85°C Bakery Cafe, Sydney

Update Review, March 2023

I've long been a fan of the Asian bakeries in Sydney (although my favorite, Dough Collective, closed long ago).  The big chains, Breadtop and 85* Bakery Cafe have always been a bit hit or miss for me, I've always still been compelled to visit at least once during my time in Sydney.  This year, I returned to 85* one night when I was really craving carbs, and taro.  I wasn't feeling great, and that just is what my body was craving.  However, it was a stormy night, and thus, I opted for delivery (which honestly is better in some ways, walking through those stores is SOOO hard to get just 1-2 items!).

I ordered on DoorDash.  Ordering online was easy, however when I got my order, one of my two items was missing, and a totally different item substituted.  I understand that they may have run out, but I would have appreciated a call to ask what I'd like instead, or at least something similar (not something else entirely and cheaper!).

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]
  

Bread - Native

First up, from the "native' section of the menu, I opted for a slightly savory item, so I wasn't just eating sweet carbs.

Pork Sung Bun. $4.80.

"This soft Taiwanese bun is topped with dry shredded pork and special 85°C blend mayo sauce."

OMG, OMG, OMG.

I guess I was just really craving this because, wow, it hit the spot.  Remarkably soft, fluffy, lightly sweet bun.  Slathered in creamy mayo, and plenty of pork sung.  Lightly sweet, lightly savory, full of subtle flavor, and great textures.  I devoured it, and surprised myself when I realized I was on the last bite.  It was just perfectly satisfying.  A great snack, or perhaps you could pair it with something as part of a meal (stuff it with shrimp?).  I really enjoyed it.

****.

Bread - Euro

Next, I ordered my taro pastry, but, alas, I didn't get that.  Instead, I got an item from the "Euro" section of the menu.

Portuguese Egg Tart. $9.90.

"A Portuguese flaky puff egg tart filled with rich egg custard."

Well, I didn't order these.  I ordered taro pastries, and got these instead.  Sigh, delivery.  85* makes a slew of different taro items, and I had a hard time narrowing down to just one, and alas, I didn't get any.  I wish they had subbed another taro item.  Anyway.  These were the Portuguese style egg tarts, with a pastry crust, egg yolk only custard, and caramelized top (vs the Chinese style with a shortcrust shell, full egg custard, and not caramelized top).  85* sells these Portuguese ones as a duo for $9.90, or Chinese style as a trio for $11.50.  

Obviously I was disappointed not to get what I ordered, but, I do like egg tarts, so once I changed my expectations, I was ready to enjoy.  But ... I didn't really enjoy.  Not at room temp, not warmed up.  These were just highly mediocre, actually probably below average, egg tarts.  The pastry was not crispy and flaky, rather, it was kinda soft and a bit spongy.  Certainly didn't taste very fresh.  The filling had a decent consistency, but didn't taste like much, and was a bit too sweet.  The lightly caramelized top had no actual flavor either.  

So, too sweet, soft and soggy, yeah, just not very good.  Any dim sum restaurant has better versions.  **+.

Original Review, August 2021

I first reviewed 85°C Bakery Cafe when I discovered, and loved it, in Pasadena, CA.  I've since visited other US based locations too.

As a quick reminder if you are unfamiliar with the chain, 85°C Bakery Cafe is Taiwanese international chain with 1000+ stores worldwide, with their first ventures outside of Taiwan in ... my favorite city: Sydney!  So I was overjoyed to realize that they have a slew of locations around the city.  I've visited several, including the big one on George Street, and a smaller location in Central Park.

I've had quite mixed success - some items I truly love, and others .... physically made me sick!  I'll continue trying more items though, as the menu is vast and fascinating.

This review covers many visits throughout 2018-2020, most occurring in late afternoon when the stores were fully stocked, or in the evening when the reduced selection helped me make decisions.   But my final visit was in March 2019, to the Central Park location, right when they opened at 8am.  I was fairly devastated when I arrived - I needed to get on the road for the airport by 8:15 am, and ... they had very little product ready.  I had no choice, I couldn't wait even for the batch that was just coming out of the oven.  On the plus side, everything was crazy fresh, still hot from the oven.

Japanese Style

The Japanese style section of the menu is the one that really calls out to me.  This section has many kinds of taro items, ones filled with cream, and textures galore.

Multi-Layer Taro.

"Danish pastry and with taro paste and QQ mochi inside, multi layered with multiple combinations of taste."

This ... is an example of an item I had my eyes on, but, alas, they did not have when I visited to purchase.  Doh!  How amazing does this sound?!!!  Taro & mochi?  And look at that flaky pastry!

Japanese Cream Boroh Bun.

"Soft and tender milk bread, with custard stuffing and crispy boroh on top."

