located in Chinatown. They accept credit cards including Amex. Clean bakery with tables and seating inside. We got 2 bubble milk teas, egg tart and green onion bun which came out to $13.50. The 2 ladies working the counter were friendly too, answering and helping the other customers.

"They want the tech people." You want the people that care about the food in USA. You want them to be nice. You haven't been here with your nice parents from China. You are insensitive. You are not a real person. You are eating this food from about 100 places. Chinese buns and Chinese snacks...thanks..thanks for your efforts and service..thank u for your attempt to share life in the world..and not be real person..and eat food..and thank you for being from China..Thanks for the war on humanity!

This is the year tradition for NY, organic radish and taro cakes. Their Chinese organic Tamale also very tasty and many choices even vegetarian. Fresh ingredients and great service.

Stopped by for a quick bite, and this bakery did not disappoint. This is a bakery many "locals" come to. Many were seniors who just hung out and read newspapers and chatted with each other. They didn't have a large variety of baked goods, but what they did have were delicious.

Found this shop after we had breakfast at chinatown. It is not a big shop but looks nice. Looks like they are famous for their steam cake like taro, radish, and chestnut cake. We bought thd radish cake and bbq bun. They are yummy. The radish cake is delicious. We just pan fry it at home. The workers are friendly. It is cash only. Wecwill try another cake next time.

I had high hopes when I walked in, as this place is in china town. I got spenge cake but it wasn't that spongy I have had better flavour and softer cake at multiple other places. I also got the Pineapple Egg yolk mooncake, it was good but I didn't love it either. The worst was Vietnamese coffee, she quickly put together some random coffee and added cream, I didn't even finish and threw it away. The inside of the place was clean with some seating but not going back.

Nice to find CNY cakes that are low in sugar and without preservatives. I tried the coconut milk mush gao and red bean cake. They taste good.

Stumbled upon this place while walking through china town. Decided to try their taro bun (honestly so good), egg tart which was ok, and then the red bean and egg pancake which is basically filled mochi. The coffee milk tea was a little sweet for our taste. Service was quick and easy to go but they also had tables if you want to sit.

Wonderful bakery with friendly staff! The shop owner can to us and greeted us. She also gave us free sesame balls! She was so sweet & the best egg tart!

My mom introduced me to this cafe in Chinatown and I now claim it's my fav place for cha siu bao in the city! I love the crumbly sugar topping. My hubby also likes the hot dog bao and the hairy pork baos (i'm sure there's a better name for those, lol). Can't wait to eventually try their mango mochi--they're always out of it when I go!

Cash only -- thumbs down... I came here to try the different Chinese tamales but as it turns out, they only have a few selections available so the full menu you see on Yelp is always what they have. I tried the purple rice with scallop $7 and braised pork with preserved greens $6 -- both of these are way more expensive than other standard sticky rice you'll find. I was expecting the flavor to be more pronounced but it was pretty standard. Purple rice is supposedly to be healthier because it has antioxidants but the texture reminds me of brown rice -- rough and not as chewy. The braised pork one was stuffed well but overall kinda small for $7. Icafe also sells other typical baked Chinese goods but nothing that looks unique. The place is pretty low key considering it's located in one of the alley ways off the Main Street. It's a large space with tables but this morning it was completely empty. I asked the lady why she didn't have more selection and she said they don't always make all of the flavors because of limited freezer space. They had an interesting display of various ingredients that can be stuffed in Chinese tamales. Now that I've tried this, I wouldn't necessarily return

It's June and the season for Chinese tamales. I was craving for a peanut one like my mom used to make. And ICafe really hit the spot. We also got some bbq buns. We ordered the peanut tamale and the purple rice with scallops. The bbq wasn't that crusty on top. The peanut tamale was excellent - very comparable to my Moms. The purple one I could do without. There were fatty pieces in there. Y

Excellent CNY cakes like turnip cake and 年糕！This is my go-to bakery in Chinatown. They take cash and credit cards.

Stopped here because we both needed coffee!! One of the very few places open early in Chinatown with coffee. We each got a snack to go with our coffee; she got the bao with corn and ham and I got a cha siew bao. The coffee was just okay as were the bao. I would've liked more filling in my cha siew bao, but it was a good enough snack before doing the tourist thing in Chinatown! Just happy to support a business in Chinatown!

I've been here twice now. Most recently this past Wednesday on our ebike ride. A must stop for some of us. Hubby insisted on buying the Chinese tamale. He wanted choice B but I think we got choice C. No matter. I wanted one of their pineapple BBQ pork buns. Sold out. At 11:30am. Just as well. Bought a ordinary pineapple bun and a sponge cake. Both eaten later at home. Good. Reheated the Chinese tamales for dinner later. No hair found in it. Whew. Hubby enjoyed them. Comfort food.

