Original New Town Bakery

A local hidden gem, apparently this is the original bakery of the one my mother used to go to in Chinatown. The cocktail buns are a good value, but the steamed and baked pork buns were a little pricey at ~$4 each. They are bigger than other bakeries though and a very strong savoury taste. The spicy Szechuan style pork buns are a specialty there and a nice change up from the standard pork bun. I do miss those apple tartlets from the Chinatown bakery though. The ones here are close, but not the same. A nice bonus is free parking in the back, although you still have to walk around the buildings to get to the front door.

Love this bakery! The owners are so friendly and lovely, and I am absolutely obsessed with their Spicy Szechuan Beef steam buns. Everything I’ve tried here has been great, and the butter tarts are also absolutely delicious. Absolutely would recommend.

Summary: hidden gem - amazing food, take out only, service is Asian standard. Note that this bakery only does take away and there is no seating indoors; however, there are public plazas (with outdoor seating and picnic tables) within the next block. Street parking in the area is usually easy - try side streets rather than directly on Cambie if parallel parking isn’t your thing. Their steamed BBQ pork buns are the best I’ve ever had - the meat quality is far superior to most others. Have tried a number of buns from there - baked and steamed - both are great but their steamed ones are the ones we return for. The couple who runs the place reminds me of my grandparents - they warm up to you when you go in regularly.

NEW TOWN BAKERY VANCOUVER Consistency is key ( hits the same everytime) The rice noodle with beef and a side of fermented bean chili 🌶️ ..(not super hot) and to add the noodles are not over cooked or over salted and flavour that is indeed incomparable to this savory delight at any other HK STYLE place .. A true wok experience with value,,,, I highly recommend this dish .. also I leave with the best crueller type (sweet donut) … so many things to try 🙏🙏🔥🔥🔥🔥 I have to add: one of the best industry servers: Elaine is gracious and accommodating and professional to boot

Mom and pop bakery selling delicious homemade bao. Highly recommend if you’re in the area. Wouldn’t say it’s worth a trek.

They have the best Asado siopao here. I also bought the sweet sauce, and I loved it.

The BBQ pork buns are absolutely fantastic and everyone is incredibly friendly. Have been coming here for years. Surprisingly, this is a great spot to get balls of pizza dough from as well.

Food is great. We love it. the service is ok due to its really busy in this place plus they have small sitting capacity (we came in lunch time)

I've gotten buns from here to-go numerous times and they're consistently great. The interior is clean and it's relatively quiet in the times I've been here. A small queue is almost always expected because of the bakery's popularity but you'd be at the front in 5 mins. The people behind the counter seem a bit standoffish and it's all business but it doesn't matter much since it's a grab-and go. The size of the buns are decent for the price. My friends that I've brought to New Town are obsessed with the place and ask to come back. I make sure to visit whenever I come in Chinatown.

Quick service. Loved the apple tart. I loved the steamed buns. Wish I tried the spicy pork and baked buns. Next time!!!

I was sad that the Richmond location closed down, so I decided to drive to the Cambie location. This place is tiny compared to the Chinatown location, however it is all about the taste. And this place has it !! They serve a variety of things from empanadas to chicken samosas, chicken pies to sausage buns. They also have a few desserts and drinks to choose from, but the most delicious item on the menu, for me, are the buns. I adore their barbecue pork buns as well as the chicken siopao!!! I could never just buy one bun :) I would have also bought the delicious egg tarts, but the customer ahead took all of them. Yes, I will be back.

The bakery choices are excellent. We bought the bbq pork buns and a few other sweet buns. Service was orderly and prompt. Store ambience was good although wait time can be a little long during busy time. Thank you.

Food was awesome especially the steamed buns and the sauce for it. It's worth a trip from Washington to Vancouver. It's like an oasis in the ghost town which is what Vancouver's Chinatown is now.

Not to many selections very limited and not very tasty not really recommended it's not really place to buy buns go the one on pender that's the original.

My wife and I go to New Town Bakery a few times a month, usually at 7 am so we can get the fresh dim sum items we love. We found New Town about 6 months ago, and back then we used to go twice as much because we had more free time! The items are so decently priced it's hard not to order everything on display. Our go to's are any of the buns, the deep fried shrimp dumplings, the steamed shrimp dumplings, the taro dumplings, and the congee. Quite often we'll try something new like a custard bun and split it between us after breakfast. It's built like a traditional dim sum place. Bakery in the front, restaurant in the back. Our favourite server, Elaine, speaks cantonese with my wife and lets me practice my mandarin, every time. Sometimes we go to other dim sum places and we say, "man, Elaine would never make us wait this long", or, "Elaine would be updated on today's menu". What I'm saying is: when you go to New Town Bakery, try to get Elaine. She's the reason we keep going back! Their food is spectacular, though. It's always cooked perfectly, even the made to order dishes. I haven't had any complaints yet, and I recommend this place to anyone who will listen and anyone looking to try something new. :)

Best steamed pork buns in town, they have both the bready and the puffy kinds, available hot, room temp, or frozen. Suuuuper nice old couple runs it, always friendly and fast. Loads of other frlicoous things too.

