Living in Kensington region, there are quite a few Chinese/Asian bakeries around. One such joint is Golden Ray Bakery, which is located on Kingsway, near Knight Street. Although small, they do offer a pretty good variety of baked buns, steamed buns, cookies, and cakes. During my visit, I had their Cheese Hot Dog, Tuna, Curry Beef, Pizza, BBQ Pork Pineapple, and Dried Pork Buns, as well as a Pork & Egg Steamed Bun.
Pork & Egg Steamed Bun ($1.75):
4/5
This was filled with minced pork, Chinese sausage, and egg. The bun outside was fluffy with a nice bit of sweetness. There was a fairly good amount of filling inside, with the meats being tender and juicy and the sausage having a wonderful fragance (I do love Chinese sausage; I probably wouldn’t want to know what actually goes into them, but they are frigging delicious).
Cheese Hot Dog Bun ($1.40):
3.5/5
The bread itself was relatively soft with a slight bit of sweetness. The hotdog was just a standard hotdog that’s quite processed, but still very tasty. The cheese was also very tasty. I do wish there’s a bit more filling, however.
Tuna Bun ($1.40):
3/5
The tuna was quite savoury and had a great creaminess (probably from mayo). It was a tad bit fishy, but that’s expected. Again, I could have done with more filling.
Curry Beef Bun ($1.40):
3/5
The bread was quite fluffy and soft. I quite enjoyed the curry, which was fragrant and mildly sweet; there just wasn’t much meat, however, and I do find that they were a bit stingy on the amount of filling.
BBQ Pork Pineapple Bun ($1.40):
3.5/5
I quite enjoyed the “pineapple” topping, which provided a nice sweetness and a bit of texture. The filling was also sweet, and the pieces of pork were tender. Again, I do wish that they could have been a little more generous with the amount of filling.
Pizza Bun ($1.40):
3/5
This was filled with tomato sauce, peppers, hotdog and cheese. I wasn’t a big fan of the tomato sauce or peppers, which I found to be a little bland. The hot dogs (which was the same as the ones from the Cheese Hot Dog bun) were tasty however, and the cheese provided a nice creaminess.
Dried Pork Bun ($1.40):
2.5/5
This was topped with dried pork floss. In most versions, the bun would be split open, and there would be this clear, sweet glaze inside; this wasn’t the case here, however. The bun was still tasty, being fluffy and soft, and the floss had a nice savouriness. I do miss the glaze however, which is normally my favourite part of these types of buns.
The baked buns at Golden Ray Bakery are mostly just mediocore, but I did really enjoy the steamed bun. The prices are very affordable, however: most of the buns are around $1.50. This isn’t the best bakery around, but it is decent and worth visiting. They are cash only, so make sure that you’ve got some on you when you visit.
Summary:
Food: 3/5
Price: 4.5/5
Service: N/A
Overall: 3.5/5
Recommendations: Pork & Egg Steamed Bun, BBQ Pork Pineapple Bun