A shout-out to iCafe Bakery, two days before Chinese New Year. Bought a savory daikon cake and a sweet water chestnut pudding today, great taste and beautiful packaging. $45 for both, each a hefty kg, with a complimentary small dish of XO sauce. The staff was friendly and helpful, especially the cashier who greeted customers with auspicious New Year sayings. We left happy.

Oddly, despite previous reviews, there was not a single mochi to be found. Seemed like they were working on tons of rice wraps though. Being in a baked goods mood though, I stuck with the pastries, which were all quite nice. BBQ Pork Bun: The one I got was still warm from the oven. Being so fresh, the sugar on top still had that nice crumbly texture. And such soft bread. A really wonderful experience. Purple Yam Pastry: Similar to the BBQ pork bun, but filled with a sweet taro paste. Was also fresh from the oven. The filling was a little sweet, but not too sweet, which was perfect since the sugar on top was there. Sponge Cake: So light and fluffy. Like an angel food cake, but all to yourself. So easy to eat this quickly. Egg Tart: Not warm, but a few seconds in the microwave at home fixed that. Jiggly center and flaky crust. It's not Golden Gate Bakery, but at least they're open. I kinda like the buns here more though. Hot Dog Bun: Pretty standard. Though a much thicker hot dog than normally found in buns like this. Soft bread bun. Very filling.

Best BBQ pork buns I ever tasted! The BBQ pork is not dyed red. The bread is really soft inside and slight crispy outside! All we can say is yum! Also tasty: little chicken biscuit! Crispy and crunchy just right! Bring back childhood memories! Will definitely visit again when I am in San Francisco Chinatown.

When I was a kid, Sundays were usually a day of going to have dim sum w/family or visiting family with a big pink box filled with pastries from one of the bakeries in Chinatown. The one pastry I didn't like the most was the "Paper Wrapped sponge cake". I think it tasted too plain for me and not sweet enough? My ahem..older relatives loved it! Maybe it helped that it was soft on the gums? The crazy thing is I've slowly grown to really like it over the years. Maybe because I don't eat it as often and there are not big pink boxes laying around my house every weekend? Icafe makes this paper wrapped sponge cake really well! They also have very tasty BBQ pork and Taro buns! I'm not a big mochi fan but they have supposedly one of the best mango mochis. Parking in all of Chinatown is difficult. You can get in and out of the shop rather quickly and they prefer CASH!

If you love Zhong, you'll love iCafe from the traditional Cantonese style Chinese tamale to a red rice version (my fave), to even a vegan one and many variations in between in between iCafe keeps coming up with new versions. Also offers mochi ice cream. My favorite was the mango flavored one. Also seasonal treats like moon cakes. Her barbecue pork buns and egg tarts are quite delicious. ICafe is owning operated by a single woman who delightfully speaks Toisan dialect as well as City Cantonese. Yeah, everyone speaks a little Mandarin nowadays as well. I usually buy a bunch of stuff to last a few of weeks. Zhong is freezable, as I learn from my mom who gifted me quite a few every year, when I started to be on my own. So go and treat yourself and your family and friends. Oh, this is a cash basis business. And if you call ahead, they usually will gather your order. Or if it's busy, they will place you first in line because you called in your order. You have to tell her that because like many small popular, Chinatown shops, there's a crowd and hubbub! All part of the atmosphere. I

Great service and great food. Their roast pork buns are better than the good mong kok place! Egg tarts and milk tea were also good. The milk tea is HK style milk tea and the lady brewed it fresh. It surprised me because I was just expecting the typical $1.00 milk tea but it ended up costing $4.00. Was slightly peeved but after sipping it, I realized it was all worth it. They also have seating here, so if you need to rest your feet after climbing all those hills walking around SF, give this place a go. No frills, good food, good service.

This used to be Wonder Foods bakery and they were known for their cocktail buns. Mom and I were craving cocktail buns so we stopped here. It was hot, straight out of the oven. Unfortunately, it's not as good as Wonder Food or other places in Chinatown. New owner, new recipe? Unfortunately, it didn't make the cut.

