Golden Steamer

I dropped by today and got a steamed steamed charsiu bao (pork bun)! I love the ratio of meat to the and at only $ 0.80 a pop, you can’t go wrong! I’ve also had the steamed chicken and veggie and pumpkin buns and they’re all sgood and soooo cheap! Cash only!

Big buns. Recommend red bean buns and the egg yolk ones.

Do you like tasting delicious things? Do you like knowing where to get the best pork bun in chinatown? Unless you said no… go to Golden Steamer. Get the pork bun. Get the pumpkin bun if you’re adventurous.
You’re welcome.

The best we’ve had in Chinatown!
Our favorite bun has pork, egg and Chinese sausage, similar to Vietnamese baos. We’ve had other combos as well but this is the best one!
Buns are made daily and some do run out on busy days or Sunday’s by the end of the day (especially the one above).
It’s more of a grab and go shop but you can definitely sit and eat — there’s a bench with a few chairs.

I have to limit myself to coming here once or twice a week because the buns are so good — and so inexpensive!
An array of fluffy, freshly made steamed buns for 80 to 90 cents each. While they’re known for their pumpkin bun, I’m partial to the salted egg yolk bun because it’s a kind of unique salty sweet experience. Also roast pork, pork and veggie, red bean, and custard… don’t make me choose!
You can also get 6 packs of buns to go and steam them at home, but I have neither the skill nor the patience to do so.
Note: the place is tiny and cash only.

Personal favorite are the custard bun and pumpkin buns! I think the ratio of filling to breading is a bit high towards the breading for a lot of the buns. The breading is amazingly delicious, but I prefer a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ distribution of filling to bread. Roast pork bun is a bit greasy with filling of mostly fat.
If you go earlier you can order individual bun by choice, if you go late you can only get the prepackaged buns.

This review is for the pumpkin buns! Great spot for fresh buns make daily. I grabbed 2 boxes of pumpkin buns which has 6 buns per box.
The dough tastes like pumpkin and the fillings are a bite of pumpkin explosion!

While the name of the place sounds like a poorly-​worded innuendo, Golden Steamer offers a real fresh offering of tasty buns.
If you’re looking for a quick snack, they have over a dozen choices of freshly steamed goods, ranging from sweet custard buns to savory pork and vegetable. At only $.80−90 a piece, it’s a real Chinatown bargain. If you’re looking for bulk orders, they also sell four packs for pickups, which you can steam at home. However, the best tasting buns come right from their kitchen steamer.
Heads up, cash only!

I approve of the Golden Steamer. Couldn’t resist grabbing a bun while walking by and seeing someone else eat one. You shouldn’t resist either.

Been my go-​to for baos for a while now. This no-​frills joint is right by Deluxe Food Mart and always a good choice for both savory and sweet buns. You can pardon the vulgarity of the name, knowing that the owners were merely doing a literal translation. Haha, I love it.
My go-​to is the salted egg yolk bun, or the pork and cabbage bun. The buns are definitely doughier, so as long as you don’t mind the carb overload, it’s quite a satisfying meal or snack. I’m also a fan of the pumpkin buns when I’m in the mood for something sweeter.
The people behind the counter aren’t particularly friendly, but they’re fast with the change, and they get you your product as quickly as humanly possible. Can’t ask for more than that. The prices start at about $ 1 per bun or $ 4.50 for a box of 4.
Golden Steamer will likely continue to be my favorite place for buns, mostly because there aren’t many crowds, and they push a very consistent product. There are plenty of other Chinese bakeries in the area, but when all you want are buns, look no further than Golden Steamer.
Stop laughing at the name. Haha, just kidding, laugh all you want.

Got the jumbo bun that’s filled with cabbage and meat (good). The egg custard filled one is just ok. $ 4.50/box for 6 buns. Sadly the pumpkin buns were sold out when I came on a Saturday evening at 6:45pm (15 mins before closing).
The cashier also seems bored and uninterested in helping us.

I came to Golden Steamer after reading raving reviews from Unilocal,Google Reviews, and TimeOutNewYork. The place is definitely cheap (maybe $ 1 per bun?). I knew it was a cash-​only no-​frills bun shop and that is exactly how it went down.
I had the classic BBQ Pork bun and the Egg Custard Bun. I was really happy with my selection and had very fluffy and seemingly fresh buns. However, afterwards something did not sit well with me. I still can’t put my finger on it. I am not sure if it is worth trying again but it is convenient.

I got the salted egg yolk bun and the roast pork bun. They’re cheap and huge but the filling only comprises 20% of the whole bun, especially the salted egg yolk bun — I was looking forward to it as I couldn’t find any other stores that sold this. Disappointed. The dough was relatively soft and light but my pet peeve with bakeries/​dim sum places is the amount of filling they put in the bun. It doesn’t make sense to me…
When i open my bakery in the future, be sure that I’ll provide a good bun to filling ratio. Just like a sandwich where crust to crust is a must, this shouldn’t be any different.

