1st Avenue Bakery

Been buying bread from this place since 1998. Good bread in a town filled with many local family owned bakeries making good bread. Their speciality appears to be their Portuguese Buns. Always fresh. Love to eat them fresh from oven. They make them in batches. I always buy what my freezer could hold to take back to Tacoma.
Unfortunately their cookies were not as good. Some Chinese style bread are OK, but I normally take a short walk over to T&T and buy my Chinese bake good there.

This place is my personal Babu Bhatt. Frankly not surprised that I’m the first to review this place.
This bakery has been holding down the same location on the strip mall on 1^st and Renfrew for as long as I can remember. When T&T juggernaut opened up shop next door, I figured it was only a matter of time before they got driven out of business. T&T has a huge Chinese bakery section — and *all* Chinese moms love T&T Coconut ‘Cocktail’ Bread… next up on ‘Stuff Chinese Moms Like”… Almond Roca. Remember this if you are trying to impress someone’s Chinese mom.
But 1^st Avenue Bakery held it’s ground for years somehow. I’ve never see anyone in there and it’s open until at least 9PM. It’s like watching a spider in the toilet struggling for survival — even when you know they aren’t going to make it, you root for them for a second… before you flush.
Anyways — I was on my way to friend’s house for an epic video game smackdown and decided to pick up some Chinese baked goods. Picking up baked goods at night wasn’t the smartest idea I’ve had — but I was determined to check this place out.
I think the lady was pretty surprised someone came it. From the looks of the display cases, they specialize in cakes and there are a few tables if you plan to eat at the bakery. Aside from the usual Chinese baked goods — they did have some rarer stuff (i.e. cheese Danish).
I asked for some egg tarts — sold out. I frowned and she recommended the crème brûlée. I’m not a fan of crème brûlée but she eagerly insisted it was really good. I’m a product of my upbringing — I can’t say no to such a strong recommendation. At least if I hated it, she won’t be around and I won’t have to lie to spare her feelings.
She caramelized my crème brûlée and I asked her for other recommendations. She seemed to be proud of her goods and was eager to please — so I mainly left it in her hands… and I trusted her not to unload the ‘unsold crap’ on me.
Picked up some cocktail buns (~$ 1 for 3), a (huge) apple turnover, deep fried curry beef pocket (they also sold out of the buns), garlic and hot dog buns for about $ 7. Pretty cheap.
Overall, everything was pretty good — and yes, I did enjoy the crème brûlée. Despite buying at the end of the day, the apple turnover was really flaky and the garlic/​hot dog buns weren’t as greasy and overpowering as the stuff you find at Pine House. The only downside was the deep fried curry beef bun — filling wasn’t all there and it cause me to leave ‘greazy’ fingerprints on my buddy’s PS3 controller.
Anyways — nice lady, good baked… goods, wide selection, cheap and open late. I still don’t understand why it’s empty all the time — people must love going to T&T and listening to annoying muzak.