New Town Bakery & Restaurant

Great tasting inexpensive steamed buns. I usually get the pork buns, they are very filling.

Tried the bola bola and the bbq pork bun, both were pretty good. The bread itself is soft and fluffy while the meat inside is quite ample and tasty. I preferred the bbq pork because the sauce inside was nice and sweet.

I usually come here for some awesome chicken mami noodle soup and prawn turnovers, but just recently, i found out they stopped serving the chicken mami!! Nnoooooo! Still go there for the turnovers and siopao, although im missing the mami terribly… anyone else know a good chicken mami spot in metro vancouver?

It’s our tradition that every time we go to Canada, we have to stop by New Town for some Hum Baos! They also have other products like Onion buns, custards, mini moon cakes, etc. But there is just something about their hum baos… They have a lot of options for hum bao (deluxe: egg, chicken, sausage /​spicy pork /​pork /​chicken /​vegetables & more). But my personal favorite has to be the Chicken Deluxe and Spicy pork. Lots of meat inside, and it’s always so flavorful. They are very popular and always busy so they always have fresh buns everyday.
But, they ONLY take cash so be prepared with some Canadian money (they also take American cash if that’s the only one you have). There is also a money exchange place in Richmond that gives you really good rates, it’s close by, so save yourself some money and do some research before your visit, that way you won’t get ripped off by the TD ATM machine.

If you’re looking for steamed buns (aka: Hum Bao, Siopao, Manapua) this is the place to get it anywhere! We trek from Seattle to Vancouver just to go to New Town because their stuff is so good.
We typically get their bola bola (meatball) and/​or asado (bbq pork) buns and we get a lot of them. You can purchase them frozen if you don’t want to bring home a bunch of steamy buns that end up with condensation in the box and thus making your buns soggy. No one likes soggy buns!
They have other pastries too and have mami (ramen) as well, which compliments a bun very well. However, it’s take out only as there are no places to sit down and eat. If you do decide to take it back home to the states, make sure you let the boarder patrol know you’re bringing back pastries. I have no idea what they look for, but my mother says just declare them as pastries.

the food is good, but the shop clerk is awful, especially two ladies recently. Do not speak Chinese to them or they show the bad faces to you for sure. I went there twice this week, every time, I feel I am not customer with their unhappy expression. What’s wrong with them? I decided not go anymore!

Stopped by while in BC to bring home a couple dozen pork asado siopao. It’s a stop most Filipinos take when coming to BC from the Seattle area.
Their steamed buns are one of the best I’ve ever had. The bread is so soft and the filling is really tasty too. If you compared it to the asado you can get at Chow King, the one at Chow King is so bland.
I really like the location of the Richmond bakery too, the parking is plentiful and I don’t have to stress about it. The only issue is you cannot dine here like you can at Surrey and Chinatown.

Just take out only, no eat in; very small place. Sister likes the frozen cooked chicken buns. I went there for the nostalgic sticky syrupy egg puffs.

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.

Came back and yes, 3.5 is accurate.
I tried their steamed buns this time — tried their vegetable, chicken and asada (BBQ pork). The BBQ pork was very good. Meaty with lots of flavour against that sweet white moist bread ass cheek. Chicken looked unappealing, but a good amount and flavour. The vegetable one is no good — note that the filling is not the green kind i like (I think those are the Shanghainese kind) but more importantly, there was barely enough filling — see picture. Would never ever order again.
Next time, I am going to try the sweet ones because I love lotus paste with yolk. The bun itself is very soft and sweet — though my mom found it to be too sweet.
Now, the service. Still the same, if not worse. There was a lady in front of me who got shortchanged and the cashier gave her a hard time; in addition, after she left, the two clerks started to talk about her in chinese. So awful. I hate that!
I was expecting eyerolls and huffs and puffs, so my expectations were managed and I was able to leave the story happy with my buns.

not as good as Chinatown location
or the Cambie location,
Go to Kam Do instead unless you have a crazy craving for apple tarts (which are still not as good as Chinatown location)

Thank you New Town for existing for us Pinoys. You have the best Filipino style siopaos anywhere in BC. In fact, you are the only one that sells Filipino style siopaos as far as I know, and they taste really good. Thank you for selling Chicharon, Balut, Buchi, Hopia and somel other delicacies that are dear to us.
Tip: the best sauce for the Chicken Deluxe Steam Bun is Sriracha, and they don’t have that.

