TC Pastry

The lady at the front, SUPER RUDE. Treats customers like shit. Place is run down. ONLY good thing, dim sum is dirt cheap.

TC Pastry is a small shop located in the outer sunset district. Our main goal going here was for the bao.
One of the most frustrating thing about these places, or SF itself, is the parking. Make sure you have plenty of time, and patience about the parking situation.
We purchased the BBQ buns, rice cakes, coconut covered balls with black beans, and sesame seed balls.
Their service was quick. The gentleman that was there answered my questions regarding the regular buns vs the wheat buns.
Overall, this is a good place to grab a quick bbq bun to eat. I would return the next time that I go to SF.

¹⁰⁄₁₀ location, ¹⁰⁄₁₀ food, ¹⁰⁄₁₀ price ¹⁰⁄₁₀ convenient location near boba and GG park. You know it’s good when even white people come to this hole-​in-​the-​wall. Also cool because the ladies won’t make fun of you when you order in shitty Toisanese.

Stopped by for a mid-​afternoon snack — this place is simple and fast, with a pretty extensive menu (printed in English and Chinese). The prices are pretty much unbeatable (3 for $ 2.50 for dumplings, or $ 0.80 each plus tax). I ordered the shrimp and chive dumpling (made from glutinous rice flour), and the taste was fine but it’s evident that the taste is from use of MSG and a fair share of oil. The dumpling was quite cold and the glutinous rice was a little too thick for my liking. Overall, though, this is a pretty good place to grab some dim sum. Would be much better if the food were served warm though.

Who love dim sum look no further, everything is label. The food is so good here. I love it when I bring my own containers and they fill them up. I have a few other friends say this is a good place to teach you names, and what each item is.

Great place to come when you are craving Dim sum food. I love how they have the black sesame dessert here. I like coming here to get their congee and their chinese donut. It’s hard to find a place that makes good congee that does not have MSG. The sesame ball here is good too and i like coming here to get that along with their steamed bbq pork buns. I only like the white buns. You can usually spend 20 bucks here just on yourself. I recommend you bring your own bag because you might think you are leaving with 1 or 2 items, but when you look around you want more and more. I like the red bean pudding they have here, i don’t know the English name, but you will always see the Stars eating it in the old TVB dramas. If you come close to closing the items goes on sale! Bring cash!

Tasty, affordable and quick dim sum. Perfect for a lazy weekend morning or afternoon. It can be hard to find a parking spot, but you don’t need to put much time on the meter because getting in and out of TC Pastry is easy. We love to add their fried wontons and curry puffs to our order.

Cheap Asian dim sum to go. They have a lot to choose from and 90% of the stuff is good. Pork buns are small but they come in 3 and its around $ 2. Parents always gets the Chinese donut wrapped w/​rice noodles for my nephews. They only like this joint for that one particular item and know the difference if you get it somewhere else. Can’t pull a fast one on them cuz they won’t eat it.

Just stopped by here for lunch on my day off. Not too shabby, good place to stop by if you’re in the neighborhood for a cheap snack or lunch.
Rating Breakdown:
½ Stars for Taste –
I saw the zhaliang on display and I knew I had to try it. For those of you who are unfamiliar, it’s basically a fried Chinese donut, wrapped in steamed rice noodles, and topped with sweet soy sauce and peanut sauce. Definitely worth trying, but it’s a LOT, so bring a friend or two to share with. Leftover zhaliang are no good = soggy mess. They cut the pieces into these huge chunks. I made the mistake of making eye contact with the lady behind the counter just as I stuffed an entire piece, smothered in peanut sauce, into my mouth. Let’s just say this is one eligible med student she will NOT be introducing her son to.
The dim sum items were pretty disappointing. I got a turnip cake and two shumai (beef and pork) and they were served cold. The beef shumai had tendon chunks in it that kept getting stuck in my teeth.
¹⁄₁ Stars for Value –
At about 70cents a piece for dim sum ($ 2.00-$ 2.10 for 3 pieces), you get what you paid for. Maybe they’ll taste better if you take them home and nuke ‘em in the microwave first? Also, the heaping portion of zhaliang that you get for less than $ 3 (I think it was $ 2.70?) is a great deal!
0.5÷1 Stars for Customer Service –
Typical dim sum place where you have to use a lot of pointing to order if you don’t speak some form of Chinese. The ladies behind the counter spoke both Cantonese and Mandarin. My one complaint was that when I asked for extra sweet soy sauce for my zhaliang, the lady said it would cost extra. What. Serious? For soy sauce? C’mon.
Can I give half a bonus star? Well, this is my arbitrary system so I say I can. I would come back for the zhaliang, but probably a hard pass on everything else unless I’m really craving some cold dim sum.

