The Sheng Kee Bakery on Telegraph has delighted people for months with its beautifully crafted Taiwanese breads, treats and desserts. I remember how I waited months for Sheng Kee to open. I was studying in a cafe when I heard that it was finally going to open, and I almost screamed. The opening day, I got there at 7:30 a.m. For the first two weeks, I visited Sheng Kee at least five or six times, and over the months, I have narrowed down a few favorites.

A classic that I have loved since I was a child is the pork sung bun. Pork sung is loosely chopped dried pork with a light and fluffy texture. The bakeries that make outstanding pork sung buns usually fill it to the brim, and Sheng Kee definitely does that. Their pork sung reminded me of a slightly sweet beef jerky but crispier and crunchier. What makes this particular pork sung bun stand out from the others is the puff pastry on top, which is similar to a very flaky croissant but with less of a  buttery taste and more of a slight cheese taste. The bun prompted me to think of potato chips with multiple flavors: the cheesiness of a cheese croissant and the savoriness of barbecued pulled pork, but slightly sweeter.

A new pastry that I recently tried is the peanut butter pineapple bun, which is a traditional pineapple bun with peanut butter and ground peanuts on top. Contrary to their name, pineapple buns don’t actually have any pineapple in them; the surface just has a  pineapple-like texture with its diamond grid-like formation. The slightly crumbly top tastes like milk with a hint of vanilla, similar to a less sweet creme brulee in bread form. The ground peanuts produce a nice contrast in texture against the soft pastry.

Something else that I usually buy there is the Asian version of garlic bread, which comes in a nice rectangular prism shape and doesn’t squish down easily. Somehow, Sheng Kee makes it taste even better than the American kind. The garlic and oil topping is still the same, but the texture of the bread changes everything. Once your teeth sink through the hard outside, they’ll reach the soft texture of Asian buttery white bread.

With Sheng Kee’s many choices, a breakfast stop for my usual peanut butter pineapple bun and pork sung bun always makes me happy. I look forward to trying every single Sheng Kee pastry and cake, and hopefully you will find your favorite here too. Sheng Kee is not only for those of us who are obsessed with Asian baked goods, but also for those who want to try Taiwanese pastries for the first time. So make a quick stop if you haven’t already. You won’t regret it.

Image source: John Loo under Creative Commons

Contact Annie Chang at achang@dailycal.org

The post 3 breakfast pastries from Sheng Kee that never go wrong appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Jillian Wertheim/Senior Staff

On a blustery Friday evening, after a long, mind-numbing day of paper-pushing, I found myself in desperate need of something warm and comforting. And what could satisfy my hankering better than a piping-hot plate of noodles? Above standards like mashed potatoes or macaroni and cheese, Asian noodles top my list of favorite comfort foods, and when the weather turns chilly, they’re all I crave. So with friends in tow, I hopped over to Mandarin Garden on Shattuck Avenue for a serving of the vegetable chow fun — a delicious and filling meal for less than $7.

Teeming with carrots, zucchini, broccoli and baby bok choy, Mandarin Garden’s chow fun is a veggie-lover’s dream. Portions are beyond generous, and the noodles themselves are substantive without feeling heavy — the broad rice noodles are pan-fried in a dark soy sauce that isn’t overly salty, a welcome change from the majority of pan-fried noodles out there. For texture variety, water chestnuts and snow peas add a hearty crunch to the dish and stand in dramatic contrast to the silkiness of the noodles.

Carnivores might decry my choice in going veg for this meal, but meaty shiitake mushrooms offer a delicious earthy flavor that is unmatched by chicken, pork or beef. Besides, what the chow fun lacks in protein it makes up for in the wide assortment of textures and tastes. Not even my Mongolian beef-eating buddies could say no to a little chow fun.

When the check came — along with a few take-out boxes for the abundance of leftovers — I was pleased to see that even with a shared appetizer, tax and a generous tip, I could throw down $10 and be just fine. A fortune cookie or two later, I left Mandarin Garden with my wallet as full as a college student’s can be and my stomach fuller yet.

Mandarin Garden is located at 2025 Shattuck Ave. in Berkeley.

