red bean – Michael Eats

Tasty Buns at Saint Germain Bakery

Published on September 1, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 100 City Centre Drive, Mississauga (inside Square One)
Website: https://www.saintgermainbakery.com/

Saint Germain Bakery is an Asian bakery chain that started in Vancouver, and that’s been expanding around the GTA for the last few years. Their most recent location is in Square One in Mississauga, and it features a tempting assortment of sweet and savoury pastries (mostly cakes, croissants, and Asian-style buns).

It’s set up in a typical Asian bakery style, with everything (outside of the cakes) in self-serve displays, and trays for you to load up and take to the register.

My go-to at a bakery like this is typically something with red bean in it (I have a very hard time saying no to a red bean dessert), but I noticed they had something called a “Germain bun.” I had no idea what to expect with this, but I feel like it’s always a safe bet to order whatever pastry has the name of the bakery in it.

It’s not the most photogenic dessert in the world, but it’s very tasty. It basically tastes like a custard bun, but with the custard interspersed throughout — like a cinnamon roll, but with custard instead of cinnamon. It also has a crispy, sugary topping that does a great job of adding some texture to the soft, chewy bun. The topping might have amped up the sweetness level a bit too much, but the rest of the bun is more restrained, so it’s just right.

I liked it quite a lot, though I will say that it’s a deceptively hefty bun, so it’s probably a good idea to either share it, or eat half and save the rest for later. I ate it after having a heavy meal, and let me tell you: my stomach did not appreciate it. I think the term “food coma” applies.

Also: I came back another day and tried the red bean bun, and yeah, that’s good stuff. The red bean is maybe slightly too sweet and not quite as chunky as I’d like, but it’s still quite tasty and the bun is fluffy and fresh.

Great Taiyaki at Red Bean Waffle House

Published on August 9, 2024August 9, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 100 Steeles Avenue West, Thornhill
Website: https://www.instagram.com/redbeanwaffle/

Note: It looks like this place has closed down between me writing and posting this. Highly unfortunate!

The Red Bean Waffle House in Thornhill sells various cakes and savoury snacks, but they specialize in taiyaki — fish-shaped waffles that come stuffed with either red bean or custard.

I’m sure the custard is good, but come on — it’s right there in the name. You’ve gotta get the red bean.

The red bean filling here is actually slightly different than the usual. Its texture is creamier, and it tastes like maybe they’ve mixed in some custard with the red bean. I’m not sure if that’s actually the case, but whatever they’re doing, it’s quite tasty. It also has a satisfyingly restrained level of sweetness.

The waffle part, too, is a bit different from the usual: it’s slightly thinner and crispier, which works quite well with the creamy filling. It’s a very satisfying dessert.

Tasty Treats at Kevin’s Taiyaki

Published on February 25, 2020 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 333 Dundas Street East, Mississauga (inside PAT Supermarket)
Website: None

Kevin’s Taiyaki is inside the PAT Supermarket in Mississauga, which is a pretty trippy place to visit. It’s basically like stepping through a portal into South Korea. When I went, every other person — both customer and employee — was Korean, and the only language I heard spoken was Korean. PAT has a downtown location as well, but I’ve never quite had the same experience there.

I have a definite fondness for South Korea (I think it’s an underrated travel destination), so that was delightful.

Like the downtown PAT, there’s a location of Kevin’s Taiyaki right inside the supermarket, which specializes in red bean or custard filled pastries.

I got the red bean, and it was very, very good. It was freshly made, with a nice crispy exterior, fluffy pastry (if you’ve never had taiyaki before, it’s extremely waffle-like), and a delicious red bean filling. The red bean had a restrained level of sweetness and a chunky (but still smooth) texture that was extremely satisfying.

Taiyaki is one of those dishes that’s very simple and rarely bad, but difficult to do really well. Kevin’s Taiyaki does it really well.

Middling Taiyaki at Sukoshi Mart

Published on August 26, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 160 Baldwin Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.sukoshimart.com/

Sukoshi Mart is a little Japanese convenience store in Kensington Market that sells hard-to-find Japanese goods. They also sell freshly-made taiyaki, a waffle-like dessert that’s traditionally filled with either red bean or custard.

I like this place. If you’re looking for Japanese snacks or candy, it’s worth a visit.

The taiyaki, on the other hand? Not so much.

It’s fine. It’s perfectly edible, but the exterior is dense and doughy, and the red bean is overly sweet. It’s also misshapen and haphazard, so it doesn’t even have the (usually) delightful visual component. It’s not the best.

Tasty Japanese Cream Buns at Hattendo Cafe

Published on August 21, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 13 Baldwin Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.hattendo.ca/

One of the things that takes some getting used to in Asia is that some countries there consider white bread to essentially be a dessert. More than once, I’ve gone to a convenience store and bought what appears to be a Twinkie-esque pastry, only to realize that it’s just a plain white bun, like a hot dog bun.

Which is to say that if you’ve never had the type of Japanese cream bun they serve at Hattendo, you might be surprised to discover that the bun itself is basically just a soft, fluffy hamburger bun. Once you get used to it, however, it’s quite tasty.

I tried three: custard, chocolate, and red bean. The bun itself is quite nice. It’s soft, fluffly, and just a little bit sweet.

The custard was my least favourite of the three flavours. It was nice and creamy, but the flavour was middling; there just wasn’t much to it.

The chocolate was much better, with a pronounced cocoa-infused flavour and a satisfyingly restrained level of sweetness.

The red bean was the best of the three. If you normally don’t like beany sweets, this might just be the perfect gateway dessert — it’s super creamy and tasty, with a really nice balance between the creamy custard and the sweet red beans.