Yi Soon Bakery

The coconut breads were good but the cream is very sweet and doesn’t taste like fresh cream, more like light frosting

The best paper wrapped egg cake (chinese sponge cake) that I have had in YEARS

The red bean mochi bun is 😍😍. We also got the Chinese cupcake (amazing), egg tart and coconut bun. All very tasty and can’t wait to come back and try other things! The staff were super nice.

My family use to go here almost every week, we loved their breads. It's been almost 10 years since we have last visited, but the filling/consistency has changed. The red bean bun had the tiniest red bean filling, kinda lame. When cutting the bun in half and looking at the center you can see that the bakers didn't even fill out the bun. Taro bun was okay ...

I love this bakery's almond crepes. Definitely the best dessert I've had in Boston. When I come to Allston, I always stop by this bakery. Almond crepes are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. The taste is a fantastic balance of rich nutty and sweet. Once you try it, you'll know what I mean.

I got two birthday cakes from here, one matcha and one chocolate. Both were really tasty, not overwhelmingly sweet, and the cake itself was fluffy and light. The frosting to cake ratio is good too.

A neighborhood gem. First place I’ve ever been to that has chocolate croissants. Like. Full on, 100% chocolate croissants. 😱 SO good! Sometimes the dough tastes a bit more buttery than chocolatey. But they have never disappointed. If you warm them up in a toaster oven for 2-3 minutes, the chocolate filling melts, and it’s an experience. Other treats are the milk bread, the taro bread, the matcha cookies, and the chocolate cookies. Soooo, so good! Have not had a single thing here that hasn’t been good. The matcha cookies have more of biscuit consistency. And the little chocolate cookies are a pop of cocoa in your mouth. Neither are overly sweet , but just right. Try this place out!

Payment: There is a $10 MINIMUM for credit card or debit card payments. Ordering: You browse and take most food items yourself. Some items are behind a display case.There are trays by the front to put items on if you're buying more than a handful. Everything is to go. There is no space to dine in. Price: I don't know of any other places around the Allston and Brighton area for Chinese buns around the area without going further into Chinatown or other locations, so it's nice that this place fulfills that variety in the area. However, that also means there is no competition, so their prices are moderately high, for Chinese baked goods. We're paying for convenience more than quality in some cases, although they still have some good items. Food: Almost everything is wrapped individually or in a container, which is nice. Many, but not all Chinese bakeries do that. Their pineapple bun (bo lo bao) is not great. The top crust was very rough and dry. The bun itself was alright otherwise. The Portuguese egg tart is good. It was sweet, with a fluffy crust and soft delicious custard. I haven't tried any other Portuguese egg tarts to be able to compare.

Pastries are pretty decent and flavors are not too overwhelming. I got a taro bread and it was not too sweet, will stop by again if I'm in the area.

Lots of options for Asian pastries! They are one of the few (only?) places around here if you don't want to go into Chinatown. We also get birthday cakes here. You can custom order fruit cakes or strawberry cakes, or other varieties. The cake is light and fluffy and they use a whipped cream which we all prefer over frosting. A yummy and more economical choice over Tous Les jour or Paris baguette, not as "fancy looking" but tastes very fresh!

Cute little mom and pop shop. Variety of pastries that are not too sweet. If I'm in the area, I would go back! They accept credit card for purchases over $10. They take Venmo as well.

This bakery is small but cute and the display is great and eye-catching. I saw a very unique item I don't see in other Asian bakeries which are the custard-filled pancakes. They are so good?! The pancakes are super soft, I honestly think they make it with sponge cake batter. The custard is not too sweet and has a good creamy texture. I want to try their fruit cakes next time.

Delicious! You can't really go wrong with anything here. Even the croissants had the perfect crisp and a satisfying pocket of bittersweet chocolate. I had a wonderful time biting in to everything I got here. Try their extremely wonderful red mochi bun. The fillings in each bun seem to be very abundant, with an amazing selection of sweet and savory, chewy and creamy. I'd love to come again and again!

We stopped here after getting lunch in the area. The cake slice was yummy, but nothing really stood out to me. The fruit tasted a little crunchy which was odd to me. The whipped icing was nice! A minimum of $10 must be spent in order to use a credit card otherwise bring cash. They had other pastries that looked good.