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The first place I stopped at was La Boulange Bakery in San Francisco. There were many locations, so I just picked the one that was most convenient in the Westfield San Francisco Centre. Looking at all of the yummy flavors, I decided to buy passionfruit-mango and lemon. So far, I had only seen passionfruit-mango macarons at La Boulange, and it was my favorite flavor of them all. Tiny chunks of fruit on the outside of the macaron added a nice crunch, and it was still soft and chewy on the inside. The macaron was much thinner than many others I had tried before and was not as pleasing as a thick and chewy one. This macaron was a beautiful and fresh summery-salmon pink color with a mango yellow filling, and it was not overly sweet. However, I could not say the same about the lemon macaron. The filling was so hard and sticky that I really had to sink my teeth in. The lemon flavor was not very realistic and instead turned out tasting like a badly made lemon-meringue bar. Overall, the macarons here were not horrible, and they had a large selection of flavors, including pistachio, coffee, vanilla and chocolate.

The next stop was YakiniQ Cafe in San Francisco’s Japantown. A friend had informed me that YakiniQ had a unique Earl Grey flavor, so I sought it out. I bought the last Earl Grey macaron along with a rose-flavored one. As soon as I bit down on the rose macaron, I could really feel the proper chewy feel from a thick macaron. It had substance and was dense — the best texture for macarons. The YakiniQ macarons immediately made a better impression than La Boulange’s, and the rose flavor was beautifully crafted. It had a slight aroma that was not too strong, and the floral taste stood out against the sugary base flavor of the macaron. The taste along with the nice light pink color reminded me of a rose perfume.

The Earl Grey macaron was also very pleasing and impressive. The surface was slightly crunchy, and the taste was a union of Earl Grey tea, poppy seeds and coffee. The macaron was light brown on the outside with a white filling, and the surface had small Earl Grey pieces to decorate and add more of a realistic flavor. The texture of this macaron was just as excellent as that of the rose one. Sitting down to have a cup of sweet-potato latte and peacefully eating YakiniQ macarons make for a perfect afternoon.

The third stop was Miette inside the Ferry Building Marketplace near the Embarcadero BART station. I bought rose geranium and grapefruit macarons. The shop also had hazelnut and chocolate, but I wanted to try new flavors that would have been more difficult to find. Both macarons were a light brown color with dark brown speckles. The rose geranium had a purer yet subtler flavor than the YakiniQ rose macaron. The Miette macarons were also chewy and dense but still substantial, similar to the YakiniQ macarons. However, I still preferred the YakiniQ macarons that were slightly chewier. The grapefruit macaron I tasted at Miette featured the best-executed fruit flavor I have ever tasted. As soon as I took a bite, the light, tangy and fresh aroma of grapefruit filled my mouth. I thought of eating pomelos at home on a hot summer day. The taste completely enveloped the taste buds, and I completely forgot about the sugary taste of the macarons because it was not as present. Even after eating the macaron, the aroma stayed in my mouth for a few more minutes, and it was very refreshing.

My next stop was at DeLise Dessert Cafe in San Francisco. I bought date and walnut, pistachio and rose, and lavender-flavored macarons. I was quite excited to try these unique flavors, but I was quickly disappointed by both the texture and taste of the macarons. The date and walnut flavors clashed, so much so I could not even taste the walnut. There was also a small amount of date jelly in the middle, which made it feel like I was eating plain dates. The pistachio and rose macaron tasted refreshing and light, but I could not differentiate between the pistachio macaron and rose fillings. All of the flavors blended together and neither was distinct. The macarons were not chewy and cracked easily, and I left not wanting to return to DeLise.

The last stop was Berkeley’s own Masse’s Pastries. Masse’s Pastries is a regular stop for me on any Gourmet Ghetto trip because it is the closest pastry shop to campus, and their cakes are also quite exquisite. This time, I picked two unique flavors — cassis and pandan-coconut. The main ingredient of cassis is black currant, and pandan-coconut was a special flavor made for the Lunar New Year. I ate the pandan-coconut first and was a little disappointed. It did not taste at all like coconut. Instead, I was reminded of a blend of pistachios and sugar. The texture was also a little crumbly, and when I bit down, other parts of the macaron cracked. The macaron was very thin and not chewy or moist. The cassis was not much better. When I opened my box of desserts, I saw that it was cracked and that the top of the macaron had already come off. This macaron was even more thin and was almost too chewy. I really had to work to chew the macaron rather than being able to lightly bite down. It was also dry, and the sweetness stood out more than the fruit flavor.