Food is great. The service is okay, the unsmiling women just want to ring you up, and that’s okay for me! I too just want my damn buns. The store, like the rest of Brighouse Square is shabby, but still okay.
Items I’ve tried:
BBQ pork: it was okay ³⁄₅
Vegetable: carrots, peas and other normal veg inside with a weird flavouring sauce. I didn’t quite like it ²⁄₅
Chicken deluxe: chicken with an cute egg inside. It’s my favourite bun, and I’d buy it more often if it weren’t more expensive. ⁴⁄₅
Chicken: OMG. I live off this stuff. So cheap, so inexpensive and so filling. I find one and a half makes a meal for me. :)

The buns and apple tarts at this Richmond location are not as good as their Chinatown Pender Street location. Here their buns tend to harden up over night (the ones from CT stay soft for a few days) and the pastry for their apple tarts are off. When you bite into them you get an off putting shortening aftertaste. The CT ones also have this crunchy bottom that makes them that much better. Folks, its worth the effort going to the CT branch — I guarantee you can tell the difference.

By far the best place to get pork asado siopaos (steamed pork buns) and bola-​bola siopaos! As well, their egg pies are great. They mostly serve Filipino and Chinese food, but they are so delicious that I am confident everyone will enjoy them. Whenever my family visits Richmond, we are always excited to go to this restaurant to buy steamed buns by the dozen so that my sisters and I could bring them to school for our lunch. The steamed buns could definitely be reheated in the microwave or re-​steamed if you are planning to buy them in bulk.
The only thing is that this location doesn’t encourage an atmosphere to eat there. I would say that a table could only fit 4 people maximum so if you have a larger family like I do, I wouldn’t suggest eating there. It is a small restaurant, so it easily gets crowded. However, my family doesn’t go there to eat, but to buy food for later so this isn’t that big of a problem for us. Also, they only accept cash so make sure you have some in hand if you are planning to visit.

For steamed buns, this place is the best place in Richmond.
The lady that runs this place has been there for at least 25 years.
She used to wrap all the boxes by hand, which was pretty cool to watch, but now they’ve got some machine that does it.
They’ve got a bunch of other desserts and baked stuff, but I really just go there for the steamed buns.
My family likes to buy them on the weekends or to take with us when we’re about to go on a road trip.
It’s good, quick, convenient food to take along and convenient to eat as well.
If you ever take some home and put it in the fridge or freezer for more than two days, there’s sort of an art to microwaving the buns without them getting hard.
Steam them if possible, otherwise, take a small bowl and put it upside down inside of a bigger bowl. Put some water inside the big bowl, put the bun on top of the small bowl, cover the whole thing up with a plate or bowl and microwave it. (basically a microwave steamer).
OR
wrap the bun in a damp paper towel and microwave it.

Back for more apple tarts, decided to try the Egg Twist 疍散, it is a light crunchy eggy confection dripped with sugar syrup, it’s sticky, crunchy and your hands get sticky and messy but it’s worth it. It is not heavy at all and worth the time.
The other item Sacima 沙其馬 is the original concept for Rice Krispie, in my opinion anyway. It’s origin is from before Ching Dynasty, when the Manchurians invaded China, they brought it into the mainland and has been passed down for generations. This is an old fashion dessert that was carted around the street back in the 50’s and 60’s in Hong Kong, you usually find a vendor in front of movie theaters and schools. This is made of flour and egg, similar to the Egg Twist above — I think it’s the left over dough from the egg twist and someone put it in a pan and cut it up. Not as gooey as the Egg Twist but just as good. They also last a long time without going bad.
I like this bakery as they have the old style buns and desserts, they might not look as refined as the pastry from a patisserie but the history and taste are still good.

Not my favorite New town location, came here when it opened and had no baked goods or fresh food only frozen, was told steamed buns were coming 10 – 15 minutes but would be coming from other location and in «room temperature» and you call yourself a bakery? I only like my siopao HOT and fresh. I have been here several times disappointing compared to the Chinatown location. Not coming back!

New Town Bakery is not only the must-​visit place for each of our Vancouver trip, it is 99% of the time, the FIRST stop we visit as soon as we arrive. I love love love their buns. The chicken deluxe, the spicy pork, the pork and veggie, every bun I tried is just soooo darn yummy. We usually get a dozen or more (depending on our party size), eat a few on the spot, like before we even leave the parking space… take the rest back to the condo/​hotel and eat them for snacks and breakfast the next day. Basically, for every Vancouver trip, we would have their buns every day.
I can’t believe it’s taking me this long to write a review on them. We visit this location actually most of the time, but also have tried their Chinatown location. I wish we have a place like New Town near where we live…

Tasty, cheap, good chicken buns. Egg tarts okay but cold and the pastry is kind of lardy to the feel. Finally, the BBQ pork buns really suck. Too strong on dark soy. However, it is very cheap and they don’t charge tax if you get 6+ buns. Great if you want econolunch for a week.
It’s very economical inside. The décor is very plain and there is no space to sit or anything to have a meal. They want you in and out ASAP, which is great by me. The service is also kind of crusty and sour, but it’s not like I’m paying huge amounts for a smile. I’m paying a low price to get huge pastries that will carry me through a rushed meal.
As a final note, the pork and vegetable buns are quite good too. Think of buns with gyoza filling but with the sweet steamed flour dough instead of the thin fried wrapping. Yum…