I love Chinese bakeries - the quintessential bun might be up there on my list of favorite food ever. I was in the neighborhood for a car repair and was in dire need of some carbs to feel better. Yi Soon has been on my list of places to try for a while. No time like the present! Stepping in, to the right are buns and moon cakes. Hard to pick among all the choices and, had I visited with a friend, I would've insisted we try more among the options, but in the end, I went with what I knew - a red bean mochi bun and a sweet butter bolo bun. The latter was a little dry and I wasn't a big fan of the cream inside, but the red bean mochi bun was absolutely slamming. Perfectly soft, chewy texture, and generous red bean filling. Red bean tends to be a little polarizing but for me, it's one of the greatest dessert variations. I really want to try the danish ham/corn and hot dog buns next time. They also have a cake counter with slices, mousses, and some sandwiches, which I'll need to investigate more thoroughly. Since some earlier reviews, they've added trays for perusing. Street parking only. $10 credit card min.

The pastry is tough on things like the pineapple cakes and wife cakes. The fillings were tasty but I missed the typical tender/ flaky textures. No receipt offered--why? Wouldn't return.

Friendly honest staff people, items baked fresh every morning . Interesting varieties of breakfast and lunch rolls both savory and sweet. Nice owner too!

I love this bakery! I wanted an Asian Fruit cake for my sister's birthday and pre-ordered a 12in cake. On the day of, I worried that one cake might not be enough so the morning of I called to see if they can do another 10in cake, giving a few hours notice. They made it happen! Everyone LOVED the cakes! Extremely reasonably priced and great customer service.

I wrote a long review before this one but unfortunately it got deleted or disappeared. So my original review was 3.5 stars. Got 21 items for almost $64. One item I didn't order but got rang up. I didn't check my receipt and goodies until I got home. The taro shortcake: texture (exterior) is light. Inside had taro paste and it was dense and heavy. Red bean egg yolk shortcake was surprisingly good. Kinda like a mooncake but lighter! Portuguese egg tarts needed to refine the baking process. Taste was ok and same with the hk egg tart. The pastry crusts were good the next day when I heated them up in the oven. Cream buns: not enough cream! The bun texture is good though. Fluffy and light. Paper wrapped sponge cake hk style: they were really good. But one of them, I found some molding on the paper on the second day. Almond coconut buns were not good. Soggy bread texture!!! Hotdog bun: pretty good!! Would get that again! Love the textures and scallion!

So Barbie's demanding to spoon And insisting by showing her moon But if you're in Massachusetts I know that you'll lose it When you try the baked goods at Yi Soon It's opens earlier than Yi Later bakery, and they're way more prompt with service. I know I have been wearing nothing but muscle shirts, but I'll wear a Tee soon. My favorite Bakery in Allston, and my joint favorite Asian Bakery in all of New England. They have spectacular melt-in-your-mouth Portuguese Custard Tarts which are not far off the standard of the actual Portuguese ones in Toronto and New Jersey. It may only be a sprout now, but it'll be a Tree Soon. They were so absolutely delicious and even 24 hours later I was golfing them down, well actually gulping them down but if I was Trump I'd have been doing that too, and wondering why every bakery can't taste this delicious. I know Barbie's off with her other boyfriends right now, but she'll come home to Me Soon. Service is okay and prices are perfectly fine but it's the incredible products that are the reason why I put this bakery as one of the best I've ever been to. I've been looking for hours. Hopefully I find the Key Soon. The wife cakes are probably the greatest version of wife cakes I've ever had. Chalky and squidgy and perfect. I haven't taken Barbie shopping in awhile. We'll go on a Spree Soon. The Portuguese custard tart as I said is spectacular. Ultra moist which I really appreciated. I'm not in the mood for sex right now, but you can have the D Soon. You simply must come and try Yi Soon when you're in the area. Especially the Wife Cakes and Custard Tarts. And if you just come here to use the bathroom, it's Pee Soon. Which I need to do, otherwise I'll need new underwear.

Tip: There's a $10 card minimum, otherwise it's cash only. Your typical (if not, above-average) Chinese bakery with all the classics--pork floss bun, taro bun, pineapple bun, hot dog bun, you name it! I'm from San Francisco, and finding a quality Chinese bakery with fair prices is hard to come by in Boston. Although Yi Soon isn't a match for the ones I grew up with (I'm biased), their pastries surely don't disappoint. I came here for the first time last week and got the red bean mochi bun ($1.75). I've never had mochi in a bun before, and I was surprised by how soft and fluffy it was! The bun itself is chewy and not artificial tasting. There was a lot more red bean filling than I expected--which I loved--and it wasn't too sweet either. The smooth mochi helped balance out the nuttiness and thickness of the red bean paste. And to top it all off, the crusted swirl added a fun texture to the whole experience! I dipped the bun in some Hong Kong instant milk tea at home and it was simply amazing. The woman behind the counter was very sweet. The bakery itself is easily passable among chains like Tous Les Jour and Kung Fu Tea that dominate the street, so I highly recommend coming here. I can't wait to try they're other baked goods, and I'll definitely be back here soon!