YakiniQ Cafe offered the best macarons of the five I tried, even though it does not have an extensive selection of flavors. It only features four or five flavors at a time, but they are all made exquisitely with an excellent chewy texture that is crunchy on the outside and moist and dense on the inside. Coming in a very close second to YakiniQ Cafe is Miette. Macarons here are a little bit more prone to cracking than the YakiniQ ones, hence Miette’s position in the rankings. Third place is definitely La Boulange, because even though the quality of the macarons was not as great as it was at Miette or YakiniQ, La Boulange has a great selection of flavors. I would go there just for their passionfruit-mango macaron. Next up is Masse’s Pastries because the macarons generally have a good flavor, and the shop offers a large selection. Masse’s macarons are satisfying for an everyday macaron. Of course, the Bay Area has more macaron goodness to offer, but that will have to wait until next time.

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Andrew Steinsapir /Staff

Although Chipotle is better-known for carne asada, grilled chicken and spicy barbacoa, the chain is now testing out a tofu option in the city across the bay.

San Francisco’s Chipotle franchises are sourcing their vegan menu option from Hodo Soy Beanery, a local Oakland distributor of organic, GMO-free soy products. The new shredded tofu sofritas cost $6.25, the same price as chicken and vegetarian burritos, and they stand up to the competition.

The sofritas provide a new and exciting way to enjoy a fast-food favorite and are most definitely worth a BART ride over.

Contact Andrew Steinsapir at asteinsapir@dailycal.org.

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Tony Zhou/Staff

Across from campus, beneath the breezy canopy of Chinese Elm on Euclid Avenue, is a cool, slender Mediterranean cafe named Nefeli. Nefeli is outfitted with a rosy-brown tiled floor, granite countertops, pastel paintings, wood chairs and tables. The lunch crowds come here for well-crafted tapas, paninis and espresso and to enjoy them amid a temperate Greek atmosphere. En masse, followers of tech, divinity and journalism schools frequent Nefeli. According to one barista, Jose Abraham Rodriguez, most customers are regulars.

Put simply, the swift service, prices and quality keep everyone coming back.

At Nefeli on a Saturday, you might encounter a group of transcontinental mathematicians lunching over tensors and homemade tapas or UC Berkeley alums sitting around with their families. On a weekday afternoon, you might encounter grad students on study dates, poets relaxing midcareer, engineers spilling their workplace drama or theologians giving offhand advice. At night, in the hour before closing, you might encounter only a few people hanging out in the cool lamp-lit interior.  To read the paper, to browse the mail, to get their vanilla latte fix in the mornings, the regulars come to get their usual orders, which Rodriguez has already memorized. Sometimes he starts making their orders as soon as they step through the doorway

At lunch, Rodriguez, or Naso, or Jesus, or Florencio, or Francisco, or Fernando or Nima will bring your food out within “five minutes tops” of ordering. Sometimes they bring it out before you can finish paying. Everyone on staff has worked at Nefeli for several years. Together they like act a big group of friends, and together they share a humble pride in their service and food.

Nefeli offers organic arugula salad, fresh salmon with capers, sugar-dusted croissants, red bell pepper sandwiches with eggplant and provolone. They make their own tapas dolmas, pizzas, torta Espanolas, filo-dough cigars, salmon on toast. As for drinks, they serve coffee and espresso and wine. The staff at Nefeli plays jazz, opera and classical music as well as Bob Marley, Argentine Tango and pastoral Mexican ballads for the guitar. In the future, Rodriguez, who has worked at Nefeli since 1994, imagines that Spanish flamenco dancers and acoustic musicians will perform at the cafe. With free Wi-Fi, a ceramic water jug, Panasonic speakers and a wall of windows facing the street, Nefeli provides somewhere on Northside to eat and drink all the time.

Midafternoon, after the lunch crowds die down, while the staff prepares food and serves the few customers who trickle in, the staff listens to the soccer game on the radio or watches it from a laptop tucked underneath the marble counter. During the day, they prop open their main front window and the door to the back. Within the long narrowed space, the air circulates. Along with the tempered Greek folk art, the feeling is as if you were somewhere coastal. Whether by yourself or with friends, Nefeli puts you in a good place.

Nefeli Cafe is located at 1854 Euclid Ave. in Berkeley. Open every day 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Specialties include homemade tapas, paninis, coffee, espresso, pastries and wine.

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