Another one I was eying, as I wanted something with custard or cream filling, and lots of texture ...

Taro Wholemeal.

"Wholemeal taro roll in taro paste and a smear of brioche paste on top."

Remember the great taro items I had from the Pasadena location?  Yeah, I loved those, and couldn't wait for more taro.  Unfortunately, on my visit, they didn't have any of the amazing looking taro items, that I had literally been eyeing for years, every time I walked by ... why didn't I get them when I had the chance!

That early morning visit, this was the only taro option, the taro wholemeal.  It looked like a bagel.  Hands down, the least interesting sounding item.

Still, I got it.  It had taro, and brioche, so, that was some promise.

It wasn't great.  Basically just a hearty bread, actually kinda like a whole wheat bagel.  I didn't taste much taro, but there was a smear of taro paste inside.  I also discovered some walnuts inside, very unexpected.  It seemed over cooked, burnt almost, particularly on the outside, under the brioche paste.  Maybe that was just the wholemeal flavor?

The brioche paste smear on top was crispy, and interesting, but didn't provide much sweetness, making this a fairly savory item overall.

I wanted to taste taro, I wanted light and fluffy bread, and I wanted sweet, and this was just none of those things.

I ended up experimenting with it a few ways, one funny way was cutting it in half, stuffing with marshmallows, and toasting, so it got ooey gooey sweet marshmallow filling.  It kinda worked.  I also just tried adding whipped cream and sprinkles to one chunk since that usually improves most things.

I wouldn't get this again.

Coconut Twist.

"This is a sweet bread dough with coconut filling and is topped with slice almonds."

For my next selection, hedging, correctly, that I might not be satisfied with my taro item to deliver on the fluffy and sweet front, I went for this twist, not knowing what it was exactly, as the signs weren't out yet.  Again, the woes of visiting when they opened.

It was light and fluffy, a decent sweet bread base, warm, but not remarkable.

Among the twists was a coconut paste, with shredded coconut, sweet, kinda gritty, and not really my thing.  There were also some dreaded sultanas (darn! I was hoping they were red beans at least!), and not many of the sliced almonds.

Again, not an item I really wanted, but at least it was warm, sweet, and fluffy?  I didn't finish it, and clearly wouldn't get another.

Calamari Smoked Chicken.

"Custome (sic) made calamari bread bun with smoked chicken, bacon, mayonnaise, black pepper, pork sung floss and cheese."

After the failure of a crab item at another location, I still wanted to give another savory a try.  I could have selected one of many different items, particularly from the Taiwanese section, with so many cheese based items, or hotdog based items, all of which did look good, but, this one really called out.  

It had ... so many good things.  Calamari. Bacon.  Mayo.  Cheese.  Even pork sung floss.  I figured I could eat around the chicken.  It was like a far more elaborate version of the Squid Ink Bacon I had from the Pasadena location.

I ... loved it.  My chicken risk paid off.

What a fascinating, crazy item.

The bread was soft, and had a faint interesting flavor to it.  The top was shiny in a nice way.  I'm not sure I'd know it was calamari, besides the dark color, but it certainly had a distinct taste.  I liked the bread.

On top was a bit of cheese, crispy, and shockingly good with the bread.

Calamari Smoked Chicken: Inside.

Inside was the chunks of smoked chicken, bacon, and tons of mayo.  Really, tons of mayo.  The filling was fairly delicious, creamy, rich, and smoky.  It was very generously stuffed.

It was hard to avoid the chicken, but, there were so many other flavors I decided I didn't care too much, and it was shredded into small pieces..

The pork sung floss along the outside edge was also fabulous, salty, strong flavors, and it went great with the creamy smoky filling.

I was shocked by how much I adored this, in particular, the flavors were just incredible, and it had so many textures.  Fabulous.

I will gladly get it again.

Taiwanese Style

The Taiwanese style lineup is no slouch though, just as many, if not more, goodies than the Japanese section.

Mii Ebi Fry. $2.

There are several savory items that always nearly draw me in, such as this tiny fried prawn bun (so crispy!) ...

Fried Prawn Bun. $3.20.

"Soft bread with crunchy fried prawn."

Or its bigger sibling, with lettuce, tomato, and mayo on top (totally counts as a legit sandwich right?).

Shallot Pork Floss. $3.60.

"Soft bread rolls up with pork sung and shallots."

Or any of the breads with pork sung on them ...

Hotdog Salad Bread. $3.30.

"Toasted bread smeared with specially made salad and hot dog."

...  or the hotdog salad bread (seriously, what?) or caesar roll ....

Shallot Bread. $2.10.

Even the simple cheese sticks and shallot bread look good ...

Taro Twist. $2.60.

"This sweet bread dough with taro filling, with sliced almond on top."