The only flaw of Yi Soon Bakery is how incredibly addicting it is. I have yet to manage to take a photo of my pastries before eating them, but they always have an amazing variety in stock. Pros: -Incredible, *Incredible* pastries and desserts. I have never had better (and I grew up in France!) -the place is immaculate- so clean and well lit -great hours (open until 10pm most days) and they must make the pastries several times a day, bc even at 9:45 pm they had a lot in stock -affordable prices (most items run between $2.25-3.75 and large portions) -rotating variety of items, but the "classics" are always well stocked. Cons: Too good, am addicted, can never decide what to get because it is all amazing. Also, the customer service is god awful. Usually don't even respond to me when I say "good evening" or "are there any specials". But the pastries are so good, they could insult me and i'd still go back.

Very good chinese bakery, hidden gem, probably the best in allston, don't sleep on this place, the coconut bread is golden don't sleep in it. Nice owner too very friendly and nice

I am trying to find a good Asian bakery outside of Chinatown but have been unsuccessful thus far. I liked that all the bread at Yi Soon was wrapped, especially during COVID. Sizes are good but flavor and baking skills are lacking. Egg tart was undercooked and not crispy but a good portion. Usually raisin bread has coconut in it as well. This bread was undercooked, quite bland, not fluffy/risen enough, and only has a few raisins in it. HK Style Custard Bread was the worst of the bunch with a tart lemony topping which overpowers the inner custard filling. This bread also did not rise and didn't taste like Asian bread at all. Tastes like store bought American bread with too much lemon that lingers in your mouth long after the bread is eaten.

I got the mango mousse cake and coconut jelly squares. Both really good, the mango mousse was light and delicious and The coconut jelly was refreshing and good to share. Both just the right amount of sweetness

This is one of the few Asian bakeries situated outside of Chinatown, and it's a pretty good one. The space is very clean and modern, and they had a wide variety of buns, pastries, and cakes available. I got the taro bun ($1.75) and the red bean mochi bun ($1.75). The taro bun was topped with almonds and had taro wrapped into it, instead of being filled - it was slightly lacking in taro, but still tasted good. The red bean mochi bun, on the other hand, had a decent amount of filling and a strong red bean taste. The bread here is soft, chewy, and slightly sweet. Overall, this is a solid Asian bakery in a very convenient location. Keep in mind that they have a $10 credit card minimum.

Super nice staff and great baked goods. The red bean mochi bun is always my go to whenever I stop by. It costs roughly $2. The red bean itself isn't too sweet and they put the right amount of mochi so that it isn't too chewy. The chocolate croissant is a little over priced for what it is $3.50. But overall it's a great bakery and I have no major complaints

$10 card minimum so I had to load up on the goodies!! I got a bunch of different things. So far the chocolate croissant and the little butter rolls have been my favorite!

I love their almond sugar cookies. They probably think I'm insane because I grab 5 boxes. They have a minimum of $10 for card I think so only makes sense to buy more. /shrug. The mango cake is very creamy and my boyfriend loves it. We got a matcha chocolate cake one time. It wasn't great. But I only come here for the almond sugar cookies. The ones that look like strips.

My mom surprised me with a cake from this place, and it is so delicious! She got a lot of help picking it out from the staff, many thanks!

I liked everything I bought here even though the prices are definitely on the high end compared to other Chinese bakery. Will go back to try more buns and desserts.

All the bakery items were good. My favorite was the hot dog scallion bun. Second favorite definitely the coconut creme bun. I will definitely go back! Less than $10 for 4 items.

This place was conveniently located near my lunching spot. I cant say I am a fan of asian pastries but definitely will try an egg tart anytime. It was late afternoon and pretty much everywhere, egg tarts are sold out by this time. This place still had some available! The custard center was sweet and the texture was thick, just how I like it. The only problem I had was the flaky crust. It was so flaky you almost could not chew it. I definitely do not like when the crust falls apart. They do have other selections but I did not try this time. If I am in the area and this is my only option, I will try again.

Delicious pastries and friendly staff :) this bakery is such a staple of the neighborhood

So yummy! I had a portuguese egg tart (pasties de nata) and it was so delicious! Fairly priced too, under $2. My friends and I sat at these cute tables in the store and ate our treats. My friends had a red bean bun and a sweet bread bun and both really enjoyed them. Would go again!