Been going to this place for years. Their siopao (steam buns) are still the best in town so much so that people from Seattle makes sure that they buy enough yo bring back across the border. Their food for the sit down mesls are really good and fairly priced. Try their Siopao Asado (steam pork buns) with the Beef or Chicken Mami (noodle soup).

New Town is my favourite spot in the whole city to pick up bbq pork buns. I'm not eating meat these days - but I drove by New Town and pulled a quick detour and stopped by. Since the Richmond location closed down, my family hasn't picked up as many buns as they have in the past, so I decided to pick up some treats for them. This particular location is run by the cutest elderly couple. They are always working together, the wife in the front chatting up the customers and putting together the boxes of goodies, and the husband in the back baking and creating all the goods. My favourite things to get are the: + Baked BBQ pork bun + Asado bun (steamed) + Cheddar hot dog buns + Shrimp puff pastry This location is very much a grab and go place. It's very small and there are no tables for sitting. But they do accept debit/credit which is a plus! The quality of the products are consistent and the prices are cheap. Cant beat getting a dozen different buns for less than $20! There's parking available out front or in the side streets. Come here if you're looking for great bbq pork buns! Yum!

My dads favorite bakery owners are super nice and friendly steamed buns are good and fresh wish they had egg tarts and custard buns though but they have whole custard pie

A trip to Vancouver wouldn't be complete without a visit to New Town to pick up their AMAZING (some might say world-famous) pork buns, steam buns, and quite-possibly-the-best-sticky-rice-ever. This was our first visit to the Cambie street location and, though parking was a little challenging, we were pleasantly surprised to find there was no line for our buns! The sweet lady working the counter was just as nice as could be, heating up our sticky rice for us and packing up our buns for safe transport back over the border to be enjoyed at home. The location is super convenient if you're staying on this side of town, and heading south - much MUCH easier to get to (in a car) than their Chinatown location. This is definitely a must-visit on a trip to Vancouver (or on your way back home to Bellingham with lovely goodies to bring to the kiddos)!

We always have to buy tons of baked chicken bao (like chicken pot pie in a bun) and steamed chicken & egg bao when we go to Vancouver BC. We buy 2 doz of each and freeze them or give away.

This is more of an old school Chinese bakery where there isn't a lot of dessert cakes, but more like hot dog buns and apple tarts and cakes and buns... so many, many steamed buns. I have to admit though it's a bit run down but everything still looks clean and I'm not here to eat their paint so who cares if it's old. The owners are always cheerful and quick. I usually just go for a steamed bbq pork bun (you can't beat a 2.00 lunch) and they're always piping hot ready to eat. Nothing fancy just a really nice steady staple in the end part of the Cambie corridor. Great place for a cheap eat.

Love the Barbecue Pork and Red Bean buns. Barbecue Buns are lean and delicious. Our go to place when around the area.

Not the original new town bakery. The original one (bola-bola and asado) is located in Richmond & Chinatown. This store also doesn't offer egg tart like the other new town bakery in richmond & chinatown.

The place was divey since its in the heart of Chinatown downtown Vancouver. We ordered the Steamed rice roll with shrimp (the steamed rice rolls didn't seem cooked thru because it had a weird pasty after taste), hai gao - steamed shrimp dim sum (this was really good!), egg tart (silky and creamy.. so yummy!), and steamed chicken deluxe hum bao (good!).

Every time we come to Canada, my boyfriend has to make a stop to New Town Bakery. He buys packages of the pork buns. He literally brings a cooler for the packages and buys ice to make sure they make it back to Seattle. Their items are delicious and always a tray to have. Unfortunately during this trip, they had run out of the frozen pork buns leaving us empty handed on our trip back home.

This is a quaint little bakery that makes the best siopao (buns filled with different things like BBQ pork, chicken, red beans, coconut, etc)! The buns are really filled full and you can buy them steamed or baked. They also make desserts like carmel chocolate crunch bars, lemon bars, date bars, assorted cookies, baklava, and so many more items. And they are righy next to a Starbucks. There is a small customer parking lot behind the store too. It's definitely worth stopping!