One of the many cash only dim sum places in Inner Sunset/​Richmond. There’s a Wellsfargo bank 2 blocks away if you need an ATM.
Their dumplings and congee (pork and thousand year old egg) are pretty solid. I wasn’t a fan of their tofu and pork dish though.
Everything here’s pretty cheap so definitely a decent place to go if you’re hungry and want to eat something fast.

this is only for the sweet rice cake and the service. This has got to be one of the nicest asian bakeries I have been to. The lady that helped me out was the complete opposite of rude and was so friendly. I got my hubs a order of sweet rice cake which was 3 slabs for $ 2.00. This is kinda pricy but the hubs loved it. He was like its just the right consistency and super soft because sometimes it tends to be dry on the end. He also got a fried dough stick which was hella oily per the usual but was a good crunch flavor.

This is my go-​to dim sum place when I’m in San Francisco! I’ve had other places, but I like this one due to the excellent taste and incredibly cheap prices. I’ve tried most things on the menu, and my favorites would be the har gow shumai, shrimp with thick rice noodles, and the noodles with fried chinese donut. Everything is so good though! I like the texture of the noodles, and they are generous with the amount of meat/​shrimp in each of the portions.
Also, this isn’t the most sanitary place and the service isn’t spectacular (there’s a lot of scrambling around while waiting in line) but the food definitely makes up for it. I’ve never had exceptionally rude business here, and I feel like they are just busy so with all of the customers that the service feels rushed. There’s usually a line when I’m here in the mornings, but it moves very quickly due to their efficiency. There are also a few tables so that you can eat there if you wish or take everything to-​go.
Side note — I usually eat dim sum here and then go across the street to Happy Bakery to get chicken buns to go. Definitely a great combination!

When we came in here, I thought it was kind of unsanitary just because there were a lot of things going on in the front of the restaurant. There was one table that just had meat on it. I looked over the menu and was intrigued more towards the fried food area, yum.
Eventually, I ordered 5 won tons for $ 1.55 + tax (because it was a closing special) and they were yummy!
Would love to come back here and try more of their food.

3.5 STARS
My parents wanted to have dinner the other night, but I was sick. What do I crave when I’m sick?! Congee, chinese porridge, jook, whatever you wanna call it. And I wanted it with preserved egg (or leather egg, thousand year old egg, it has so many names)! Since my parents were going to be in the Sunset, my mom brought me some jook and dim sum from TC Pastry. It was Saturday, October 3^rd around 2:30pm.
*Rice porridge with duck egg
*Chinese donut
My mom made me pei dan sau yuk jook (rice porridge with duck egg, it comes with pork too) a lot when I was little, so I crave it often when I’m sick or if I just want something comforting. Their version had a good amount of egg and good flavor. To me, jook is not complete without a yau ja gwai (chinese donut)! Theirs was super oily, so I had to take numerous paper towels to soak up all the oil. It was crispy on the outside and soft inside, so once I soaked up the oil, I had my little bowl of comfort.
*Fresh shrimp crêpe roll
*Shrimp dumpling
*Pork dumpling
*Sticky rice ball with Chinese sausage
*Mini egg custard
Since I’ve have TC Pastry bookmarked for their dim sum, I asked my mom to grab me some. Their ha gow (shrimp dumpling) and ha cheong (fresh shrimp crêpe roll) were both tasty. The shrimp was tender in both and the wrappers soft with a slight chew. The siu mai (pork dumpling) was just okay. I’ve had better. Sticky rice buns are another item that remind me of being a kid. Unfortunately it got soggy in the bag and could have used a little more sausage, but it fulfilled my sticky rice craving. I’d pass next time on the mini dan tats (egg custard). The crust is the cake kind, not the flaky one and they weren’t very good. Kinda wished my mom had bought me a regular big dan tat instead.
While their dim sum was okay, their porridge provided me the comfort I needed when I wasn’t feeling well. I’d probably pass next time on the dim sum, but if I’m in the area, their jook will do the trick!