Not sure what the fuss is about. Mei Li Wah is definitely better. They have more filling choices and the baos are bigger. Of course it is really cheap (I paid $ 1.65 for a red been bun and a roast pork bun) but it didn’t wow me. Plus, they didn’t have any baked buns available even though I went at lunch time. Menu is super limited and place is so crowded with no seats. I do have to give it to them on the red bean paste though – really good red bean paste. Not to sweet and not to bland, plus good texture.

The pumpkin buns are like fiber-​filled custard buns. They’re soft and fluffy and the filling is not too sweet. They definitely have the taste and texture of pumpkin. If it’s pumpkin spice season and you’ve forgotten that pumpkin is an actual vegetable that doesn’t taste like a spice rack, come here with 90¢ and give it a try.

Yummy buns! This is definitely the spot for steamed and baked buns in Chinatown. I was craving siopao so I trekked over here. The buns did not disappoint. Also, if they have the salted egg yolk buns, you gotta have it!

The solution to end world hunger: Chinese bakery buns! Seriously, they’re so cheap and you can practically make a meal out of them! I came here to Golden Steamer after hearing about their popular Pumpkin buns and decided to buy 6 for $ 5.40, which means they are $ 0.90 each. The lady then handed over 6 cute little yellow buns filled with a mouthwatering pumpkin paste that had a few chunks of actual pumpkin in it and that sort of tasted like the paste found in the custard buns. It wasn’t too sweet but still retained a delectable taste. Yummy!
As for the place itself, it’s really small with practically no seating so I recommend taking the buns to go. Service was your typical Chinese bakery fare. I don’t think Cantonese is their first dialect though which I found very odd but they did seem to be able to speak some English. Overall, give the pumpkin buns here a try!

I haven’t had better buns in any city or any country anywhere in the world (eh– maybe in Malaysia but that’s not so close). We got the BBQ pork version hot from the steamer. If you don’t like these please send me a note and tell me where else in NYC you prefer. We’ll check it out… Right now this place is the clear winner.

What can I say? I’m a bun ma’am.
At $ 4.50 for a six pack of steam-​your-​own, you will be too. Get the salted egg yolk, which is sweeter than you’d expect. You’ll wish there was more filling, but the bun dough itself is sweet & pillowy and the dough you’re spending is less than 2 train rides. You’ll forgive them.

DISAPPOINTED
DISAPPOINTMENT
DISAPPOINTING.
Location: Right by a chinese supermarket at Chinatown, Glden Steamer seems to be too small to mentioned. So when I realized that this is a 4 star place, I was shocked and I knew that I will be here someday. And here I was, I was here, looking for some legit south eastern chinese bakeries. The store is pretty squeeze, and they sell fresh bakeries also fridged bakeries.
Food: I had them all… well, everything seems to be bummer. The fresh bakeries is definitely not fresh and it is cold and disappointed. The fridge is not good either. …why 4 stars?
Service: the lady talks me in chinese and I was like. my chinese sucks… please …
leave me alone.

When I was in need of sweet 包子 this place delivered! The egg custard filled ones are orgasmic!

Cheap, cash-​only, hole in the wall — general things you look out for when trying to eat in Chinatown. Arrived early on a Saturday morning to beat the lunch crowd and get my pick of amazing buns.
Ordered the pumpkin bun, 3-​for 1 mini pork buns, and a milk tea ($ 3ish altogether). First off — value wise this can’t be beat. Secondly — the buns are wonderfully soft and don’t fill you up too fast despite the meat-​to-​bun ratio being way more towards the bread side. Pork filling was delicious; tender meat with lots of sauce soaking into the bread. The pumpkin filling was certainly sweet and acted as a dessert after the pork gorging.
Drawback is that there is nowhere to sit inside the spot (aside from 2 very uncomfortable looking stools). Normally not a problem, but when it’s cold outside this is annoying as there are no benches nearby. Otherwise, extremely fast and tasty treat to walk around with.

Um, ok. Yes this place has a really weird name. However, they have incredible pastries. Everything I’ve gotten here has been super top-​notch. The pastry dough is extremely doughy, buttery, and light. Their fillings have complex flavors and delightful, not overpowering sweetness. Golden Steamer provides unique and patently non-​American pastries on an extremely affordable menu. I particularly enjoyed the pumpkin bun, which was sweet & buttery like a pumpkin pie.
I highly advise you to get some Golden Steamer asap.

So fluffy! Their baozi were the only things we ate in Chinatown that could compare to what you get in China. The pumpkin is especially delicious. The BBQ pork was far too sweet and chewy for my taste. They are huge and have a high dough to filling ratio, but the dough is good so it’s okay.
The prices were low, the service was bad, yawn, I’m not adding anything new to the page so I’ll just stop writing now.

there isn’t a better way to start the day than with a pumpkin bun & a milk tea. trust me. I’ve started my day this way for the last 5 days.

This is the go-​to bakery for steamed buns. They’re so fluffy and soft. The sweetness is just right and everything is just affordable.
I go here all the time and my all time favorite is their pumpkin bun. Whenever people ask me where they should go for some buns, I always recommend this location.

