1039 Stockton St, San Francisco, CA 94108-1109Parking: street parking
http://www.goodmongkokbakery.net/
Last Visited: February 2011
Food: 3 to 4 stars
Atmosphere: N/A
Service: 2 to 3 stars
Price: $ to $$
While this picture hardly does it justice, it shows you the two things I tried from Good Mong Kok Bakery in San Francisco. It's even challenging to tell that these are two completely different items, but they are.
Located in busy Chinatown and open since 1978, you might pass Good Mong Kok without a second look, until you see the huge line inside. Like many other Chinese bakeries in the area, if you don't speak much Chinese, you'll have to find a guide or just use the point and select method and hope for the best.
On the left, the photo is showing a Chinese chicken cake/biscuit, which actually contains no chicken. On the right, is a smiling mouth pastry, at least, that's what it literally translates into. For both of these, you buy it by the pound as you would cookies from Italian bakeries.
- Chinese Chicken Cake/Biscuit - I spent a few weeks asking around about the name of this item. While the name has the word chicken in it, it's made of pork and lots of lard. It's surprisingly sweet and savory in flavor, and somewhat of an acquired taste. The outside pastry is light, but the inside center is somewhat chewy. After some detective work by our friend Johnny, we learned that the name of the baker has some relation to another word synonymous with chicken and that's how chicken got in the name. The unique set of ingredients is similar to the caesar salad dressing story in that it's a mixture of what happened to be in the house at the time (other pastry fillings) mixed together so that's how it came to be (special thanks to Johnny for that help!). While many Chinese folks will enjoy this one, I caution those of American background to perhaps buy just a couple for taste testing before stocking up.
- Smiling Mouth Cookie/Pastry - This sweet cookie/pastry is very light. I would liken it to lightness and texture of shortbread - it's super crunchy and the sesame seeds give it a great taste. I guess after you eat it, you're supposed to have a giant smile, but I don't know the origins of this cookie/pastry. It's just good, so load up. Great stuff!
If you go to their website, you'll find it entirely in Chinese, but the pictures do the talking. The website is surprisingly modern and easy to navigate, but for the English only audience, you'll just have to enjoy the pictures.
Try some of these goodies. Almost everyone will enjoy the smiling mouth pastry for sure!
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