The sweet lineup of course drew me in too, such as this taro twist (so much taro!) ...

Snow Milky. $2.80.

"The fresh bread uses Australian made premium milk."

... or the snow milky (so much cream ... or so I thought ...)

Snow Milky. $2.80.

"The fresh bread using the Australian made premium milk."

After eyeing it for years, I finally grabbed this one, when I was really craving cream filling (not custard, like most of the buns have).

Since the end of it was slathered in what I thought was cream, I certainly thought it would deliver in that department.

For my first bite, I ripped off a chunk of bread and dunked it right into the "cream", and took a big bite.

Um.  That was not cream filling, not the fluffy sweet whipped cream I was expecting, nor even a thicker richer Bavarian cream.  Nope, not a buttercream either, although,  "Gee, that buttercream sure tastes a lot like butter" was my first thought.  

And yes.  Butter.  It was ... just butter.  So much butter.  I had a huge mouthful of butter.  Mediocre butter.  It took a few more bites for me to be fully convinced of my error, but I was certain.  That was just butter.  And *tons* of it.

Butter Inside.

The end of the bun obviously was coated in it, but it was also sliced open and stuffed with #moarButter.

Honestly, that much butter was kinda gross.

But the bread?  It was really good! Soft, fluffy, sweet.  Really delightful actually. 

I actually finished the whole thing, in short time, as it was so delicious I couldn't stop eating it, but, I had to scrape off as much butter as possible.  And I really did want a cream filling instead.  I can only imagine how glorious it would be that way.

So, yes, I liked it in some form in the end, but, wow, kinda gross as served.  Would not get again.

Crabmeat Bun. $2.50.

I'll cut to the chase on this one.  Wow, this was ... horrible.  Truly, truly horrible.  I only had a few bites, and it literally made me feel sick.

But I'll back up.

I was excited for this, as I wanted a savory item, I liked the looks of if (what was the glaze?), the bread base at 85°C is usually good, and I love crab.  Sure, I was a bit skeptical of the cheese and crab combo, but, I was in.

For the first bite, I just tried a little of the base, just the bread, with a little of the glaze.  It was ... sooo oily.  I was confused, grossed out by the soggy nature, but also, disgusted by the actual flavor as well.  What was that glaze? It was a foul taste, it tasted burnt in an odd way.

Moving on.  Tons of cold, quasi-melted cheese, drowning in oil.  Again, where did the oil come from? I know cheese is oily, but ... this couldn't all come from the cheese.

I dug under the cheese, extracting some crab (crabstick, actually, which is fine with me).  The crab though ... you guessed it, oily.  I dug deeper, trying to find some that wasn't oily, but since oil seemed to be distributed throughout, from the bread to the topping, just, everywhere.

Every single element of this was just drowning in oil.  It made no sense.  The bread was soggy, the toppings soggy, and it was truly, truly gross.  I had more bites than I wanted, just attempting to find something, anything good about it, and it left me horribly sick to my stomach.

The only thing I can say positive is that it had a generous amount of crab?

Packaged Goods

Most items at 85* are fresh, but there are two sections of packaged items.

Near the register, for impulse buys perhaps, are packaged goods, bags with mostly what look like hard biscuits or crackers.  But on one visit, my total was under the credit card minimum, so I decided to just randomly throw on a bag of ... something.

Refrigerated Items.

The other type of packaged items are refrigerated, things like puddings (coconut pudding or mango coconut pudding here), or crepe boxes (durian, soybean custard), or cake rolls, and often, sandwiches.

Packaging.

The items all mostly came in the same bags, and were unlabelled, but really were quite cute!

Sesame Cracker-Cookies?

I'm still not really sure what these were.  A sweet hard style cookie? A savory cracker?  A hybrid biscuit?  They were quite hard, and seemed both slightly sweet and slightly savory, and were loaded with sesame seeds on the outside.  They almost seemed like chunks of fried dough that just got ... petrified?

No idea.

I can't say I enjoyed these, nor did I really know what to do with them (dunking in whipped cream didn't help!)

Toast

A section of the store that you'd expect me to mostly ignore is the toast section, basically, half loaves of different types of bread, or small buns.

I planned to actually get one of these to bring home with me, planning to pick it up that final morning as I headed to the airport, but, alas, they didn't have any ready yet.

Taro Toast. $3.80.

"Milky dough smears with rich taro paste. Strong milky and rich taro flavour gives you a jump for joy."

I'm so curious about this one, just because it looks like kinda boring brioche-esque bread, with but holes in it, but  plenty of taro paste.  Would it toast nicely? Be great slathered with ... something? Honey, butter, peanut butter, jam, all seem inappropriate.  Maybe kaya?

Alas, this one still remains on the "To Try" list.