85°C Bakery: We Tried Everything We'd Never Ordered

We have been going to 85°C Bakery for 17 years. We know the menu cold. We have our usuals. And for this video, we were not allowed to touch any of them.

Quick Facts:

• Cuisine: Taiwanese bakery (breads, cakes, drinks)
• Location: 85°C Bakery — Irvine, California (first US outpost, opened 2008)
• Founded: 2003 in Taipei; ~1,000+ global locations, ~60 US stores
• Best for: Taro buns, bolo bao (pineapple bun), sea salt coffee, Black Forest cake
• Our visit: Pre-wedding-diet cheat day — full ordering spree of items we'd never tried

TL;DR: After 17 years of ordering the same favorites (marble taro bun, bolo bao, Black Forest cake), George and I forced ourselves to try only new items at 85°C Bakery Irvine. Biggest win: the Guava Cheese Strudel (10/10, George 9/10) — flaky, layered, balanced, absurdly good. Best new savory: Pesto Chicken Hot Sandwich. Biggest miss: Potato Croquette Bun (triple carb + surprise fishy note) and the Cream Puff (sad, soggy at room temp). The strudel alone made it worth breaking the usual order.

What Is 85°C Bakery, and Why Is This So Hard?

85°C Bakery (called Bā Shí Wǔ in Mandarin, which literally just means 85°C) opened its first location in Taipei in 2003. The Irvine, California location opened in 2008 as the very first US outpost, which means we have essentially been regulars since day one. The menu breaks down into three categories: breads, cakes, and drinks. It is a big menu. They are always adding new items. There is always something we haven't tried.

Our usuals are a short list of things we love deeply: the marble taro bun, the bolo bao (a pineapple bun, for the uninitiated — no actual pineapple flavor, just a pineapple-shaped crust on top), the boro Danish, and the Black Forest cake. George's personal record is pressing a pork stone bun flat with his palm and eating it like a tiny fist. These are our people foods. We know them. We trust them.

The rules for this video: each of us picks two buns we've never ordered (one savory, one sweet), one cake, and one drink. Ratings for everything. The question at the end is whether anything earns a permanent spot in the rotation. Context worth noting: George and I are in the middle of pre-wedding diet mode. This was our designated cheat day. Every single item carried emotional weight.

The Savory Pastries

Pesto Chicken Hot Sandwich (George's Pick)

George almost got the tuna sandwich. He switched at the last minute to the pesto chicken and ordered it hot, which I think was the right call. The sandwich is small but packs a lot in: a flaky crust with actual cheese baked into the outside, lots of butter throughout, and a creamy pesto-cheese filling inside that is not traditional Italian pesto at all. It's sweeter, creamier, more of a cream-pesto situation. George said when he bit into it, "it kind of like blew up," which is exactly the right behavior for a pastry.

I liked it. He loved it. It's genuinely filling for how small it looks because of how much butter is involved. You can see the sheen. His rating: 7.7 out of 10. Mine: 7. Would we get it again? He said yes, but also wants to try the other hot sandwiches next time. I still want to know about the tuna.

Potato Croquette Bun (Jasmine's Pick)

This is where I made a reasoning error. I saw "potato croquette" and thought: that sounds delicious. I did not think through the fact that it is a potato croquette wrapped inside a bread bun, which means fried potato crust plus bread plus potato inside. Triple carb. George looked at the cross-section and said "Some people are beautiful on the outside, but not on the inside." This is an accurate summary.

The panko is crunchy, not crispy. The potato inside was slightly cold. There's also corn, some herb, and what tastes like surimi — a fishy note we were not expecting. None of it is terrible but none of it comes together. George suggested air frying it at home might save it, but I'm not convinced. The bread being thin does help — it doesn't add as much bulk as it could — but it's still a lot of overlapping textures chasing each other.

My rating: 4 out of 10. George was going to say 3.8. Close enough.

The Drinks

Fresh Strawberry Milk Tea (George's Pick)

George's strawberry milk tea was the stronger drink. Really strawberry forward — almost floral, almost rose, which he loved. His read: there's probably some artificial strawberry mixed with fresh to amplify the flavor, which sounds like it could be a complaint but isn't. It works. He gave it a flat 8 out of 10. I tasted it and gave it a 7.5. It's the kind of drink where you'd order it again without thinking twice.

Strawberry Matcha Latte (Jasmine's Pick)

I make a strawberry matcha latte at Kona Loa Coffee Crown Valley, so I had a natural comparison point going in. The 85°C version is good. The matcha is present but not loud — it gives the drink earthiness without dominating the strawberry. In person the color looked a little less vibrant than on the menu photo, which was mildly deflating, but the flavor was solid. George, who does not like matcha, called it pretty good. Both of us landed at 7 out of 10. Not a miss, not a revelation.

The Sweet Pastries

Guava Cheese Strudel (George's Pick)

George's sweet pick, and he was drawn to it because it reminded him of Porto's — the flaky pastry, the fruit filling. High confidence going in. He was right.

The pastry is incredibly flaky: thin layers, crumbly, airy. The guava flavor is well-balanced, not too sweet, not too tart, and a little funky in that tropical way that guava can be when it's done right. I could taste every individual element: pastry, butter, sugar crystals, guava. George described it as "toaster strudel with adult money," and he meant that as the highest compliment.

I gave it a 10. He gave it a 9. That's a strong consensus for something we had never tried in 17 years of coming here.

