Smokey J Bakery, 301 N Garfield Ave., Ste A, Monterey Park, CA 91754
I don’t get the name, Smokey J, but that’s part of the charm of this new Chinese bakery café deep in Chinese territory. It’s a good place to camp too. Think 85C Degrees with cases of baked goods. Grab a pair of tongs and select what you want. There are sweet and savory Chinese buns (e.g., pineapple, taro, mushroom & cheese, ham & corn, chocolate milk, pork sung, tomato chicken, onion dog, sausage & pork sung, etc.) and cheesecake. The buns are about $1.35-$1.85 each. Day old buns are 50 cents each.
For beverages, they have made to order have milk tea, yogurt drinks, fruit tea, matcha drinks, and coffee, with cheese foam, milk foam, boba and other add-ins.
Cheesecake ($3.50): Light and fluffy, more like a sponge cake than a cheesecake though – it had very little cheese flavor. I did like the lightness and the fact that it wasn’t that sweet but the texture was like sponge cake.
Smokey J milk coffee ($4.45): The cup was filled with huge ice cubes and the drink was pretty sweet at 50% sweetness but I did appreciate how strong it was
* Sausage & corn bun: The bun was soft and not too dense, the sausage bits were tiny and there wasn’t much corn
* Egg custard bun: The custard was creamy, the bun soft and it wasn’t that sweet
There are separate frequent buyer cards for drinks and baked goods.
3.5 out of 5 stars
By Lolia S.
