Ka Wah Bakery Corporation

The only and yes I do mean only place in Chinatown to get the sweetheart cake (la po bing). This is my favorite chinese pastry and after tasting all the ones in Chinatown, the little whole in the wall basement is the place to be. And trust me I am extremely picky. Its either here for the authentic ones located in hong Kong. And only 70 cents. my heart just skip a beat ;)

Good.
Get the coconut, heart shaped, pastry. It’s really good. For either $ 0.80 or $ 1.00 (???), this pastry reminds me of a palmier, but less flakey and with coconut. It’s a nice change from the typical coconut tarts or coconut buns. I’ve had several other pastries from here, and didn’t think they were anything exciting. This coconut heart on the other hand, is really good. When I’m in Chinatown, I make a point to stop by.
Also, they serve generic iced coffee for $ 1.25. It’s nothing to get crazy excited about, but it’s not bad for 16 ounces. It’s probably the cheapest in the area.
Also, this place is pretty cramped with a couple steps leading down. This place is not stroller and/​or wheelchair friendly. They sell pastries, so for sure kid friendly.
B rating.
Cash only.

Ahhhh Ka Wah
This place is like walking into your grandmothers bakery. That’s if your grandmother was Chinese and baked delicious almond cookies and coconut cream buns. Everything here is under a dollar a piece and always fresh. The sponge cakes are super soft and moist with just the right sweetness so don’t let those plain looking buns fool you. The almond cookies are huge and flavorful while the coconut cream buns keep you coming back for more. The space is very small it’s pretty much just a counter.

TL: DR Cheapest Chinese bakery in Chinatown by far. No frills (what does «frills» even mean).
When you walk in chinatown and you see these non English speaking people working in construction, delivery, restaurants, warehouses, etc (the invisible decoration of your Chinatown stroll), do you wonder where they get their coffee and non western buns for breakfast? If you do, I can tell you right now that this tiny hole in the wall is a prime example of what is supplying the working people of chinatown. You come here from 6:30am-9:30am and you’ll see a cramped space of people quickly yelling orders and leaving the place. You have 3 women probably over the age of 50 serving the crowd in chaotic efficiency.
You do not come here for the best or to be treated fairly. You come here because you need to. Get your coffee and whatever bun or pastry you want and get out. It’s probably the cheapest bakery in chinatown at this point, and for the regulars who come here those 10 – 25 cents make a difference. You want to be treated like a VIP, go to Per Se because even the regulars are treated like cattle here. They want you in, and they want you out.
After the morning rush, you’re allowed to be a person again though and you can probably take a little more time looking at their baked goods than the 5 seconds you’re allowed in the morning.
I come here mainly because their coffee is the cheapest and on top of that it taste pretty good for mass produced drip coffee. But also if you are broke as f@ck and want a starter course in chinese pastry, you can literally get one of everything in this place and you’ll probably spend less than $ 20.
If you don’t speak fluent cantonese, mandarin, or one of the three women’s chinese dialects, you better be fluent in pointing. good luck in leaving this place with your pride intact.
20oz drip coffee, milk tea, or cold brew (iced coffee) ($ 1.20) get: you tell them coffee and the size. they will pour a splash of cream and 2 spoons of sugar if you don’t say anything. otherwise say something. the more customizing you need, the more you should learn one of their languages or concede to go to starbucks.
mini egg tarts (2 for 70 cents) get if fresh: I once asked for one and they were like you gotta get two… you know you are cheap when the cheapest bakery in chinatown tells you you’re being cheap.
egg tart (don’t know but it’s cheap) get if fresh: that smell you smell walking in the door? yea that’s some egg tart
wife cake (low po bian) get: you know what… i’m going to stop cause otherwise this post will just be a long list of traditional southern chinese baked goods and experiences I had ordering them from here, which could just end up being a huge blog that I can minorly monetize.

