Two baking traditions run side by side here and rarely overlap. The Chinese bakeries in and around the Golden Village malls turn out pineapple buns, egg tarts, sponge cakes and cocktail buns by the tray, priced for a daily habit rather than a treat, and the counters empty fastest in the late afternoon. Lunar New Year and mid-autumn festival weeks change the window displays completely.
The other tradition is European and sits mostly in the neighbourhood plazas and in Steveston: sourdough, croissants, pies and celebration cakes ordered a few days ahead. Blundell Centre, Seafair, Terra Nova Village and Ironwood each have their own. Both kinds are listed, with the neighbourhood attached to every entry.
A Taiwanese-run bakery across the road from Aberdeen Centre making deliberately oversized pastries: big madeleine-style cakes filled with custard and raisins, Hokkaido milk bread, sesame and red bean buns. Cheaper than its neighbours and take-out focused.
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A compact French-Asian bakery on No. 3 Road known for laminated pastry with unexpected fillings like yuzu and masago, and for sea salt buns that regularly sell out. Small counter and short hours, so it is worth timing your visit for the morning bake.
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A tiny family-run shop on Chatham Street making proper Liege waffles with pearl sugar, real butter and honey in about a dozen flavours, from vanilla through matcha and yuzu. They also take custom cake, pie and creme brulee orders for pickup.
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Family-owned Steveston patisserie open since 1996, focused on European-style cakes such as tiramisu and triple chocolate mousse, plus everyday pastries. It is where Richmond people order birthday and celebration cakes instead of buying one at the grocery store.
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Richmond's kosher bakery, family-run and Filipino-Jewish, turning out challah, cinnamon rolls, croissants, muffins and donuts. The hours are short and it closes Saturdays, so plan around them. Bread is baked fresh rather than held over.
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A cash-only Hong Kong style bakery on Hazelbridge Way that steams cheung fun rice rolls to order alongside the usual buns and pastries. The house chili oil and the egg tart donut are what regulars come for, and it opens at 7:30am on weekdays.
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A cash-only Capstan Way shop making Hong Kong and Taiwanese-style treats such as buns, swiss rolls, cookies and sponge cakes, with a lighter hand on sugar and oil. The mango cake is the local pick and prices sit under the fancier patisseries.
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A long-running Cantonese bakery near Brighouse station where you grab a tray and tongs and load up from self-serve shelves. Portuguese egg tarts, pineapple buns, pork buns and sausage rolls come out through the day, and it stays open until 9pm. Cash only.
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The Parker Place branch of Richmond's best-known Cantonese bakery, running the same tray-and-tongs format with rows of sweet and savoury buns, egg tarts and cocktail buns. Handy if you are already at the mall for groceries or the food court.
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A cake boutique and small cafe on Alderbridge Way doing custom celebration cakes plus neat single-serve mousse and entremet desserts, with coffee to sit in. Order ahead for anything specific rather than counting on the display case.
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A small scratch bakehouse tucked into President Plaza that bakes everything on site using French technique. Croissants are the draw, especially the double-baked salted egg yolk custard one, alongside cream puffs, cakes and matcha or black sesame pastries.
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An easy-to-miss Taiwanese bakery inside Admiralty Centre, stocked with peanut buns, curry pastries, pork floss rolls and butterfly coconut buns. The taro loaves marbled with sweet taro paste are what regulars actually come in for. Cash only, take-out only.
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The Richmond branch of the Chinatown institution, best known for steamed baos in more than a dozen fillings alongside egg tarts, buns and apple tarts. It sits steps from Brighouse station, which makes it an easy stop straight off the Canada Line.
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A Steveston counter frying gourmet mini donuts to order, with classic cinnamon sugar alongside a rotating list of seasonal flavours and filled versions. Mixed boxes let you try several, and they are best eaten walking down toward the boardwalk.
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An Asian bakery on Alexandra Road built around softball-sized meat floss cakes, savoury cream inside and floss outside, in flavours running from seaweed and salted egg yolk to Oreo chocolate and lemon yogurt. Unusual enough to draw people across town.
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A family-run Steveston fixture since 1989, doing scratch breads, pies, cookies and custom cakes including eggless versions. The attached cafe serves all-day breakfast, sandwiches and a rotating homemade soup, so locals treat it as much a diner as a bakery.
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A neighbourhood Chinese bakery of about a decade's standing at No. 2 and Blundell, run on self-serve tongs and trays behind glass. Pizza buns, mousse cake slices and moon cakes in season; whole cakes need a day's notice. Free lot parking outside.
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A Steveston Village patisserie doing classic French work: fruit tarts, chiffon slices, viennoiserie and cookies made fresh each morning. Regulars also come for the savoury quiches and the small freezer of prepared soups and meals to take home.
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A small pickup-only bakery on No. 3 Road working from a short rotating list of cakes and pastries. Order online or at the counter and collect at the store; their products also turn up at a couple of other Richmond dessert shops. Closed Mondays.
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An old-school Chinese bakery on Westminster Highway where prices have barely moved. Honey cakes, plain buns, butter cookies dipped in chocolate and some of the cheapest egg tarts in the city. Selection changes daily and thins out late in the afternoon.
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A tiny Japanese-French cake studio on Alexandra Road, open Thursday to Sunday only. Chiffon-based entremets and choux in flavours like matcha yuzu, restrained on sugar and finished carefully. The popular ones sell out, so it is worth calling first.
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From the blog
Guides and roundups written for Richmond, with the businesses linked inline.
The West Dyke Trail is about five and a half kilometres of flat gravel between Terra Nova Rural Park and Garry Point, and I ride it most mornings. Here is what is actually at the north end, which way to walk so the wind is on your side, and why winter is the better season for it.
I live four blocks off Moncton Street, so this is the Steveston I actually use: where to park before the Bayview lots fill, how to buy fish straight off the boats at the wharf, the honest answer to the Pajo's versus Dave's question, and why the history here is not decoration.
Richmond rain does not arrive as a storm. It settles in for nine days. Here is the rotation I actually use when it does: the Oval, the Golden Village malls, the library and gallery at Minoru, Riverport with the kids, and why Steveston is better wet.
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