I was making my rounds around the area one weekend and did a visit toward the Hong Kong City Mall 4 plaza in Chinatown. I have my usual places I like to stop in but one place that I visited a very long time ago but have notice was Bakery Ngoc Lan. I was reminded of the business thanks to social media. Walking in, it was around the opening hours so it was really subtle no one stopping in yet. The place is a rather cozy. This can be a nice quick bite place with a few seats to eat. The menu is unique and has some interesting choices of buns from savory to sweet. I chose 4 for a bit of variety for the visit: 2 taro custard, 1 salted egg and 1 cheese chaisu to go. The taro custard is a nice balance of sweetness, not too sweet and just enough. Filling is just the right amount. That was a nice way to test out one for what to expect with the others. The salted egg is a good flavor if it something familiar to your food experience. A very different taste profile oppose to it being sweet and this would be a quick bite bao and not a dessert. Lastly was the cheese chaisu. To me this was a very nostalgic flavor of bao growing up for me, if you had it at your dim sum gatherings but this leveled it up with cheese to give it more umami. I know it would be good and who can pass up on a cute piggy design too? Haha I do like one thing that there are a difference of colors and designs that are both colorful and unique. Every bao is never the same. Plus you can have them heated up or as is ready to eat. Overall my visit to Bakery Ngoc Lan was very good. A very nice variety and speciality in baos so it will never be just something simple. One thing I did not get to try was the other offerings of Vietnamese snacks and drinks. There a very nice claw machine as well if you would like to try your luck for a plushy. It is located on bit of a busier side of HK4, on the Ocean Palace side. I would give it a try and be open to trying the different flavors. Either that or be a fan of the different designs too. Whichever is your reason, you won't be disappointed. They also take Zelle as a form of payment if that is something you like to explore.

Cute bakery in the Hong Kong Mall plaza. Many items crossed out on menu, and there's usually a wait after ordering. The bao bread is soft and fluffy, but filling is subpar, in my opinion.

ngọc lan bakery has the cutest and most creative bánh baos ive ever seen! they have a large selection of sweet and savory bao buns including popular characters like hello kitty and various animals. they also serve different types of vietnamese coffee and refreshing pennywort juice. and they offer shipping within the us! what we got: - piggie bao (bbq pork + cheese) - octo bao (no filling) - doggy bao (no filling) - bunny bao (sausage) - hedgehog bao (taro) - purple piggie bao (taro) - yellow piggie bao (mung bean) - kitty bao (mung bean) ig: @whatsviveating

This place gets busy despite it being quite hidden on the corner of Hong Kong city mall. It's not big for dining in, but enough space to move around people. My sister really wanted to try this spot out and we came to get the pork bun bao. I was skeptical at first because places with cute looking things rely on the look of their cute items to carry the product, but I was happy to be wrong. Their dough is not dense. It is fluffy, soft and they really fill the buns. The filling is flavorful and juicy like you expect a pork bun bao to be. They were also very quick and even reheated the buns for us. Definitely worth coming to.

I came here this morning for a quick breakfast while doing some shopping in the area. I arrived as soon as they opened and they welcomed me in and had my food ready within 5 minutes. They do have a small seating area inside as well as seating outside on the sidewalk. Prices are affordable at I believe around $3.50 per bun. It cost me $7 for both and it was enough to fill me up. The BBQ pork bun was really good. Being a huge hello kitty fan I had to try the hello kitty bun, but wasn't really a fan of the custard filling. They have a few other buns I want to come back to try soon.

I went here with my friends on a Sunday about an hour before they closed. Overall, it was a pretty great experience. The person taking our orders was super friendly and helped us pick some buns we would like. One of our group also forgot her purse & they made sure we remember it (which was super nice)! The food came out pretty quick ~5 min and was super hot. We got an assortment of buns. My favorite was the bbq pork and cheese bun, but they were all pretty delicious. The ube cream & hedgehog bun tasted pretty similar and were both good too. The normal bbq pork one was delicious too!! They were all so cute :) The restaurant was pretty nice inside. It wa a nicely decorated and they made good use of the space. One thing to note is they don't have bathrooms. Overall, this is a great stop for a quick savory or sweet snack. I'd 100% go back here

Pretty laid back spot serving cute buns. I was a little skeptical and set low expectations at first since we found this place through social media. I'm always weary of the places serving "cute food" thinking they might not be good. The shop is in the corner of the strip in HK mall. Parking might be challenging during peak times, but we were lucky to find a spot. The guy behind the counter was nice and gave us some suggestions. It's really hard to miss the cute buns that they have on display. It's almost kinda weird eating them lol. We got the charsiu, charsiu with cheese, and ube with custard filling. All of them were pretty good. The custard filling was not what I expected - it's a little more light which I actually enjoyed. Additional positive was the employee warned us about a 3% credit card charge - they take Venmo though if you don't have cash!

On a recent trip to Houston, my mom found out about this place and was on an absolute mission to find these super cute baos! We finally found this place after wandering around and I'm happy to report this was a positive experience. We ordered a variety of bao. I love the creativity of their flavors - they're not unique but to be able to get different types of bao is not something we have in Atlanta. I ordered their special, the BBQ pork with cheese, for myself. This was delicious! My mother ordered a variety of bao but unfortunately I did not get a chance to sample any other ones except my own. I also do not remember how much we paid for all the baos, so I can't relate to all the reviewers saying these were overpriced, however, since I don't have a comparison price in mind, no price is too high, amirite? Extra stars for service - I'm guessing the owner - a super nice gentleman, engaged us in conversation, gave us thorough reviews and recommendations of Houston must-eats, and was very accommodating. I noted Yelp hours said they are closed but he decided to open his shop for the lunar new year. I think these are just really great people delivery an awesome product. Support this small business!