Sheng Kee Bakery

This place didn’t exist when I was an undergrad and it’s a good thing it didn’t! So close to campus and offering so many delicious baked goods, I would’ve spent all my free time here. Don’t overlook the packaged sweets on top of the freshly baked ones. There’s a tiny wrapped taro pastry that’s hands down my favorite.

The pastries were delicious but the customer service was terrible. The lady at the register was not welcoming as she rudely put my pasties in the plastic bags and threw them in my direction on the counter. She never said hello or thank you when we were there. Would love to give more stars but they need to have nicer people working.

Sheng Kee works really hard to catch up with the new baking fads and I feel like is an adequate replacement for the farther off 85 Bakery, however their breads are WAY TOO OILY DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TREES I’VE KILLED, HOW MANY NAPKINS I’VE USED TO WIPE DOWN THEIR BREAD BEFORE I CONSUME??? IT’S TOO MANY TOOO MANY
i just don’t get it! it’s bread!!! you’re BAKING it, not frying right? i would say that the bread is good but i can’t taste anything but oil and guilt from how many napkins have gone to a fruit less endeavor of reducing how much grease I take in…
I love getting bottled water here in case of emergency (like extreme thirst), so much cheaper in comparison to other locations.

Not only do they look delicious but they taste just as good if not better then they look! Was our first time & definitely won’t be our my last! And definitely need to buy a dozen next time… lol

Their Thai iced tea is pretty good, along with other boba drinks at good prices. Their serving sizes are pretty large, as well. This is a nice place to buy a cake for friends.

Pastries are just okay and definitely don’t have a «homemade» taste to them. Their boba chubby cups are large but are only decent flavor-​wise.

While I was in Berkeley, I just had to stop by. I always go to the one in San Mateo because I live closer to that one, but this one is bigger and has a lot more variety. I got an egg tart, a German pudding, chocolate pineapple bun, pineapple custard bun, and a summer romance. While the German pudding was good, I’ll probably skip it next time since it was a little pricey ($ 2.99). In fact, most of the products sold here are a lot pricier than stuff sold in Chinatown. Nevertheless, the chocolate pineapple and pineapple custard buns are the best. They are a must! The pineapple custard is stuffed with this sweet, Chinese style custard. The chocolate pineapple is topped with a thin, flaky layer of chocolate and is stuffed with chunks of, you guessed it, CHOCOLATE! The summer romance was filled with sweet cream cheese and had blueberry jam in the middle. I wasn’t really into that combination, but anything called «summer romance» is worth trying. There are still so many items I want to try and I can’t wait to be back!

Sheng Kee is a decent Taiwanese bakery with a lot to offer.
Their boba is delicious and affordably priced too! Boba is consistently top quality and there’s no extra charge!
The pastry selection is ok. It’s best to go in the late morning when the items are fresh, as they let the same pastries sit on the shelves all day (no fun getting stale buns in the evening). I feel like they charge too much; I can find those same items in Oakland Chinatown for half the price (then again, who has time to BART all the way to Lake Merritt just for a pork bun?)
Overall a good, convenient place to get pastries and boba
Warning: minimum $ 5 for credit cards. If you’re just getting a drink, you gotta bring cash

The matcha green tea latte has a nice hint of jasmine to it, which brings me back to childhood. I highly recommend getting it. I wish Peet’s Coffee and Tea would make it the same way. Much love and more power!

This review is only for the bubble tea.
Great place to grab a drink while walking around. I went to get Bubble Tea after lunch. It was cold (51F) so I got hot milk tea ($ 2.75, No boba). Standard bubble tea. It wasn’t as sweet as I expected (good) and was exactly what I needed. It is also cheaper than other bubble tea spots in the area so that’s a plus.
Other Notes:
1. Bathroom is employee only so you have to go to the one on the second floor of the Chipotle nearby.
2. Place serves Peet’s Coffee
3. $ 5 Credit Card Minumum

2.5 stars. Pastries and other foodstuffs are either salty or their textures are not what’s expected. I found the cheesecake which costed $ 1.65 to be more like a pound cake which was fine for me, but the Danish boat pastry had cream that was almost gooey not whipped or light or fluffy. But you get what you pay for.
Service is quick as you pick the pastries out onto a tray with tongs and you pay at the cashier’s. Only thing good was Thai tea– much better than their neighbour’s in south side.