Very yummy buns. I am surprised the one in Richmond closed so we had to come here to get some buns on our way back to the states. I am not looking for fancy service. Just good buns!

I was a bit early in meeting up with friends so I decided to come by this place to see what they have. As I walked in the staff (this elderly Asian lady) got up and walked behind the counter, so I felt bad for just looking and not purchasing. I ended up getting a Jamaican patty and a BBQ pork bun. The total came to $5.10. I thought the 2$ BBQ pork bun was a bit pricey. When I had the items for lunch the next day (after leaving them in the fridge which is not ideal for steamed bakery goods), I realized how good both items were. The bun is literally the best I've had in Canada, much better than TNT baked goods. The Jamaican patty was delicious too, which is quite a surprise given the place is Chinese. I'd love to come back and try their other items.

I don't know if this place is affiliated with the Chinatown store but the buns taste different. The only thing that is better than Chinatown are the apple tarts. They run out so you have to order them in advance. It's been a long time since I've been here.

I'm kind of embarrassed to have only discovered New Town recently. I've only lived here for 20 years.... The BBQ pork buns are what got me hooked but the sticky rice. Oh...my god. They taste like better versions of the kind my Chinese grandmother made when I was young. It's so incredibly flavorful and perfectly salty. There's never a line at this location and the adorable couple running the joint are kind and always friendly. In conclusion, try the sticky rice.

Average to below average Chinese bakery. The one time I visited they had a very limited selection, and the woman behind the counter was overly pushing towards some of the items that were clearly not fresh. She was trying to clear out the old stock. No thank you. Now don't start thinking, "Oh, Vancouver people are so not used to different cultural norms, blah blah blah, etc." I grew up in one of the pushiest cultures in the world - New York. As such: you push, I ignore. You push harder, I take more time. You push even harder, I walk out and yelp about your pushing.

This place is a copy cat of the original from China Town. Do not be fooled. Food is not as good

Cheap little bakery. I'm not sure how people are complaining about the price - $1.60 for a BBQ pork bun, that's a load of meat in there people, and you're complaining that's too much? Ok if it is more expensive than anything in Chinatown fair enough, but we are stil talking about a yummy steamed bun for under $2! My daily cup of plain coffee is more than that!! End rant. Super sweet baking goods, reminded me of a bakery growing up in London. Yummy enough food, I got 2 buns at 3pm and they still tasted nice. I always stop by when in the neighborhood :)

After reading @crystals ' s review on the New Town in Chinatown, I decided to try this location out. Unlike @marcd I wasn't bombarded by a pushy lady. I walked in and took my time looking around. I was amazed by the different selection of items including jamaican patties (they dont look too authentic, I'm used to seeing a yellow flaky crust, not something more closely resembling a calzone), jamaican rolls (think sausage roll), cornish pasties (what are these things anyway?), and the ever popular white chinese buns filled with bbq, chicken, veg, or red bean. As I was paying for a red bean and bbq bun, I noticed the counter had pineapple cocktail buns for .85 each (My fav!) so I asked for those as well. I ate the coconut bun on the way home. The bread is a different consistency from the average Chinese bakery as is the coconut inside; not bright yellow and super sweet but a bit darker in colour and a bit more mellow in flavour. Very fresh, and quite yummy. I'm already planning my trip back to try their Jamaican Roll. :P

Great prices, staff and food. I have read the other reviews and am baffled by some of them. I agree with Yoony P the most. I love coming into this bakery and being greeted by the woman who works there. She is always smiling and says thank you after you purchase anything. She does have one of the best sausage rolls I've head in the city so far. And her selection of pastry's, breads and other foods is great considering the size of the store (small). But what I love is I'm not getting ripped off like at other stores. In fact, I feel I am ripping her off because the prices are great! I didn't find the staff "pushy". In fact I found them fun. Sure. Slightly impatient. But I only ever see the same woman working there and she seems quite busy all the time. So the impatient quality is there but overshadowed by her "thank you's". And the buns are great. But I am the type of reviewer who won't review a place after going to it once. Or if I do, I mention that and give an extra star to the place because EVERY business has that one "off" day or bad employee. It could have just been the day you were at. I have gone to this place about six times and love it. I suggest you try it. But if you are picky about buns, maybe go for the delicious pastries. Or the Sausage roll. ;)

The bun's were alright. I wandered in before going to Balilicious next door. They had a lot of different types of baked goods. Yes, the lady was somewhat rushing me to make a purchase. But when I thought about it, it made sense. Think about it, she's selling you a handful of yummy goodness...starting from $1.50 a piece. I'm pretty sure the rent in that place is $$$$$!!!!!!! Especially on Cambie st. But you know what? I'm glad I wandered in as I was pretty filled up for cheap! (Later that night I was very disappointed in next door for not filling me up for $30. It was tasty, just not filling for the price. So I'm really glad I had 2 buns for less than $3.)

