Saint Anna Bakery & Cafe

For $ 11 bucks I got 4 bbq pork buns, 2 curry beef pastries, 2 egg tarts and a slice of cake. I was surprised that the buns and egg tarts ran about a buck each but the flavors were exactly what I was looking for. There is nothing like heating up a bbq pork in the microwave for 30 secs and tearing into it for breakfast the next morning. What I loved most about their buns were the different pork pieces. You could actually taste little pieces of pork fat. I enjoy pork fat so nothing but thumbs up from me. The egg tart is oddly oblong in shape, but the egg mixture is so delicate it’s almost a jello-​like. Perfect crust; flaky and light. The same goes for the curry beef puffs. It is something I would recommend eating right away otherwise it might absorb more moisture if you stick it in the fridge. Overall, it was a bit pricier than the bakeries I’m used to but I was impressed with the huge box of goodies. I’m pretty sure it’s cash only. I’m pretty sure that everything in Chinatown is cash only now that I think about it. Come with some dolla dolla bills.

Absolutely delicious buns and tarts. Friendly staff. Good coffee. Try the coconut tart with a cup of coffee for breakfast. Excellent combination!

Chinese bakeries are plentiful in Chinatown, and Saint Anna’s stand-​out for me is their BBQ pork buns! The bun is super soft, and the most important thing is that you actually get meat with every bite. When I get this from other bakeries, sometimes I would have to take at least 3 big bites to get to the center. The ham & egg also has generous filling.
Their buns selection is limited since the bakery is small, and they devote about a third of their case to western baked goods (mousse cake, cheese cake, tarts, etc.), but what they offer, they do very well. They only have short crust (crispy) egg tarts, and I’m a puff pastry fan myself, but on the weekends, they have wonderful mini egg tarts that are unbelievably addictive. Lastly, the ladies behind the counter are always pleasant and on-​top of things so whether it’s just a couple buns or milk tea, coffee, etc., I’m in-​and-​out quickly.

This is one of my favorite bakery around the China square. I come here every month regularly to get my favorite coffee flavored walnut cake. My sons favorite is strawberry mousse cake and he’s crazy about. Stuff are pretty decent and friendly .
Only thing they accept cash so beware of it.
No credit cards at all. Other than that it’s pretty cool place to grab few sweet treats.

This Chinese Café and bakery has great baked buns from sweet to savory, but also a good selection of traditional Chinese breakfast and lunch menus. Some of the breakfast items even comes with a baked bun AND a hot drink, all for under $ 6!
Recommendations:
— Pan fried Rice Crêpe with sweet soy sauce, peanut sauce & hoisen sauce for dipping
— Macaroni Noodle Soup with Sliced Ham & Peas
— Beef Tendon Noodle Soup or with Chow Mein
— Mango Mochis
— Hot dog baked bun
It’s always crowded here, but since it’s quick dining, the wait isn’t too bad. You can salivate over all the yummy desserts while you wait!

I came here on a cold winter night. Their bakery section is outstanding as others have mentioned but I have to say their main food offerings were not good. I asked for the stir fried beef and they mentioned it comes with vegetables but all the veggies were just the stalks of broccoli. And there were maybe 7 – 8 stalks in the whole dish. I got it with egg noodles which was my mistake, next time vermicelli or ramen
I also got the green jelly with milk which I really liked since it reminded me of a childhood drink. It’s basically milk and sugar and grass jelly. Give it a miss if you can already imagine what it tastes like.
Leaving the best for last. The bakery items were superb and I will do a bakery run every time I’m in Chinatown from here. I got the sesame balls, the lotus bun, the bean cake and the egg tarts as well as the almond sponge cake. I would get all these items again besides the bean cake, but that’s more a texture preference on my part
They don’t speak very good English here so be patient. The woman behind the bakery counter is better with English. And carry cash, no cc.