I walked into this bakery and was amazed at the wide selections of pastries.
I eventually settled on the following items:
Chocolate red bean flurry bun had a glob of chocolate with red beans. As a chocoholic, I enjoyed this.
Purple romance taro bun is good for people that want something lightly sweetened. It didn’t seem as heavy as the chocolate red bean flurry.
Green tea mochi Danish was flaky and fluffy like a croissant. It was delicious.

A great place to grab a quick snack before class or a steaming cup of milk tea on a cold afternoon. It’s nothing extraordinary, but also a solid choice when you’re in a hurry. Sure, the milk tea at Sharetea and UCha is better, and there are better pastry options at 85C. But considering Sheng Kee’s proximity to campus, you can’t ask for anything better.
There are also cakes and sweet pastries, which have proven to be a good option for birthdays.
My personal favorites include the hot dog bun and ham, cheese, and onion buns. But then again, I’m a big fan of anything salty and carb-​y.

I mostly like Sheng Kee and have had good experiences with different locations as well as this location in the past, but yesterday’s just put a bad taste in my mouth.
I bought some mooncakes for Autumn Moon Festival (no problem there, their mooncakes are always good). I was also hungry so I bought a BBQ bun to snack on. Now, their BBQ buns are generally mediocre with little filling and a lot of fat to red pork ratio, but they will do the trick in a pinch. Now, I took a bite out of my bun after leaving yesterday and the taste was just gross. Slimy and off. Please keep in mind that being Chinese-​American I have eaten the gambit of BBQ buns, from ones where the filling is basically all fat to ones that have clearly just been reheated from being frozen. I accept that not every BBQ bun is going to be the best and even if I am disappointed, I understand that is just the way it is.
This, however, was the first time I’ve had to do a double-​take. Taking a look in my bun there was the expected small amount of filling but the fat had basically liquified into grey sludge and the bits of the meat were also weirdly grey. Looking at it I started to feel queasy.
So I went back to ask about it since I have never had that experience before. The cashier looked at it and said that the pork is supposed to be that color, red. And I said I was concerned about the parts that were not red. So she took it back to the kitchen and then came back and told me that was the way it was supposed to be. OK, so your filling is supposed to be sludge. Got it. There was no real attempt to address the fact that I am clearly unhappy with my food.
I ended up tossing it into the trash bin outside.
Maybe they were having a bad day in the kitchen, who knows. All I know is that I would go back to buy mooncakes, raisin toast, cake slices, and roll cakes, but sadly, never again the BBQ bun.

Convenient location and food. I like how it’s open pretty early in the morning and late at night, but the food quality is mediocre.
–Sun cake — small packaged disc which is supposed to have some sweet filling. I think it’s under $ 1. Disgusting. I think I was just eating flour mixed with a ton of artificials the whole time and sun cake tastes nothing like that! Plus, since it’s already packaged, you can see that all the ingredients listed on the wrapping are… artificial.
–Red bean bun — medium sized puffed up bland bread with a dab of red bean paste so that they can call it a red bean bun. When you take your first bite and expect to have a bite of sweet bread and red bean, you can see that the inside is hollow and there’s a teaspoon of red bean sitting patiently on the other side of the bread.
–Portuguese egg tart — I usually get this one over the other egg tart because it looks more appetizing. I’m not sure if that’s actually true, since the flan part just tastes sweet and doesn’t have the right flavor. The pastry crust also sticks to the tin so it falls apart as you try to peel it off. This makes the whole thing really hard to eat, so if you want actual egg tarts I suggest going to Napoleon Bakery in Oakland Chinatown. I also see flies chilling around this pastry the most.
–Garlic bread — might look like a block of wood from the distance but it’s really a chunk of bread dipped in oil and rolled around in garlic seasoning. It’s actually my favorite thing to get there, although it IS as hard as wood. Sometimes I get really tempted to cut it into cubes and stack them. I only come to Sheng Kee for this bread, maybe because it has lowered my standards tremendously.

