Kat's 9 Lives

As I was browsing around online, I found rave reviews of the Golden Gate Bakery in SF's Chinatown. They were said to be the best egg tarts in town, so I had to give it a try. On Friday we left early for dinner so we can swing by to pick up some baked goods. Finding parking in Chinatown was simple, but that was because of the hefty price you must pay. They were one of the most expensive yet. A dollar only bought you about 24 minutes, so be sure to bring some quarters if you plan to go there before 6PM. The bakery was extremely small but they still had a nice selection of baked goods ranging from moon cakes, napoleons, egg tarts to curry turnovers. The people working there mostly spoke Cantonese and their Mandarin was very weak.
The Egg Tarts were good and very popular. They kept boxing them by the dozens. I liked the flaky crust and the egg custard was good, but nothing too special. Maybe I had too high of an expectation as other people raved about them or maybe I just love all egg tarts. It was solid and good, but not what I expected. I also picked up the B.B.Q. and Curry Pastries. The rectangular ones were the B.B.Q and they were sweet. You can't really taste the curry in them. Usually I like those better than the Chicken Curry Pastries. The ones at Golden Gate Bakery were very good and different from the usual ones you see at other bakeries. They had corn and a variety of vegetables in the curry that gave it an extra kick. I also got what they called Sesame Pockets that were not what I thought they would be. They turned out to be a chewy mochi-like flat pancake with either mung beans or some sweet paste inside. Ms. Lin wanted to get the Pineapple Napoleon and that was not very good. I say stick with the Egg Tarts and Chicken Curry Turnover. You can't go wrong! ^_-

Golden Gate Bakery
1029 Grant Ave
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 781-2627