Bakeries
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.
Meat floss cake sounds wrong in English and makes complete sense in the mouth. The sponge is soft and barely sweet, the cream inside runs savoury, and the outside is rolled in floss so the whole thing reads more like a snack than a dessert. Savor Hill is a dessert counter built around that idea, on a block where dessert counters are a real business rather than an afterthought.
Alexandra Road holds two blocks of restaurants running east off No. 3 Road, packed shoulder to shoulder, and it is the most concentrated eating strip in the province. Bakeries and dessert shops sit in among the kitchens because the strip runs late and people want something to carry out afterwards. Cakes in this style are unusual enough that people cross the city for them, though folding a stop into the end of a meal on that block is the more sensible pattern.
Parking on Alexandra is the known problem: a narrow street, shared lots behind the buildings, and heavy turnover through the evening. Aberdeen Station is a short walk north, which makes the Canada Line the path of least resistance for this block. Cakes like these are made in batches rather than to order, so a phone call is worth it if you have a particular flavour in mind and a fixed time to collect it.
In the Golden Village neighbourhood of Richmond.
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Other bakeries and nearby businesses in the Richmond directory.
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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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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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 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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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 neighbors and take-out focused.
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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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