PRO
+ close to campus
+ they bag each buns separately
+ large selection of buns except when you go very early in the morning (7:30 AM) and very late at night (10:00 PM)
+ they have variety of whole cakes for birthdays or slices of cake to treat yo self. The cakes are not as sweet as cakes you would get from Sam’s or Safeway. Their tiramisu cake is not bad and comes with cute edible chocolate flowers.
+ chubby cup for boba is huge and cheap in comparison to nearby boba places. Also, you can get 2 toppings for free (included with the price of tea)
CON
— their tea is disgustingly sweet and not made well. The first drink I ordered from them was the honey green tea and there was a glob of honey floating in my green tea. I ended up mixing the honey into my tea as I sadly made my way to class. Two years later, I decided to give them another chance and got Jasmine tea. First sip and I was overwhelmed by how sweet it is. After resting my taste buds, I stirred my cup and the drink did not taste as sweet as before but still very sweet. I guess there must had been a glob of sugar in my drink… The tapioca balls were okay, not under or overcooked.
— $ 5 minimum for credit card

Sheng Kee saved the day! I was sitting in my night class when I realized that I had not picked up anything for my friend’s housewarming party the next day. A quick Unilocal search led me to Sheng Kee’s listing and I was surprised to see that it stays open until 11pm.
After class I headed to the bakery and found it still fully stocked with goodies. Disclaimer: I grew up eating Sheng Kee pastries so perhaps I have a slight bias. I like it better than 85C and Paris Baguette and it’s cheaper than the competitors.
Now that I’m paying $$$$ for tuition, I don’t have nearly as much disposable income. As a result, my friend had to settle for the $ 6.99 «Swiss Roll» cakes instead of a pretty round cake. It tasted delicious and everyone looked satisfied. I was also able to pick up my favorite item, the Portuguese egg tart, for buy one get one free!

Well, while I don’t live close by, I do enjoy getting some baked goods from Sheng Kee. I prefer these guys over 85C. However, I usually go to the other location in Berkeley. I found out that place close earlier and this location closes at midnight so I came by here at 10pm.
I have to say, you won’t get what you want this late. You get leftovers without any discounts. I don’t like to complaint but I was just able to get the buns that were available that looks decent. They included:
BBQ bun
Red Bean bun
Taro Bun
They were all okay. All were a little dry except for the BBQ bun. I would like to come here one of these days earlier so I can get a fair assessment of their products.

One of my favorite Bakeries in Berkeley. Sheng Kee is a Taiwanese bakery with a good selection of savory and sweet breads, for a fair price (slightly cheaper than most bakeries). They also have a good drink selection– and 2 for 1 specials with boba.
What I especially enjoy is their contemporary take on bread and mixing of Asian and American flavors. It works really well too– from ham, corn and cheese breads, to bacon breads, and even pineapple and chocolate buns! For good deals on snacks and drinks, Sheng Kee is the place to go.

What I ate: Patries, all kinds.
Visit date: May 13, 2015
First time? No.
I’ve had many a pastry here at Sheng Kee. I enjoy the savory ones the most. The pizza bun bread is slightly sweet, the vegetables tender, and the meat nice and salty. From the sweet buns, my top picks are the pineapple and the pineapple chocolate buns. Both just slightly sweet. I wish they made mini versions of their buns, but I’m definitely not complaining about the size. Also delightful are the meat pastries in the hot box. The crusts are flakey and the insides warm.
There is $ 10 minimum credit card purchase but that’s super easy to meet! Just grab a tray and get to filling it.

Kein Vergleich zu anderen Billigbäckern, hierversteht man zumindest annähernd verschiedene Teige herzustellen, auch Hefe– und Blätterteig, nich nur das sonst übliche Backpulverzeug. Vom Geschmack gut, nicht übersüßt und nicht künstlich. Wirhatten uns durch verschiedene Teile durchprobiert und alle waren lecker.