This is the only place in chinatown that I consistently come back to for milk tea (hong kong style). I’ve had milk tea basically all around chinatown but St. Annas’ is my favorite and always will be. In winter I get a hot cup, and during summer I get it iced; both delicious. I also like their red bean roll bun. Its very soft and moist with a good balance of sweetness.

I don’t see the big deal…
It wasn’t horrible but I’ll probably never go back.
We got desserts… maybe the actual food is better. I just don’t see how this place has four stars. It kinda seemed like everything we got was hard and stale.
The smoothie was good. Although I’ve had better, they do give plenty of bobas.

I went to this bakery right before closing time and I honestly wish I could have been able to enjoy it earlier in the day. The customer service was a little off, as I could tell they were ready to leave and kind of wanted us out of the store, but nonetheless everything was tasty! Even in the 12 degree weather, I opted for the Mango Smoothie with «bubbles» and it was delicious and made fresh on the spot. The egg pastry and sesame bun were extremely yummy and cool new things for me to try while visiting China Town. Hoping to come back on my next trip to Chicago to try more!

Came in a little late before it was about to close… egg tarts were unfortunately sold out so I didn’t get a chance to try. Had many different cakes and fruit tarts. Really liked the taro cake and the green tea cake! Fruit tarts were delicious as well! Napoleon and Black Forest turned to be just alright for me! Probably won’t recommend those two. Would definitely love to go back and try their egg tarts some other time since it’s what they are known for!

Small place but great good. This bakery has some of the best bake goods in Chinatown Squre. They fresh and tasty. We go there sometime for breakfast noodle soup with spam and pickle cannage and milk tea. They also have great egg tards!
You should give this place if you’re looking for a hidden gem.

I usually stop in here after getting dim sum. I love how large of a selection they have. They have both large coconut tarts and small coconut tarts, along with different sizes of other things too. I always admire the cakes, but I’m usually too full to buy any.
This bakery is very reasonably priced. The workers there are super nice, which is a huge contrast to most places in Chinatown. Business seems like it’s always good.
I docked a star because of the inconsistency in quality of the filled mochi. Sometimes, it’s super good. One time, I only had it for one day, but the mango filling was already bad. When I got it the other day, the rice cake was hard and bottom was mushy. Clearly, it had been sitting out for more than a day.
This place is cash only, so don’t forget your money!

When it comes to HK bakery items, I come to St Anna. It is worth the 3hrs drive. That’s how good it is. Everything here is authentically HK. The staff speaks in Cantonese with Cantonese’s hospitality.
Weekday parking is plentiful. I parked in the back of the complex. $ 1 an HR.
The sesame balls were fresh out of the oven when I got here. They were delicious. Dinner it was late lunch for me, I ordered a plate of dry fried beef noodles, and their version is very good with a hint of ginger. I would also recommend the Wonton noodles.
If you want bakery items I recommend these curry beef turnovers, chicken pie, sponge cake, egg tart, and winter melon biscuits.

This place certainly has a very friendly and patient service. I’m one of those, who take forever to decide, but that wasn’t a problem for the people to wait until I made a decision what to order.
I came here to get some pastries for breakfast. It’s delicious and cheap. Seeing all these pictures of cakes and drinks I’m convinced without even having tried it, that those are pretty delicious as well.
It’s located downstairs in this plaza and it’s about 5 min walk from the CTA metro station.

Delicious cakes. I had the Taro cake which was made with bits of fresh, sweetened taro sandwiched between whipped cream and a soft, moist, spongy cake. In addition to cakes they have bubble tea, various flaky and fried pastries, and some meat pies. Cash only so come prepared.