Taro Mochi Ball (Jasmine's Pick)

My sweet pick. The taro mochi ball had just returned to the menu (there was a sign), and I almost didn't get it because it's very close to my usual marble taro bun — but I hadn't had this version before, and different enough qualified. It really is a combination of my two favorite pastries: the taro paste of the marble taro bun, and the soft squishy texture of the bolo bao. The mochi ring on the outside is the distinguishing feature.

George's honest take: "The mochi is my least favorite part about this bun." Not because it was bad, just because it didn't feel necessary. The bun held up without it. I gave it an 8 out of 10. George gave it an 8.5. We both agreed air frying it at home would be the move — crisp the outside up, keep the inside soft.

The Cakes

Mango Creme Brulee Cake (Jasmine's Pick)

Beautiful cake. Not for us. The mango didn't taste like the intense Asian mango I was expecting — lighter, more restrained. The bigger issue is that George and I are dense cake people. Costco cake density. American grocery store buttercream. This is a mousse-based cake: light, airy, not too sweet. Which is, as I acknowledged in the video, exactly what most Asian bakeries are going for and exactly what a lot of people want.

I gave it a 5 out of 10. George was going to say 4.5. Our shared verdict: "if they had this as a dense version, that would be our preference." We also agreed that frozen it might actually be better — the mango would hit differently cold and the texture might firm up into something we'd enjoy more. Worth noting: if light mousse cake is your thing, you'll probably rate this much higher than we did.

Cream Puff (George's Pick)

George was excited about the cream puff. When I was getting footage of it at the bakery, I noticed it was already soggy. I did not say anything. I felt guilty about this later.

He bit into it: damp pastry on the outside, room-temperature cream inside, texture slightly grainy and a little oily. In all honesty, it made both of us a little sad. George gave it a 5. I gave it a 2. My baseline for cream puffs is the Costco version eaten directly from the freezer, half-thawed, and this did not survive the comparison. The official directions apparently say to let it thaw fully before eating. I respect that. I will not be following that advice. Our strong hypothesis is that this cream puff frozen would be significantly better.

Bonus: The Cookie Situation

This wasn't part of any official category. I had been craving cookies for three weeks. Pre-wedding diet. We had been doing well. I looked at George and said "can we please get cookies?" He said yes. That's the whole story.

The cookies are labeled chocolate chip. They smell like oatmeal raisin. They taste like oatmeal chocolate chip. George and I both independently said "it smells like oatmeal raisin" the second we opened the bag. The cinnamon is not a subtle background note — it's one of the main flavors. If you're rating this as a chocolate chip cookie: 0 out of 10, because it is not a chocolate chip cookie. As an oatmeal chocolate chip: 6.5 out of 10, which we both agreed on. George called them "the mediocre of both worlds" — too much flour relative to oats to be a proper oatmeal cookie, not enough chocolate to be a proper chocolate chip. The chew is genuinely good though. We'd eat them again, just with accurate expectations. If you want a genuinely great chocolate chip cookie, I'd point you to my less-sweet dark chocolate chip cookie recipe at home — or my soft and chewy black sesame cookies for a nuttier twist.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many 85°C Bakery locations are there in the US?

85°C Bakery has around 60 locations across the US, concentrated in California (especially Southern California and the Bay Area), with stores also in Texas, Washington, Arizona, and New York. The Irvine location we visited was the first US outpost, opened in 2008 — globally the chain has over 1,000 locations.

What's the difference between a bolo bao and a pineapple bun?

They're the same thing. Bolo bao (菠蘿包) literally means "pineapple bun" in Cantonese — but there's no actual pineapple in it. The name comes from the crackly golden crust on top, which is scored in a pattern that resembles a pineapple's skin. It's one of the most iconic Hong Kong and Taiwanese bakery items.

Are 85°C Bakery cakes sweet like American cakes?

No, and this trips up a lot of first-time visitors. 85°C cakes lean light, airy, and mousse-based — far less sweet than American grocery store cakes. If you love dense Costco-style buttercream cakes, you may find 85°C's offerings underwhelming. If you love Japanese or Taiwanese-style cakes, you'll be right at home.

What's the most popular item at 85°C Bakery?

The sea salt coffee (a cold brew with a thin salted cream cap) is the signature drink that made 85°C famous. Bestselling pastries include the marble taro bun, bolo bao (pineapple bun), and the Brioche. The chocolate brick toast is another huge seller. Cakes range from Black Forest to various mousse-based fruit cakes.

Does 85°C Bakery have vegan or gluten-free options?

Very limited. Most breads contain butter, eggs, or dairy, and almost all sweet items do. The drinks menu has dairy-free options (ask for oat or almond milk), and a few of the simpler breads like the sesame bagel can be egg/dairy-free. Nothing on the menu is marked gluten-free and there's significant cross-contamination risk in a bakery.

The Verdict

Items earning a spot in the rotation:

1. Guava Cheese Strudel — yes, immediately, every time. How did we miss this for 17 years?
2. Taro Mochi Ball — yes, air fried at home
3. Pesto Chicken Hot Sandwich — yes, and we're going back for the tuna too
4. Strawberry drinks (both) — yes, either one is a solid order

Items to skip or approach carefully:

• Cream Puff: only if you eat it straight from the freezer at home; room temp is not it
• Mango Creme Brulee Cake: great cake if you love light and airy; not our preference
• Potato Croquette Bun: hard pass unless you specifically want triple carbs and a surprise fishy note

George's guava strudel alone made the whole challenge worth it. Sometimes you go to a place for 17 years and miss something incredible because you always order the same thing. That's the lesson. Are we abandoning our usuals? Not a chance. But the strudel is joining the list.