Fun Playing With Bubble Tea, Buns and Pork at Koko Bakery, Cleveland Asiatown

Last week, I was privileged to join the two gents behind the Cleveland-based food blog Eating Around Town for lunch at Koko Bakery in Cleveland Asiatown. I can't believe It's been almost a year since I last wrote about Koko Bakery (3710 Payne Ave, Cleveland, OH, (216) 881-7600, no website). 

As always, Koko Bakery presented too many choices - even with three of us eating! We began with Bubble Tea. I think Koko Bakery makes the best Bubble Tea in Cleveland - with about 20 flavors to choose from! Still, I always wind up with Taro flavor, because I love it so much. I adore their taro flavored desserts, as well.

Taro Bubble Tea

 

Bubble tea is flavored, sweetened, chilled tea that contains marble-size balls of tapioca. The tapioca is primarily a texture-enhancer, and allows one to drink and to eat their tea at the same time.  It also acts like tofu - absorbing whatever exotic flavors are in the beverage, and allowing you to play with it in your mouth. No wonder I love it so much! 

While waiting to order my entree at the counter, I noticed a tray of fresh buns, in the kitchen ready for the oven. The goods at Koko are baked fresh all day!

Chris and Joel picked out a tray full of buns for us to sample, as I pondered my lunch order. I'd never ordered an actual meal at Koko; I usually just load up on buns. It was not an easy decision, but I ordered the Pork Katsu Rice Plate. Chris ordered a Teriyaki Steak Sandwich for he and Joel to share. These items must have been made from scratch, because they took a while. Since we had our tray full of baked goodness to play with, however, we barely noticed.

Curry Beef Donut 

This was one I'd never seen before. Stuffed with curried beef (similar to the flaky pastry also available in the self-serve hot box), this Chinese Cruller dough was then deep fried and crunchy.

 

Yum.

My next taste was a Ham and Egg bun, which I'd never have selected for myself. Good call, Joel!

 

What really made this bun rock was the Kewpie Mayonnaise.  

Dan Tac (Egg Custard)

The dan tac were sublime - fresh, flaky pastry on the outside, boldly eggy filling inside.

Bacon Bun

This one never fails to please. Bacon, freshly made bun, creamy sauce, gooey cheese.

BBQ Pork Bun

The char siu went fast - I didn't even get a photo of the inside. 'Nuff said.

Teriyaki Steak Sandwich 

This was one sandwich for two growing boys - and for about $7, it fed them more than sufficiently.

They loved it. I would have skipped the cucumbers.

Tempura Vegetables

Every sandwich ($5-7) comes with one side, and the guys chose this. My taste was terrific - hot, crispy and fresh.

Pork Katsu Rice Bowl with Vegetables

  

I really liked this - though the pork was a tad dry and might have been a little overcooked. Still, the fresh factor stood out from both the meat and the crunchy coating, and the sauce drizzled over the pork strips was a gentle but tasty accompaniment. Though I should have told them I despise cukes in all forms when ordering, as my vegetables (which were fresh and not frozen or food service packed) were loaded with them. Oh well. It was such a generous portion that I actually left some of the rice over (as well as the cucumbers).

Chris and I announced our saiety - but Joel had his eye on one more goody:

Yep - this was your basic donut. Airy yet crispy, and redolent of lard, we all loved it. And the appropriateness of this as our final item was demonstrated as we left. I spent a couple of minutes getting organized in my car - I looked up and noticed a white and stenciled vehicle in the parking lot behind me. As I pulled out, the occupants of that car got out and headed into Koko Bakery. Even in Asiatown, the cops know where to get the best donuts!

Lunch at Koko Bakery is cheap, fresh, tasty and filling. If the above hasn't made you salivate, check out the photos and review by the EAT guys here. It was a shame that Koko was so poorly attended the day we visited - Cleveland needs to show Koko Bakery some love! I assure you, it is food and drink worth playing with.

Fun Playing With Buns at Koko Bakery, Cleveland Asiatown

Immediately following our delicious repast at Wonton Gourmet last Saturday, our entire group of seven adjourned to Cleveland Asiatown's fabulous Koko Bakery, 3710 Payne Ave Cleveland, OH (216) 881-7600 (no website, menu here). And for once, I remembered to bring my camera in!

Koko is located in Payne Commons, around the corner from Tink Holl Market.