I’m hesitant to write a review, because this is my favorite bakery in Chinatown, but it is rather removed from the beaten path (aka Canal Street) and I am gambling it will be hidden and low-​key a bit longer.
First of all, the women who work here range from not friendly to mean. The shortest one has yelled at me for (1) not understanding you can’t buy just one egg sponge cake (?), (2) asking her what was in one of the breads, and (3) giving her $ 5 instead of $ 2.25 because I only had pennies in change — seriously, I thought she was going to take my wallet and shake it out because she heard me looking through the coins. (All convo in my just-​below professional Mandarin.) Oh, and no signage in English.
Whatever, though! CHEAPEST iced coffee in town ($ 1.20); ask for no or less sugar unless you like diabetes. Great baked goods at unbelievable prices: the aforementioned bread rolls (it’s usually in an aluminum container in the windows), dotted with raisins (so YOU don’t have to ask) is $ 1.25 for a big pan; the egg tarts and the egg sponge cakes are both 2 for around $ 1. (A little leeway with the prices, I’m not exactly sure.) They also have sweet and savory buns for around $ 0.75, but they are mostly sold out by noon. My fave things are the heart-​shaped coconut pastry (心X餅, $ 1, could never read the middle character), which is like a palmier-​meets-​macaroon: sweet, crunchy-​ish, chewy-​ish, between buttery and faintly coconut-​y, and the walnut cake, also $ 1, which is like… well, just get it, if you like nuts.
There’s barely place to stand and wait, so of course no seating; the interior is old-​school dirty-​bare and not very welcoming. I hope it stays forever.

With no translations posted and no fellow English speakers in the house, I was lucky enough to score a tasty wife cake after ordering one in English and nodding hopefully at their guess, and receiving the correct item. I admit it’s never been my thing, but was the best I’ve had.

They have very solid sponge cakes at cheap prices (80 cents I believe). So much better than the ones at New Kam Hing, that’s for sure. Nice and fluffy, and quite big. One of the best sponge cakes I’ve had in Chinatown.

My gosh! What have I been missing all these years? Perhaps it was the rain nymph who led me to this nonchalant Cantonese bakery. As I was able to duck into any, I mean, any indoor vendor to avoid further soaking from the rain, the rain finally stopped as I emerged from the subway. Hooray! While squeaking sounds continued to emit from my sneakers, I soldiered on and explored the undiscovered areas of Chinatown. Well, at least to me. I allowed myself to ‘get lost’, not worrying about whether I was turning right or left. I came across different ethnic eateries, mostly spartan looking places that churn out simple foods as the owners ate back in their homeland China. I was not interested in a sit down place, but when I saw this tiny storefront filled with basic Cantonese baked goods, I went in and took a look. Sure, the choices are limited, but when something is done right, varieties are just diversion. Just look at all the single focused food businesses — lobster, hummus, sponge cake, and dumplings. The list could go on for a few more sentences. I did not read the reviews, so did not get to try the famous old wife’s cake; rather, I got the egg tart and egg yolk pastry. Since the prices were not listed (or rather, a scant price list chart is hung on the wall, but all in Chinese), I kept questioning the women, but soon, I saw a pattern. A ‘cheap’ pattern — everything is ‘almost’ 60 cents each. 60 cents??? That’s unheard of nowadays. I am not factoring in taste yet, but at that price, you got to be a bit more lenient with your palate. The sponge cake was another hot item as one customer came in a ordered a dozen. Frankly, this bakery is able to survive based on regulars. They were chatting away and I really pray that the owner owns this real estate because this old-​schooled bakery is like a relic in time. Sometimes, you just get tired of all the current news of innovative sweets and flavors. It is like when you are homesick or just feeling reclusive, nothing beats a simply made bun sweetened with sugar and butter. No tricks. No gimmicks. Just ‘it’. I plan to return to try out the old wife cake and the pineapple bun. Or I might try to chit-​chat with the older ladies, if they want to include me into their ‘Fight Club’ circle.

I came here after reading about the wife cake and i loved it. The size is a bit smaller and it looks different than the ones you get at other bakeries, but it costs only $.60! The wife cake was so good. The outer layer was very thin, literally only two layers of crust which was very flaky! The winter melon was very smooth and not too sweet, it was just right. Most other wife cakes at other bakeries are too sweet and after taking a few bites you wouldn’t want to eat it until later.
I also got an almond cookie which was also $.60. The almond cookie was huge and crunchy with it being less crunchier on the inside. The taste was really good. The almond taste was not overwhelming but good enough to keep eating. The sugar level was also just right like the wife cake.
The service was not all that great but what can you expect from 3 toishan old ladies?
Keep up the good work. I will go back again to try the sponge cake and wife cake! Also their cold milk tea is $ 1.2!

I was really looking forward to coming here after reading about the reviews, but i was extremely disappointed with the quality of their pastries. The place is a hole in the wall, which isn’t a good or a bad thing, but there was no seating what so ever. I came here specifically for Lao Po Bing, or as Wikipedia would say sweet heart cakes (
).
One of the reviewers was spot on saying they only make very few pastries, I proceeded to purchase a sweet heart cake, and an egg tart. The sweet heart cake was a bit stale and the filling was not very sweet – not the best I’ve ever had, but not the worst. The egg tart however, was terrible. When they handed it to me, it had looked like someone had stepped on it. The filling was indented in the center, and it almost looked like it deflated, if such a thing is possible with a custard. I even gave them the benefit of the doubt and took a bite, but it only found bland tasteless gew.
The area has tons of Chinese bakeries, There was one right around the corner that had seating, proper lighting (windows), and delicious pastries. On the plus side the experience only cost me a dollar fifty.