Really cute cafe shop. They have an array of Chinese pastries and also "the best mochi in SF Chinatown" according to one of the signs hung up in the door. The pastry we purchased was just fine and they only accept cash. We initially came here to look at wedding cakes and were a bit disappointed when the lady came and spoke to us, showing us more pictures on her phone of cakes (in addition to the binder of cakes available). The problem is, she started talking about the cakes and then abruptly handed us a card and said "call me" which kind of didn't make sense because we were right there with questions to ask. But the prices were a bit higher than other places we looked at so we just left and decided to contact them another day if we did decide to return regarding wedding cakes. Some of the pictures were the exact same as in other chinese bakeries making wedding cakes so we decided that there was probably some photo stock place in which such shops get the wedding cake photos.

Me: "Hi, do you have the durian and mango mochi today?" Lady: "No, sorry...we're sold out. We usually sell out by 2 pm." Me *super bummed*: "Ok, thank you." *Calls the next day* Me: Hi, will you have the durian and mango mochi on Sunday morning?" Lady: "Yes, we will!" Me: "Ok, great, I'll be there." *Sunday Morning* My sister: "Hi, can I get two durian mochi and two mango mochi?" Lady: "Did you pre-order?" My sister: "Ummm no." Lady: "Pre-orders only." WTF? How hard is it to tell customers that the mochi is pre-order only?! You had two opportunities to. TWO. Many of us are trying to support as many small businesses as we can. It's difficult to support iCafe when the staff/owner is so inconsiderate of people's time. P.S. - There was zero language barrier.

Came here Monday morning to order the char siu bao and taro bao. I have been hyping it up and my partner wanted to taste it for himself. We ordered the char siu bao and an egg tart after seeing the layers of flakiness. The egg tart just came out of the oven and was piping hot. It was delicious and smelled amazing. The layers of the crust flaked off with every bite and was a nice contrast against the soft egg custard. We were disappointed with the char siu bao. They no longer serve it like a pineapple bao top since the topping was loose. They bake it longer now and didn't have the contrast we were looking for. The taro bao also no longer had the pineapple bao similar top. It tasted like a hot dog breading with taro filling. It was also a disappointment.

For years, this was Chinatown's most popular bakery and coffee spot for the neighborhood workforce. Many of new immigrants who came in the '70's and '80's will remember this location as the home to Wonder Bakery, the pioneer and staple for pre work breakfasts or coffee/tea. It was a social place where the mostly male customers would congregate and talk about their jobs, the news, relatives, or what's going on on the home front... double participle! The baker and owner Alex then moved on to open his namesake bakery on Clement near 6th Avenue where it thrived for many years. This place has changed hands a number of times... who knows how many?! iCafe started on Walter Lum Place just a block or so down the hill. When they closed, I wondered why as they were known for the mochi with fillings (black sesame, red bean, green tea, mango, etc). I actually like this location better since there is more shopping and dining foot traffic on Waverly. I enjoyed several of their unique pastries, not your typical pineapple, gai mei (chicken tail) bun, or ham & egg bun place. They offer some cakes but it's their specials that make this different. There is a self serve coffee station and some cold drinks in the refrigerator for customers who may want to dine in. There is a TV to keep the waiting workforce occupied until their businesses open. Can't remember whether they still have the Lotto board that reminds me of the Keno boards in Nevada casinos. Stop in for local neighborhood bites or a cheap cup of coffee. Your wallet will appreciate it.

I eat a plant based diet and I'm mostly vegan. I tried #8 iCafe's nutritiously vegetarians "tamale" (Chinese call "zongzi" or sticky rice dumplings). I steamed them up for about 15 minutes on low heat and it came out delicious. I added a little bit of low sodium soy sauce. Great nutritious meal! I'll definitely be back for more!

This is a wonderful bakery with delicious food. We came for a visit and Hannah was such a great person. She spent time teaching us how she makes the Chinese tamales. It was so interesting. Then she gave us a free tamales because she wanted us to try her special one. It tasted amazing. She is a fabulous cook and a wonderful sweet person.

The very best place in Chinatown to get pork buns and egg tarts. Found this place when taking the Gray Line San Francisco tour and this was a stop on the list. You really can't go wrong with ordering anything! Everything was absolutely delicious and fresh.

This place must have some incredible Mochi!!! I came here based on the positive reviews and recommendations from several people. The staff were very friendly and felt bad when they had to break the bad news that they were all SOLD OUT of all Mochi. I order on a Sunday around 1130am. I asked if I should come back earlier in the morning and they told me that they are actually sold out of Mochi until 2/18/2021 (3 weeks wait) due to all the preorders for Chinese New Year and are ONLY TAKING PREORDERS FOR MOCHI. Therefore, my review is is for the sponge cake. They are super large, light, and fluffy!! I'll write an updated review when I try the Mochi (even more excited to try it now since I have to wait. I'll make sure to call and preorder when I can stop by again). In the meantime, enjoy photos of my dog Mochi and the delicious sponge cake!

