A local’s review of Chinatown Bakery in Central London – one of the cheapest places to eat in London for fluffy cakes, taiyaki, and wonderful Chinese cakes!
Whether you live in London or are just passing by, you’ll want to stop at Chinatown Bakery London.
Right in the heart of Chinatown, just steps from Leicester Square, it’s one of those places that makes you go back again and again.
Their cakes are some of the best in London; soft, simple, and full of flavor. And the best part? They’re also some of the cheapest you’ll find in the city.
If you’ve got a sweet tooth, this little bakery is your spot.
London’s Chinatown Bakery Review – Cheap Cakes in London
Chinatown Bakery London is located on Newport Place, in the ultra center of Chinatown.
All around, you’ve got small and big Asian restaurants that offer dim sum, hot pot, and delicious noodle and rice dishes based on traditional flavors.
There are also lots of Chinatown London shops around that sell souvenirs like Manekineko.
If you’re craving bao buns or even Filipino ice cream, Newport Place and the adjacent streets all offer amazing Vietnamese, Filipino, Singaporean, Korean cuisine and Chinese food.
Chinatown Bakery London Review: Inside The Bakery
As soon as you arrive outside of Chinatown Bakery (just a few minutes’ walk from Covent Garden), you’ll see some beautiful, colorful cream cakes.
I have never tried these, as I preferred to try all sorts of soft buns and pastries you can find inside of Chinatown Bakery.
Inside the shop, it’s pretty crammed; Chinatown Bakery London on Newport Place might be the largest branch.
It’s also the most famous and you’re pretty sure to queue any time you visit.
The bakery is open from 10.30 am to 9 pm every day of the week, but it’s really frequented and there are always lots of people inside choosing cakes and queueing.
However, the staff is really efficient and you won’t have to queue for long before checkout.
The rhythm is fast-paced, that’s for sure, and there will most probably be people all around you while you’re trying to choose which cakes to buy.
I’m used to this, and I don’t let this discourage me.
Anyhow, the cake selection is always the same, and whether you’re going for sweet or savory, you know your favorites will always be there (unless Chinatown Bakery has run out).
The great thing is that’s the only bakery in Chinatown that prepares more cakes during the day.
So, even if Chinatown Bakery London is out of stock, if you come back after some time, you’re pretty sure to find new cakes and buns.
It’s also a perfect place when you’re looking for good breakfast in London.
Or you can do as I do, go during the day for some well-deserved snacks when you’ve been visiting the city in search of amazingly non touristy things to do.
Chinatown Bakery London: What I Bought
Ever since I started visiting Chinatown Bakery in 2019, I’ve gotten used to their delicious Peanut sponge cake.
There are quite a few different sponge cakes available; peanut, vanilla cream (one of the best, you really have to try it!), or even coconut.
Chinatown Bakery London: Peanut Sponge Cake
Why do I consider the peanut & sponge cake one of the best cakes in London?
Because of how fluffy, and delicate the peanut sponge cake is. It’s really huge, and retails only for over two pounds (£2.40, to be exact).
The vanilla sponge cake is fluffy and unlike anything we’re used to in London, or even in Paris cafes.
The peanut cream is made of crunchy peanut bits that add just a little bit more sweetness, and the cake is topped with caramelized bits of peanuts – yummy.
Overall, the peanut sponge cake isn’t that sweet at all, and it’s perfect if you’re craving a bit of sugar but don’t want to go over the top.
If you’re greedy like me, you can get a savory bun with chicken and curry on top of that, and with a drink, you’ll be satiated nicely.
This cake is absolutely crazy; one of the fluffiest cakes in London.
When you bite into it, it feels like you’re eating a little cloud! It’s still kind of heavy when you weigh it, and you know that you have a good old slice of cake to relish.
If it’s just a little treat, it’s really nice to know that some of the cheapest and best cakes in London are just a stone’s throw from many cool places in Soho.
That means for instance Foyles, one of the best bookshop cafes in London.
And that also means the nearby second hand bookshops on Charing Cross Road.
That means you could pay a visit to Chinatown Bakery, get one or two cakes for less than £5, and then head over to a study cafe in Soho to work a little bit, write, or read.
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Chinatown Bakery London: Coconut & Cream Bun
Now, Chinatown Bakery is the only bakery in Chinatown that offers the Coconut & Cream bun.
It retails for only £1.60, so it’s safe to say that’s one of the cheapest cakes you could get in any of the Chinatown London shops.
I have never eaten anything like the coconut and cream cake, and if I remember well, there is also a peanut & cream cake available at Chinatown Bakery.
This one is shaped like a long bun, and it’s a tad more chewy than the peanut sponge cake.
The texture is more like a brioche, and it’s really nice under the tooth, trust me.
What I love the most in this cake, quite obviously, is the amount of cream in it.
For starters, you need to know that in this bakery in Chinatown, none of the whipped creams and custards you’ll find are like cream and custard you’ve tried anywhere else.
They’re fresher, a bit more buttery, a bit thicker, and way less sweet than other cake shops.
The coconut & cream bun is slightly sweeter than the peanut sponge cake, and even if it can look a bit flatter when you buy it, don’t worry: there will be a good amount of cream inside.
Of course, since the bun is topped with coconut flakes, you can feel the coconut flavor, but not too much.
Even if you don’t like coconut, I would still recommend you try this bun, because what you taste most is actually the cream, and the deliciously fluffy dough from the bun.
It is, in my opinion, one of the best cakes made at Chinatown Bakery London, period.
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Other Items To Try At Chinatown Bakery London
If you like savory things as snacks, you should try the Youtiao.
That’s a long fried doughnut stick that I am crazy about.
Honestly, I had never encountered this before eating it with Vietnamese pho, in a restaurant in Paris.
And boy, is it good. It’s a savory snack, deep-fried, so really oily, crunchy, and chewy all at the same time.
Another item to try absolutely, the Spring Onion and Chicken Floss buns – that’s definitely something I hadn’t tried before visiting Chinatown Bakery.
The chicken floss is dry, and salty, and its texture is really fun. With that, if you want a drink, you should try a traditional soy milk, a reminiscence of the Hong Kong lifestyle.
If you’re a Japanese food lover, you might want to try the Taiyaki – little fish-shaped cakes filled with gooey, vanilla custard.
You can purchase those from outside the bakery, and don’t have to pay inside.
A little machine makes the Japanese Taiyaki all day long, and it’s a really fun process to witness!
London’s Chinatown Bakery Review – Cheap Cakes in London
I can’t rave enough about Chinatown Bakery – this is one of the best bakeries in London, whether you count affordable or expensive cake shops.
There are other Chinatown Bakery London branches around Chinatown; one being on Gerrard Street, closer to Shaftesbury Avenue and Soho.
Since it’s less famous, there’s way less queue there, so I sometimes visit this branch.
However, it’s also a bit smaller, so you won’t also find everything you can get at the Chinatown Bakery on Newport Street.
All in all, one of the really hot spots in London, so if you’re ever after a bakery in Chinatown, Chinatown Bakery London is a place to visit absolutely.
It’s delicious, it offers some good staples of Chinese cakes, and it doesn’t break the bank.