The only reason why I left out one star was because they don't have my favourite prawn turnovers like the Chinatown location does. But honestly, I would go to this location just to talk to the old lady at the counter! The sweetest person around, she greets you with a smile when you come and when you leave. We talked about my tattoo and about how nice the weather was. The pork siopao is always tasty and they also have cookies! The food is delicious and cheap and the couple that runs the joint are the friendliest, kindest people around.

I have given up trying to find a decent Chinese bakery in Vancouver outside of Chinatown after a few other failures and this latest experience at New Town. Blech - dry, doughy and stale tasting buns at 1:30 in the afternoon. Some of the items I picked out were priced 50% higher than in Chinatown as well. If walking down Cambie I would keeping walking on by this place and would turn into Balilicious next door instead.

I'm Chinese and I've had steamed buns my whole life and I don't know how to appreciate this "Filipino" bao bakery. I think all their baos (including their popular deluxe one, balo balo) basically taste like all the other baos I've had my whole life.

Door says Baking since 1948. Super nice older couple run the place. They make a wide range of breads. Other items including Jamaican patties, apple pies and tasty cookies. It one of the long term neighborhood business that may not be cutting edge but adds to the livability of a community.

Not quite sure if this bakery is affiliated to the one with almost the same name in Chinatown but I was disappointed with buns ordered. Bola Bola is usually my absolute favourite but the one from here is flattish and dough was mushy. The texture of the bun is usually a little airy but this one tasted like mushy dough. Contents also not particularly tasty. Maybe quarter of an egg yolk, small piece of chinese sausage, some pork. I liked the contents more than the texture of their bun. Disappointed. Also tried their Jamaican patty. Was told it was spicy but it wasn't. Filling was fatty minced beef. Lacked seasoning. Tasted like salt and minced beef without any other spices. Been to Jamaica before and there is definitely more to a Jamaican patty than just beef!! Then I tried their mushroom filo pastry. Tasted bitter for some reason. Will not order again. Actually, not sure I will be back. Will probably stick to my Chinatown bakery. They get 'A' for variety but taste simply did not impress Nice and friendly service from (perhaps) the husband and wife. Place looked clean.

I had a steamed BBQ pork bun and my friend had a spicy pork bun, and we were both content! It wasn't amazing, but the services was friendly and the prices were fair. I'd recommend it if you're in the neighbourhood looking for a snack!

Ordered the vegetarian hum bao and wasn't really impressed, not enough filling inside and service was mediocre.

Awesome bakery! Has a very rustic feel. Although it look a little run Down, the service and food is amazing. All the food is very well priced, and delicious! Everything they make, they knock out of the park. The woman who owns it is very friendly! Altogether great place!

Great bakery and very reasonable price for what you get. The interior is old but overall good items and the BBQ pork buns were delicious. The lady behind the counter is super friendly and nice. I would not hesitate to come back!

Great couple who own this bakery. We'd go in for the odd cookie when the kids were younger and the elderly owners would often give the cookies for free. We often buy the steamed buns from here. You couldn't find nicer owners in any bakery in town I bet! Prices are really good too!!

The old lady at the counter greeted me with a smile both when I went in and when I left :) was pleasantly surprised. I got the chicken bola-bola and a coconut cocktail bun. Chicken bola bola was a bit smaller than I'd expected, from what I'd had before at the other locations, but the taste was good as usual. I swear there was more bun than filling though. The coconut cocktail bun was great, pretty standard but I'm glad it wasn't too sweet. I'd go back to try some of the other stuff. This location is quite different from the Richmond one that I usually go to...it doesn't have some of my favourite Chinese pastries (wife cakes, red bean/green bean cakes) but it has cookies and even cheesecake!

the couple that served me my 2 steamed buns (SO CHEAP!!!) we're incredibly nice. the buns were exactly what I needed at the time and really hit the spot! if you're in the neighbourhood, you should come here and grab a snack! it's great, cheap and incredibly fast.

This is an old school chinese bakery run by a mom and pop. They're polite and friendly. Mom runs the counter and Pop cooks. The steam buns are for the most part very good. The pastries are fine. This is not a sit down restaurant, but they have my continuing business because the food's good and not expensive. It has never been my experience that anything in this place is stale or that anyone in it is pushy. You show respect, they show respect. And they'll feed you well, too!