I stopped by Saint Anna Bakery when visiting Chicago during the 4^th of July holiday weekend. It’s a small bakery in Chinatown with a broad selection of Asian and Western desserts from egg tarts to chocolate mousse cakes to mochi. All the baked goods here looked absolutely beautiful.
I got the green tea mousse cake for $ 2.45. The shop wrapped it in a small cardboard box game me a napkin and fork, so it was a perfect to-​go snack. The cake itself had a very moist and light sponge cake base with a green tea cream mousse top. I’m not a huge fan of most cakes, but man was the sponge cake base on this one was soooo good. The mousse top was just okay. It was lightly sweet, tasted of green tea, and had some red beans interspersed throughout. I liked the texture of the mousse, but it could have used a bit of vanilla flavor and a tad bit more sugar. The cake came topped with a dark chocolate decoration, which had a good taste and made for a pretty final touch. Overall a very good (and pretty) cake for the price!
Next time I would definitely try some of the other cakes and pies!

I really wanted BBQ pork Bao, which they didn’t have but I had their cream-​filled buns… unfortunately I was disappointed that the bread was dry. The cream was yummy and plenty in the middle. It reminded me of those Mexican cream-​filled breads. So I’m not judging the store but more that it wasn’t my type of treat.
GO GET the egg tart, which was oval shaped, flaky warm crust that had a perfect egg tart center. Yum! It fell apart in my hands and just a perfectly piece of paradise!

Nice little bakery to pick up your favorite Asian pastries/​cakes. Prices are reasonable and the women working there are friendly. They have a wide variety of sweet and savory buns and pastries. You can buy a bunch of pastries and still spend less than $ 10. They also sell boba, fresh fruit smoothie/​drinks, and a selected amount of regular sit down food. I would definitely come back if I am ever in Chinatown and stock up on yummy pastries!
My favorite is the egg tarts! =D

We came here in search of mochi, sesame balls, and a fresh fruit bubble tea; we found all three (and for an insanely affordable price to boot). They only had big, thick mochi (not the smaller ones you often find filled with ice cream) and they also didn’t have any with red bean filling, which was a disappointment. You must purchase the mochi in packs of three (for $ 3), so we did that. We also got two sesame balls and a mango smoothie with boba pearls.
The mochi was good in that it was fresh. I was impressed that there was actually fresh cut fruit inside, along with a cool whip-​like creamy mix. There was a strawberry version and a mango version; I preferred the mango (I prefer mango in general). The third flavor was green tea and it tasted great, albeit a bit sugary and nothing really like green tea.
The sesame balls had red bean paste, which was great! However, the exterior part was very thick. I had to take two big bites before I even reached the yummy red bean interior. We were especially grateful for the red bean interior because we had just eaten sesame balls for dim sum at Phoenix and the filling was lotus seed – not what we were expecting.
Finally, the mango bubble tea. It was basically perfection with very fresh mango, perfectly smooth and blended. My only slight complaint was that they provided SO MANY tapioca pearls. Like, I would say 30% of the drink was tapioca. I do love the pearls, but I don’t like to slurp up four every time through the straw. I was left wanting more of the amazing smoothie! Next time, I’m going to ask for «light on the pearls.» This may be my favorite mango bubble tea in Chinatown!
I look forward to coming back to sample more, especially some of the buns and hopefully (!) some red bean mochi, too.

My friend and I popped into Saint Anna Bakery & Café after enjoying an enormous Christmas Day lunch in a nearby Chinatown Square restaurant. We were looking for a Chinese bakery, and we noted that though there were loads of restaurants in the Square, there seemed to be very few bakeries. Saint Anna has a display of baked goods, and also food and drinks and fancy cakes as depicted on the menu at the front window. The window is a bit dated, as you can barely make out the Saint Anna name on the glass. There is a decent amount of seating here, but we were only interested in the baked goods to go.
Everything we ordered was good, and reasonably priced. The BBQ Pork buns are tasty and have a generous amount of meat filling. There are bite-​sized egg custard tarts and coconut macaroon tarts that are perfect for quick snacking, or passing along to friends to enjoy. I joked that my friend would arrive home with an empty bag, as she devoured her purchases of a custard bun and pound cake while driving back.