This is my sister’s favorite place for custard tarts aka dan tat. I’m not sure what she finds so special about them. I think they’re good, but I won’t walk out of my way to come here for one.
It’s a hole-​in-​the-​wall type place and regulars will always get special treatment over you. Don’t take it personal — that’s just the way it works in these old school Chinatown places.
They have a decent coconut tart too.

They have very fresh bakeries… Egg tart for .60. huge sponge cake for 0.60. everything is almost less than a dollar… Fresh winter melon, red bean bun… I was hesitating on what to get. At last my friend got an egg tart and I bought the huge sponge cake. yummy! Egg tart was pretty good… the crust was crispy and the egg (or whatever you call) is really soft and not too sweet… Perfect. My friend just love it.
Sponge cake was pretty normal. a little oily but not too bad. the lady that served me was kinda rude. but not too bad… at least I got a good deal.
I am surprised they do not have lots of reviews… the place looks old. Come on ppl… head to Ka Wah! :)

This bakery is probably the oldest one around and hasn’t changed one bit. It looks old and not as pretty as the other bakeries in Chinatown, BUT they have like the best stuff. Trust me on this. I love everything they make. AND their prices are probably the lowest in the area.

Low quality food — you get what you pay for!
This bakery sells pretty cheap pastries and buns, but you can taste the ingredients are so-​so. The crust for the egg tart and coconut tarts are pretty hard and not lose and flaky. Also, they have these mini curry dumplings, but the ingredients are literally lard! Just generally, their food is not that good overall.
Also, the service is ridiculous! I went in there buying a ton of food to try and then midway between getting my order, my server goes and satisfies another person’s order. She does this 2x — leaving me to wait an extra 5 to 7 minutes. I don’t know if this is because she knew I was a new customer, but that makes no business sense.
This other old school bakery on Mott Street has food that is equally cheap, but taste so much better!

$ 1.90 for:
1 small coffee with tea
1 egg tart ($ 0.60) — yummmmy!!!
1 pork bun (uhhhhh. I asked for «pineapple bun» and got this instead. Still very good as I demolished it either way. :) Also, to be fair it was probably my fault as much as theirs *le sigh* language barrier issues.)
3 old Chinese ladies+ minimal english+ one small cramped unpretentious old-​school bakery = delicious delicious delicious delicious baked goods. The egg tart is FOR REALS flakey, buttery, and overall the best egg tart I have ever tasted. 60 cents ya’ll!!! I’ll be back for sure. The cookies are huge (also $ 0.60!) so I’m getting that next time and hopefully I’ll finally have my pineapple bun! Bo lo bao! must practice… :)

Diagonally across the street from the Eldridge Street Synagogue is my favorite bakery in Chinatown. It is my favorite because it is a throwback to the old unpretentious Chinatown of yesteryear.
At Ka Wah, three Cantonese speaking elderly ladies (who smile at my awful Mandarin and even worse attempts at Cantonese) will be like your grandmother because they will want you to leave happy and full!
The selection at this bakery is limited but to some exceptional cakes and buns. It seems there is always something available that just came out of the oven and what did not is only a few minutes older!
Even the coffee is good and the low prices, décor and flavors will bring you back to a time when Chinatown was a much more laid back place to visit! Try this bakery and the fancy ones will pale in comparison!

God, could this bakery be any greater? My grandma and mom both buy pounds of pastries here, and I grew up loving them. I still remember when their pastries were 0.40 and I would spend less than a dollar after school on bakery snacks.
Ka Wah is a hole in the wall besides some employment agencies, and across from a 99cents store. But it really is a hidden gem.
My favorite here are the individually wrapped sponge cakes. They’re the greatest tasting things. Light, moist, and fluffy. And at only 65 cents, how can you go wrong? The egg custards are absolutely fantastic, and so are the coconut tarts. The drinks such as tea, coffee, and nai cha (milk tea) are to die for. I’m drooling just thinking about this place.
If you’re in the neighborhood, definitely stop by this little hole in the wall. You won’t regret it. For less than $ 5, you could get dessert for you and 4 friends, literally.