Bakery 1908 in Mills 50 dazzles with Chinese-style pastry, buns, dumplings and dim sum

It’s hard not to be awed by the dazzling variety of pastries, breads, buns, cakes, rolls, tarts, cookies and savory baked goods churned out at the perpetually buzzing Bakery 1908 in Mills 50. The place is reminiscent of the Hong Kong- and Taiwanese-style bakeries I visited growing up in Toronto and, specifically, Markham. A pair of tongs in one hand and a paper-lined tray in the other, I’d wander through the pastry shops in my parka perusing myriad options like a lost monkey in IKEA.

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The labels were always in Chinese,  but help inevitably came in the form of a fellow customer, a staff member or my Hong Kong-born pal. Thankfully, the cake and pastry labels at Bakery 1908 are in Chinese and English, so you won’t run the risk of grabbing a pineapple bun ($3) thinking it’s filled with honey barbecue pork ($3), or vice-versa.
One dilemma that’s a sure bet, however: Your eyes will be bigger than those trays. Sometimes a lot bigger. On one occasion, I filled three — yes, three — trays’ worth of diabetical delicacies and nibbled on them for two days straight. Delicacies like (deep breath): spongy Napoleons ($3.75), puff donuts ($3), Portuguese egg tarts ($3), salty egg-yolk puffs ($6.50), coconut tarts ($3), cream-filled “caterpillars” ($3.75), mini butter cookies ($6), chocolate-walnut cookies ($5.50), flaky biscotti ($5.50), cookies-and-cream croissants ($3.75) and taro paste donuts ($3).

That was followed by scores of glistening sweet and savory rolls, buns and pastries like (another deep breath): red bean rolls ($3), strawberry cream buns ($3.75), coconut cream buns ($3), blueberry jam and cream cheese buns ($3), Bavarian cream buns ($3), barbecue pork turnovers ($3), garlic buns ($3), lemon buns ($3), pork floss pockets ($3.25), egg sandwiches ($3.75) and chicken pineapple pizzas ($3.25), as well as the aforementioned pineapple buns and honey BBQ pork buns. I also took home some Hong Kong-style milk bread ($5) for good measure; I like making Hong Kong-style French toast with it. Naturally, there were some baked goods I gravitated toward more (coconut cream buns and egg tarts) than others (red bean rolls and salty egg-yolk puffs).

Either way, it doesn’t take away from the fact that the master pâtissiers here know what they’re doing. Seven of them bake like mad to replenish said goods, because they fly off the display racks. Best to get to the bakery earlier than later in the day, but even if you get there and encounter a dearth of buns etc., there’s another facet to Bakery 1908 that places it in the must-visit category: dumplings and dim sum. Three additional cooks are responsible for making these snacky items. I’ve had my fill of pan-fried chive dumplings (five for $9.99) and chewed on some mighty fine wontons lolling in a comforting chicken broth flavored with chives, scallions and bok choy. I’ve savored gorgeous steamed seafood dumplings (four for $9.99) — yellow-tinged, cup-shaped parcels filled with a mix of shrimp, scallops, squid and crab — as well as takoyaki (six for $10.99) served so piping hot, we had to wait five minutes to let those octopus balls cool down. And, yes, they serve soup dumpling (five for $9.99) here. I’ve had them twice, and while I like the pork-ginger filling and soupy innards, the skin on the wrappers wasn’t as delicate or paper-thin as, say, the xiao long bao served at KungFu Kitchen.

Elsewhere on the menu, don’t overlook the tofu ($12.99) tossed in a peppery mix of chili flakes, scallions, roasted garlic and cilantro. I quite enjoyed snacking on the cubes while sipping on lychee-mango fruit tea ($6.75). The tofu is vegan, too, just like the steamed summer dumplings (four for $8.99), their bright green spinach-flavored wrappers plump with Napa cabbage, water chestnuts, king mushroom, celery and carrots. Also enjoyable: dipping Taiwanese popcorn chicken ($10.99) into the provided sweet sauce and chili oil before popping them into my mouth.
There are other Taiwanese connections here: A tea master, “Tim,” was brought over from Taiwan to oversee 1908’s tea program. The recipes are all his, and I’ll never say no to a cup of brown sugar milk tea with pearl boba ($7.50). And why the “1908” in the bakery’s name? “I was told it’s a lucky number,” said one worker but, in fact, it also has a Taiwanese connection. The “1908” pays homage to Chen Yun Pao Chuan, a famous Taiwanese bakery that was established in 1908 in Taichung.

But for food lovers in this city, it’ll soon be a year baked into our consciousness.

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