This is hands-​down the best Chinese bakery in Manhattan.
The buns are smaller than some other bakeries, but they’re also cheaper, at 85 cents each. The breading is textbook perfection, and the fillings are the best I’ve ever had in terms of flavor and texture.
The salted egg yolk, red bean, roast pork, and pumpkin were all absolutely delicious. I’ll definitely be coming back here.

It’s a truth universally acknowledged, that a single Asian in possession of a good fortune, will be wanting some buns.
I just made that up.
But in all honesty, I love me some good salted egg buns from Golden Steamer. My favorites are the salted egg and the pumpkin buns. They tend to skimp on the filling, which is unfortunate, and it means you’ll likely buy a ton of these, rip them to shreds and eat the filling while tossing out the fluffy bread (our stomachs are finite entities, unfortunately). Luckily, you can afford to do this given each bun is literally a few cents. BEST of all, if you specify hot bun when you order at the counter, they’ll bring it out piping hot! The treats in the cases are all fresh, but not necessarily hot (I’m a sucker for hot carbs).
They also make these bad guys in bulk, so you can buy a week’s worth (or more) and keep them in your freezer. I still have some mantou (plain buns) in my freezer, saving ‘em for one of those lazy weekend breakfasts.

Been searching for salted egg yolk buns for MONTHS. My friend finally tipped me that this location had pretty decent ones so I decided to stop in.
The staff barely spoke English but all I had to list were the buns I wanted. I ordered 2 pumpkin, 1 egg custard, 1 salted yolk, 1 braised pork, and 1 jumbo bun. Grand total? $ 5.86 (or at least I think it was… it was all LESS than $ 6.)
Pumpkin buns– all bun, barely any filling. Disappointed.
Salted yolk– omg… I almost died just opening up that pillowy soft yellow bun to expose oozing golden lava. It was everything I ever dreamed of. I immediately thought that I should’ve bought 10 of them,
Had the jumbo bun on a later occasion and that was super good. More filling than the others.
Overall, the buns themselves were so soft and delicious. Wish they didn’t skimp on the fillings though for some. Bring cash! And get the salted yolk for sure!

Whenever in NY, stopping to get a steamed bao in China Town is a must. I had read an article about this place and decided that at .80 cents, there was nothing to lose. I got the veggie & pork bao, my father got the BBQ pork bao. Both were good but I definitely enjoyed the veggie and pork bao more. Just the one bun filled me up so if you’re doing foodie crawls, try not to get too carried away even though they taste really good!

A hidden gem, simply put. Sandwiched between the frantic chaos of Chinatown shops, this place serves up hot steamed buns in a variety of fillings and also sells buns to go that you can steam/​reheat yourselves later.
Four buns cost us 1.70– puts things into perspective. Tried the Red Bean and Pumpkin ones. Pumpkin won, but both were great.
Definitely stop by– takes 1 minute. No seating, so plan accordingly!

Simply the best steamed buns. The dough is perfectly — soft, light, but doughy and moist… ahhhh so good. Buy one, but don’t walk away too quickly because you’ll want another one immediately (especially for $ 0.80).
As everyone says, the pumpkin buns are really special — they are soft and smell buttery, the pumpkin filling is gentle and smooth and not arrestingly saccharine as you might expect.
Note that this is for the fresh buns that come directly from the steamer into your eager hands. The refrigerated/​frozen ones they sell in packs of 4 are good but not at all the same.

When I’m roaming around anywhere in or near Chinatown, I try to go out of my way to make a stop here. Normally you could easily pass this place just walking by. The entrance is a single door camouflaged above some mini steps. AND THEN YOU ENTER THE HEAVENLY HALLWAY OF STEAMED BUNS.
There’re really no space to sit down so you’re most likely taking you steamed buns on the go. You’ll notice the stack on stacks of pre-​packaged bun containers (4 buns each) to take home and heat up yourself. You can order hot ones at the counter and each seem to cost 80 cents or more depending on the filling. This place is known for their PUMPKIN filled buns and it certainly does not disappoint. The filling is sometimes minimal but I can’t complain for the price. Even better IMO is the EGG BUN! There’s no shortage of fillings to choose from here so literally I find myself buying at least 6 at a time when I come here.
Oh and they speak English here also!

I stumbled upon this steamed bun place randomly back in January when we were in NYC for NYE and I was elated! I didn’t look at the name of the storefront or anything which made me so upset when I headed back home to NJ. I just knew it was around the corner from the Red Mango in Chitaly. I made it my goal to track this place down the next time I visited NYC.
I’ve never had such a delicious pork combo steam bun (aka jumbo bao) in my life before and that says a lot especially when my hubby agrees with me! So here we are, 5 days before our baby is born making a last minute trip to NYC with the in laws. Chinatown was definitely on the list and I found my heavenly steamed bun store. My father in law was so surprised by the crazy cheap price (4 buns for $ 4.50) that he told me to buy two boxes. OKAY, no arguments there.
I chose the jumbo bao which is filled with pork, egg, sausage, wood ear mushrooms, celery, and jicama. YUM! I haven’t tried any other flavors so I can’t speak for the rest of them. My all time favorite has always been any pork steam bun. This place has definitely been bookmarked and saved. Reheating the steam bun in the microwave for 1 ½ minutes makes it perfect. :)