Cheap take out dim sum place. Nothing fancy but not the best quality for dim sum. I’m not sure how good I should expect a take out place to be though.
Egg tart: ¹⁄₅ Do not get. The crust was not flaky at all and tasted like one piece of crunchy bread.
BBQ pork bun: ⁴⁄₅ The only thing that was decent here. Filling was juicy with lots of flavor. Bread was a tad on the dry side.
Shrimp and chive dumpling: ³⁄₅ Just okay, kind of on the greasy side
It’s a good place to go if you want something quick and cheap but the only thing I would get here again is the BBQ pork bun.

Quick Notes:
Good, but not the best
Dim sum for an affordable price.
Cash Only
3 for ~$ 2.00
Ordered:
Shrimp and Chive
Beef
Curry Fried Won Tons
+The shrimp and chive dim sum was stuffed to my liking. Most dim sum Bakeries tend to skimp on the filling, but not TC Pastry.
+The beef dim sum was tasty, but nothing out of the ordinary
+Curry fried won tons were delicious! However, the crispy won ton wrappers are ridiculously oily. I had to pat it down with a napkin and break the edges off, because it was definitely too much to swallow.
TC PASTRY, DIM SUM YUM!!!

I do not know a single place in the Bay Area that makes zhaliang (Chinese donut wrapped with rice noodles sprinkled with sesame seeds, dried shrimp, and shallots) as good as TC Pastry. They make them to order and in addition to the sweet soy sauce that I’m accustomed to having with zhaliang, they give you the option of adding peanut butter sauce. Friggin’ orgasmic, folks.
The jumbo zongzi (glutinous rice stuffed with chestnuts, chicken, sausage, salted egg and steamed in a bamboo leaf) is also ridiculous. I was buying the ones from Guangdong BBQ across the street but the ones here are tastier. If you want to be healthier though I do recommend the one from Guangdong BBQ.
The majority of the other buns and dim sum items range from 2 – 3 stars for me. An hour before closing you can get 3 items for $ 1.45 which is a pretty good deal. It’s cash only and the ladies are overall pleasant (not as nice as the ones over at Hing Wang, but nicer than at Happy Bakery). Solid option for fast food dim sum if you’re in the area but worth a 30 min drive if you’re craving authentic zhaliang for breakfast.

What I ate: Assorted dim sum
Visit date: March 8, 2015
First time? Yes.
All kinds of dim sum here! My friend was I charge of getting three of everything for our party. She came back with a tray full of savories. One of my favorite dim sums is the fried taro. Unfortunately, TC’s was a little on the greasy side to me. Instead of biting into a crisp shell, I got crunch and oil. Not so appetizing. I think it might have just sat too long by the time we got to it. The other dishes were more inviting. Also, I tried a couple of new items today. There was what I like to call a «tofu chicken sandwich.» It was tofu stuffed with a chicken patty of sorts wrapped in tofu skin. There was also a mini omelette type patty with mixed veggies and pork. The salt was well balanced in the various dishes and sauces. I especially liked the dumpling with watercress and dipping it in their chili sauce.
There are a few tables inside, but most people ordered to-​go. I’m curious about their rice porridge (we didn’t get it this time because we didn’t want to get full off of one dish); someone across the way got it and he made it look good.

Not bad for take out dim sum…
shrimp noodles: too much noodle to shrimp ratio
Mini custard tarts (dan tat): not flakey but more like a cookie type crust. I enjoyed it and would order it again
Turnip cake: standard as any other place. It’s basically a type of flour mixed and steamed. Can’t go wrong.
The ladies here are nice and smiley

I’ve been to TC Pastry twice now, and both times I left feeling satisfied. This is your typical dim sum shop located in outer sunset. Most of its items are average, but the one thing I keep coming back for is the BBQ pork turnover which is not something that is very common in your typical dim sum shop. It is so flaky, with just the right amount of char siu filling that is not too gooey and not too chunky. This place is very cheap, and surrounded by boba shops to finish your meal with.
Overall, TC is a decent dim sum shop which has one item that I enjoy greatly and I will continue to stop by when in the area.