Street Eats: We Tried The Popular Pastries at Baoshifu, and They Were … Meh

Since we were disappointed to find Daoxiangcun's cock-shaped pastry missing, we decided to head over to another popular Chinese pastry shop, Baoshifu, to satisfy our lingering craving for transcendental baked-goods. It wasn't difficult to find one given that Baoshifu has more than 22 shops all over Beijing, but getting it was more difficult getting to the pastries since every outlet usually has a queue stretching to the outside, a sign of its popularity.

Walking into the small shop on the first floor of Sanlitun Soho, which can barely hold five people – probably another reason for the lines – we were greeted with plenty of pastries in glass counters and several dama busy baking in the back.

Our homework before visiting told us that people were particularly fond of Baoshifu's signature pork floss cake, with the travel channel on Sina going so far as to say, “the floss cake is super delicious; we are amazed by how satisfying it is. The price is reasonable, but you'll have to wait in the queue.”

With such gushing reviews we couldnt miss out and bought our own pork floss cake (RMB 18.5 for 500g), which we're unashamed to say comes covered in a healthy layer of hay-colored and inviting floss. Sadly, however, we weren't a fan as the floss proved too sweet and the eggy filling was also far too sugary. Let's say that this rendition has got nothing on Dunkin Donuts.

Upon one particularly jovial dama’s recommendation, we also grabbed one the "upgraded" nori (dried seaweed) versions of the floss cake (RMB 29 for 500g), which actually was much better than the original pork edition. The addition of nori made the flavors more complex, and the savory floss seem to have been deep fried and even the cake itself appears denser with more of a robust flavor of egg. We'll continue to root for this one, if they can make it less sweet and heavy.

Next up, laopobing AKA sweet heart pastries (RMB 3 each). With layers of crisp pastry and a sweet filling (water gourd or bean) these little parcels actually make for a decent coffee-side snack. They also offer durian flavor (RMB 5) but you won’t want to bring those into the office unless you're your looking to incur the ire of your not-so-appreciative colleagues. “Why is it so stinky in here?” Just another fun day of playing the guinea pig at the Beijinger.

As for pairing with your coffee, the cookies (RMB 21 for 500g) were also worth a try, packed with raisins and buttery notes, but they were unfortunately a little too sandy for our liking.

However, our favorite of the bunch was the coconut pastry (椰子酥 yēzi sū), which features the same crisp crust as the laopobing but is filled with dried sweetened coconut. We could finish off a kilo of these with no complaints, and these are the pastry that we'd most likely return for. We're sad to say that Baoshifu's pork floss cakes just didn't live up to the hype and we continue the search for a rendition that we can enjoy.

Baoshifu
Daily 9am-9pm. 1/F, Bldg A, Sanlitun Soho, Chaoyang District
鲍师傅糕点:朝阳区三里屯soho A座1楼

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Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
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Photos: Tracy Wang