The Bakery offers WiFi, Rice Plates, Rice Bowls, Salads, Sandwiches, Bubble Tea, Shaved Ice, Fruit Smoothies and a variety of teas, coffees and Coffee Smoothies, all at very friendly prices, seven days a week. But the best reason to visit is to partake in the fabulous baked goods, savory and sweet. Years ago,I was told that this style of bakery is called "Shanghai Bakery" (and indeed, we encountered this type of bakery in Shanghai, China), but I couldn't find any internet references to it, so what the heck do I know?

Well - I know that it is all delicious! Sorry for the yellows - lighting in the pastry cases combined with the colors of the pastries to yield these results:

















The way this works is you pick up a tray with a paper liner on it and a pair of tongs. You then select your pastries of choice and place them on your tray, and bring the tray to the cash register to pay and either chow down, or have your selections wrapped for travel. Here is my tray:




More Goodies Come Out of the Oven and Into the Display Case

I completely forgot to photograph the refrigerated case to the right of the bakery display, and the heated unit to the left. The former contains steamed buns with savory and sweet fillings. The latter contains items, such as Hotdog Buns and BBQ Pork Buns, that are much more palatable to instant consumption when they are hot.

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Savory Dinner Rolls



Like most Chinese pastry - these are just a little sweet, and very fluffy.


Assorted Breads









Simply beautiful cakes.


Cheesecake!


Kay's Selections - A Fruit and Custard Tart, and Dan Tac (Egg Custards)

When the proprietor, Jessica, saw me taking photos, she insisted that we must try her most primo specialty:









Unfortunately, Jessica had no way to know that I have a total aversion to all things coffee - and this fluffy, delightful pastry was indeed mocha flavored. Actually, considering that it tasted like coffee - it was amazingly tasty - the whipped filling was light as a feather, and the cake delicate and moist - and the toppings of nut and powdered sugar complimented it nicely. Highly recommended, unless, of course, you despise coffee flavors.

The misfortunes multiplied after I got home - as I fell victim to an intestinal-bronchial-viral thing that seems to be making the rounds- I didn't eat another bite for almost two days, which is why this post took so long! By Monday night, however, I was up to tasting some of the goodies that had been waiting for me in the fridge; a quick spin in the microwave returned these items to almost-fresh-baked goodness:


Bo Lo



Bo Lo Bao means "Pineapple Bun." However, there is no pineapple in it - the name arises from the resemblance in appearance between the top of the bun and a pineapple! The primary flavor is butter - and that is a verrry good thing.






Black Rice and Yam Bun

The name is a little deceptive, since the terms "yam" and "taro" are somewhat interchangeable.



The black rice is of the sweet and sticky variety, and the taro filling is sweet, soothing and simply wonderful.




Beef and Scallion Bun



What you see is what you get. Again, the dough is a little sweet and very airy.


Honey Cake

Well, that's what I call it anyway. Jessica slipped two slices of this soft yet toothy cake into my box. It perfectly channeled that Jewish Bakery classic Honey Cake - with fresh, plump raisins and crunchy nuts. Yum.



The next two items comprised my lunch at the office later in the week.


Beef and Cabbage Bun

As you can see, I was a little overly generous with the application of toaster oven heat (I singed the top a little).



It was still delicious - crunchy, beefy - with Panko bread crumbs on top and a lard-laden, flaky shell.




Curry Beef Pie

This little pie reminded me of the Curry Beef Triangle.





Flaky, toothy pastry surrounds a lightly curried beef filling.



This next bun was my Thursday breakfast:


Vegetable Bun





Cheese, mayonnaise, and cream are most un-Chinese ingredients that are very popular in Shanghai Bakery buns; this one had cheese and a touch of something creamy. Not sure if that is a Shanghai or a Hong Kong thing - both cities are so very cosmopolitan!

Bob and I shared the only sweet bun I'd selected after dinner last night (a spicy Pho - but that's another post):


Custard Bun





As satisfying as it looks, and again, highly recommended.

So, whether you are looking for a tasty and wallet-friendly lunch, a light supper, a cool treat or baked goods with a twist you may not have experienced before - you can't go wrong playing with the offerings at Koko Bakery. This is the third Shanghai Bakery that Cleveland has hosted since I moved here in 1995, and both Superior Bakery and Golden Bakery are sadly gone. So, it is important that we support the one Chinese Bakery that we have here - and the food and bubble tea is so good, it is very easy to do that!