Fresh delicious Asian bakery. The most wonderful Japanese Cheesecake I've had. The Croissants are incredibly buttery with choices ranging from savory to sweet. Many different options available for baked items that I haven't worked my way through yet..but plan too Friendly staff, extremely low prices . The only reason they get 4 instead of 5 stars is that there are not tables here to sit and enjoy, particularly in the cold new England weather it would be quite nice. This doesn't reflect their quality of food though. Highly recommend

This is a great traditional Chinese bakery. The place is tight. However, this place is not like some Chinese bakeries in chinatown which are dirty and full of weird smells. This place is bright, clean and organized. I have been this place many times. I always buy bread and Chinese dessert and cakes here. I came here again on a Sunday afternoon and find out the truly bake the fresh bread. The great nice smell of bread instantly came to my nose when I stepped in. I highly recommend this place.

Every time I'm on Brighton Ave, I always make sure to make a pit stop at Yi Soon Bakery. They have a wide array of pastries, cakes, and other baked goodies, with my go-to's being their custard pancakes (which you order at the counter) and mochi bun. The availability of some buns does vary day by day, but you can generally always find the more popular items, like wife's pastry and taro buns. Each item is priced around $1.10 - $2.30ish, with their more "specialty" ones averaging about $2.50+, so definitely affordable. The store is also kept very clean and organised, and I have zero qualms at the quality of their baking preparations. Btw, they do accept cards now with $10 minimum purchase. Yay!

Absolutely love Yi Soon, it's one of my go-to's in the area. An above-average Chinese bakery located on the main street. They do orders on Chowbus, but I usually just walk over since I live so close. Spatial description for accessibility: I keep forgetting to take pictures of the shop, it's quite small. Set up like your typical Asian bakery, you'll serve yourself for most items but they do not offer tongs or trays as all of their items are pre-packed. After walking in, the right-hand side has 4 levels of shelving along the span of the entire front window. The closest column usually holds Wife's pastries, taro & coconut buns, essentially most of your sweet buns. The next column usually holds most of your savory buns (hot dog, hot dog scallion, Danish corn & ham, etc. The last column, farthest from the door, holds your cookies & biscuits. Then the wall farthest from the entrance (counter clock-wise from the shelves) has a large fridge; I believe it has 6 levels and it holds most of the simple cakes as well as soy milk. Turning counter clock-wise from the fridge is the cash register; they accept credit cards for purchases over $10 & have tap capabilities. To the left of the register is a display cooler of their fancier desserts; cheese tarts, specialty cakes, etc. If you want anything in there, you'll have to ask the staff to pick it out for you. My personal favourites are the ham & corn bun, hot dog scallion buns, and coffee tiger cake! I love eating them as small meals or snacks while I study.

I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of pastries here! I usually go to Chinatown to get my pastries, but I find that Yi Soon is definitely comparable. Their style here is more on the modern side and I appreciate that they have labels and ingredients listed for everything. I love their sandwiches (the secret ingredient is the pork floss), chocolate mousse cake, and a sponge cake with light cream in the middle and chocolate coating on top. I also like their chocolate tiger-skin swiss roll slices and wish they sold them in a larger size. The only thing I wasn't a huge of was the coconut pudding. I imagined it to be bouncy and marshmallowy, but it's soft pudding squares coated in coconut flakes. The lady at the counter was nice. I spoke Cantonese with her, but I also heard her speak Mandarin and English.

I like the Chinese bakery in San Francisco, so I tried this place. The selection is good, both bread goods and cakes. I tried 4 bread pastries. Cream puff, sweet potato ban, wife...something, etc. I would say that they are good, but not great. Not as good as the one in San Francisco.

It took me 95 reviews before one finally earned my first 5 stars rating... and it is for a bun!!!!! Seriously! I really like this egg wrapped bun at May's Bakery that has shredded dried pork patted onto either side of the bun that often sells out during the morning hours. But a friend told me that there's a much better version at Yi Soon. I finally got the chance to try it this week - it is SO GOOD! It doesn't have an egg layer, but the bun is so soft, and there is a mix of savory (the mayonnaise, scallions) and salty-sweet (the dried pork) flavors... sigh... I think this is my new favorite bun. While I don't know the proper name for this bun, I've posted a picture so you can see what it looks like. =) ** 3/2010 bakery visit ** Reliving the experience - Picked up my own bun for $1.75... YUM!

I wish I had known about this place sooner before I moved away from the Allston neighborhood. It's cash only but such a good gem! Amazing selection.