Good, fresh homemade bread. Their milk tea is decent and prices are fair. They have seating inside

I came here recently with my friend, and we wanted their mochi. They were sold out but the owner was nice enough to make use a new batch! We got the mango mochi and they were sooo fresh!!! Real pieces of mango were inside. It wasn't too sweet which was good and it was super soft. I appreciate the workers being so nice and they even talked to us while we waited for them to make it. My chinese is a little bit broken,so i spoke some chinglish, but I still managed to order it!. Next time i'll try the Durian mochi!

If you're here, make sure you get the mango mochi. I am not even a fan of mochi but I fell in love with it @first bite. It was chewy, soft and so tasty. The mangoes inside were soO fresh. If I drove to SF, I would have bought like a dozen a 2 to share with family and coworkers. There milk was pretty good as well. Not too milky, tea flavor was strong enough and wasn't too sweet. Definitely, a must go to if you're in Chinatown.

So I finally was able to try their specialty mango Mochi which I admit was pretty good. Diff flavor fill Mochi definitely need to pre-orders in advance and this time the lady was very nice even though I can't speak Chinese. I also order their special sticky rice wrap in banana leaf called Jong. It was pretty good. Their filled( custard $ bbq pork) pineapple bun wasn't all that like people said it is on Yelp. I would give a better review if not for a few past bad experiences there plus I didn't get to try their other Mochi flavors. I will update on my next future encounter.

Tucked away on Waverly, this little bakery was a nice find! Clearly where the locals like to come spend their day drinking coffee and enjoying pastries while watching Chinese tv. The girl behind the counter was very friendly and helpful. We ordered a dozen of their mochi (that day it was mango and black sesame) and half dozen of their freshly baked BBQ pork buns. They added a bonus red bean paste bun that they made completely from scratch. The mochi was quite good. The mango one has chunks of sweet mango in it while the sesame one was filled with coconut, peanuts, and sugar. So good. The BBQ pork buns were fairly good. Prices are fair. Worth another trip to try some more of their offerings!

My husband's side of the family are Chinese so we always visit Chinatown and compare buns at different places when we travel. Went here and got a bbq pork bun and one with the corn cause I saw it in a picture on here and had never seen that before. The pork bun didnt have the texture on the top youd expect for a bun. It was kinda dry? There wasnt much pork in it either. Kinda watery my husband said. We did finish the one between the two of us tho. The corn one... that was a hard no. We may be biased coming from the land of sweet corn but the corn in this tasted like the frozen stuff. Ate half or my half and couldnt do more. Hubs ate even less. ‍ fun to compare but it was a no for us.

I went to try this cafe this afternoon, ordered paper cupcake, egg caster, chicken tail bun and green onion bun and a big cup of coffee, total only $6.50. The place is very clean and the service is fast , the bakery are delicious except the egg caster. The lady owner is very friendly, maybe the time we went are quiet, before we left she said please come again. I definitely will go back to try other items!

You know it's a legit bakery when your cocktail bun is loaded with the good stuff inside. Loved everything we tried and will be back for more!

Delicious Chinese tamales. I live the original with peanuts and meat filling. Sooo good.

This place is amazing, their pastries are some of the best ones you can buy in Chinatown. They are also selling Chinese Rice Cake/Tamales for Dragon Boat Festival. The owners and staff are very friendly, I wish we live closer to Chinatown so we can get their pastries all the time. We will return soon for more!

Popped into iCafe bakery in Chinatown for a coffee and quick snack I could eat while walking around. I was tempted by the colorful Pork Sung Buns in the glass case. It had ham, cheese, green onions and mayonnaise--I was surprised by the mayo at first, but it added a nice sweet and tangy flavor.

Delicious pastries and friendly owner. They have some fantastic old school Cantonese style cookies. We bought some "little chicken biscuits" and sesame cookies. Both were great!

Cash only. Local vibe. Love the bbq pork buns and egg tarts. Traditional Chinese sweets, moon cakes, and more.

I love this bakery! Never tried before but now I'm hooked, the boss lady is super friendly n humble, Even during covid, she was trying extra hard coming up with new stuffs, I bake and cook too so I know she's put her heart n love into it. Can't wait to try all her creations n visit often! Too bad didn't take pics but the year cakes were divine!

Staff was friendly and served us up quickly! Mochi is a MUST. Lemon bread was good, but the mocha boba can be passed as it just tasted like a Hershey's syrup drink with boba.