I love this place!! You can never really go wrong with a standard Asian bakery. I bought a hot dog bun and a pork floss bun and I really liked both of them! I also got a sweet potato bun, which I thought was a little bit lacking, but still pretty good. Overall, you really cannot beat the price!! I will definitely be coming back to stock up on pastries next time I'm in Allston and I highly recommend it!!!

Great little bakery. Very traditional no frills establishment which I truly appreciate. Everything is fresh and very well priced my two pastries were $4.50 total. The bean bun was fluffy and the filling was great. The lotus seed cake was something new for me and I ended up really liking the texture. 10/10

Order ahead of you can the shelves are a bit naked these days. Can't complain though they have the best cake around. Just get there early

Yi Soon is one of the only Chinese bakeries in the Brighton/Allston area (maybe the only one?), down the street from the Packard's Corner T stop. It's well lit and seems super clean, and always smells bread-y and delicious. They have a big variety of pastries, all for pretty cheap (around 1.50-3.00 for most, I believe), though they can be hit or miss in terms of taste. I do like their egg tarts a lot, but their wife pastries and coconut buns leave a lot to be desired. I haven't tried Yi Soon's fruit tarts or mango mousses yet but plan on getting both at some point in the future, as both look absolutely delicious.

I used to enjoy coming here for the taro baos but it just doesn't taste the same. BTW CASH ONLY

Not bad for a Chinese bakery. The treats were pretty cheap and it was a nice place to stop in after dinner.

They are a nice little store with some great pastries all packaged and ready to go. The light cheese pastry hit the spot. However, I think my absolute favorite pastries come from bakeries that make items fresh in the back and they are still warm when I buy them. It's always nice to have somewhere like this to go when you don't want to go all the way to Chinatown.

I found this small bakery to have a pretty large selection. Their large hot coffee (only 1.50) was freshly brewed and paired well with their baked goods. I found that their buns and pastries were a little more expensive than the ones in chinatown. Each bun is individually sealed for freshness, the chashu bun was full of flavor and fresh!

The only real place in Brighton that sells asian pastries. The prices are more expensive and the taste is a little different from the bakeries in Chinatown. I like that each pastry is individually wrapped and that there's a variety of breads and sweets to try out. I tried the red bean mochi bun (flaky outside and mochi/red bean paste inside) and the polo bun. I would recommend trying out the red bean mochi bun if you like something a little sweet. The polo bun is your standard asian bread, which isn't too special.

Delicious pastries. Some are better than others. Their sponge cake is hard on top...not my fav. My go to is the red bean mochi bun. Pro tips: go early when they open at 8am for freshly baked and warm pastries. $10 card minimum so bring cash.

Deliciously light fresh cakes. Bring cash for smaller purchases. Prices are really reasonable.

You can get better in North America, but this is pretty good for Boston. Most of the items aren't really Taiwanese, more generic Chinese/Asian if of slightly higher quality than the bakeries in Chinatown. However, a few items are pretty distinctly Taiwanese and not what you'd find at ye olde typical Chinatown bakery. Most notably the small pineapple shortcake. I'm used to these being little squares, and at Yi Soon they're round, but the filling is the same. A delicious, thick, rich, sweet pineapple paste. Get these. Get lots of these. All the items are delicious, though, regardless of their level of authenticity. I enjoy the mini croissant rolls (comes in a package and is very reminiscent of home), the big custard-filled buns (so light and moist) and the cakes (feel free to be shallow and choose by color because they're all good). Now if they could bring in, say, Taiwanese cheesecake like the award-winning kind I had in downtown Taipei, I'd break the Yelp rating meter and force it to give 10 stars.

like most chinese bakeries they offer CAKES, cookies, breads, BUNS, and more! -----red bean mochi bun: most yelpers raved about this one. BUT ive had better & i didn't really enjoy that buttery spiral top (although its unique!) -----wife cakes: liked the filling but the outer layers could have been flakier! I think there are cheaper & probably better asian bakeries out in Boston's chinatown so i wouldn't go out of my way for bread at Yi Soon

I am really really really glad that Yi Soon Bakery is very far away. If it were closer, I'd need to buy much larger pants. I've never been to a Taiwanese/ Chinese bakery before and now I know what I've been missing. I'm pretty adventurous so not knowing what I was buying really didn't make much of a difference. I got a whole bag full of goodies for around $10. I don't remember the names of everything I got but I do recall the Wife's pastry and good lord was that one lucky wife! This will surely be a spot I am going to try again. Cash only is no deterrent for this girl, thats how I fly anyhow! Maybe the owners feel that if they're gonna help make us American people fat with their yummy desserts, they won't let us go into debt doing it. Now isn't that a nice thought? See you real soon Yi Soon!