As at a typical Chinese bakery, guests line up and place pastries on trays with tongs. It’s just more crowded here.
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As at a typical Chinese bakery, guests line up and place pastries on trays with tongs. It’s just more crowded here.
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Besides the 85°C coffee, drinks also include a popular series of sea salt beverages. This is jasmine and green tea with cream and salt, an aromatic combination that softens the floral notes of the jasmine.
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Besides the 85°C coffee, drinks also include a popular series of sea salt beverages. This is jasmine and green tea with cream and salt, an aromatic combination that softens the floral notes of the jasmine.
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Think this is just brioche? Think again. We were told customers have been known to steal the last loaf off of each other’s trays. Why? It’s silken soft, airy and unexpectedly buttery.
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Think this is just brioche? Think again. We were told customers have been known to steal the last loaf off of each other’s trays. Why? It’s silken soft, airy and unexpectedly buttery.
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Squid ink gives the Calamari Stick its color, but its flavor is all garlic.
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Squid ink gives the Calamari Stick its color, but its flavor is all garlic.
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Pastries are divided into Taiwanese, Japanese, European and “other” styles, as well as Danish (the pastry, not the country) and toast. This bacon-and-cheese-covered wand is categorized as Japanese.
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Pastries are divided into Taiwanese, Japanese, European and “other” styles, as well as Danish (the pastry, not the country) and toast. This bacon-and-cheese-covered wand is categorized as Japanese.
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Hot dog buns are a modern Chinese classic, but 85°C ups the ante by adding ketchup and cheese.
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Hot dog buns are a modern Chinese classic, but 85°C ups the ante by adding ketchup and cheese.
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This ham-and-cheese roll was so shiny and ideally caramelized, we almost didn’t believe it was real. It’s real. Real buttery.
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This ham-and-cheese roll was so shiny and ideally caramelized, we almost didn’t believe it was real. It’s real. Real buttery.
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Another Japanese-style squid ink pastry, the Squid Ink Corn Chicken tells you just what to expect. There’s cheese and bread crumbs, too.
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Another Japanese-style squid ink pastry, the Squid Ink Corn Chicken tells you just what to expect. There’s cheese and bread crumbs, too.
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In the back, a classic egg custard tart. In the foreground, meet its Japanese cousin, the Hokkaido cheese tart. It’s a tangy cheesecake in a crumbly crust.
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In the back, a classic egg custard tart. In the foreground, meet its Japanese cousin, the Hokkaido cheese tart. It’s a tangy cheesecake in a crumbly crust.
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Marble taro is the top-selling sweet bread. The fluffy roll is filled with gooey taro paste.
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Marble taro is the top-selling sweet bread. The fluffy roll is filled with gooey taro paste.
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The puff pastry of the almond-topped taro Danish is uncommonly crispy.
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The puff pastry of the almond-topped taro Danish is uncommonly crispy.
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But our favorite taro sweet is the Taro Swirl, a mound of crisp pastry atop a coconut-scented, taro-filled bun.
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But our favorite taro sweet is the Taro Swirl, a mound of crisp pastry atop a coconut-scented, taro-filled bun.
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Cakes classics like Black Forest, tiramisu and red velvet. However, matters get much more interesting with 85°C’s own treats like Taro Snow, Sea Salt Coffee Brulée and the shiny yellow dome known as the Mango Delight.
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Cakes classics like Black Forest, tiramisu and red velvet. However, matters get much more interesting with 85°C’s own treats like Taro Snow, Sea Salt Coffee Brulée and the shiny yellow dome known as the Mango Delight.
On a given day, there are 60 breads and 60 cakes available at 85°C Bakery Café. And with lines out the door, they go fast. But they’re replenished quickly, signaled by the staff’s constant refrain of “Fresh bread!” as they emerge from the kitchen with another batch.
Today the chain known internationally as the “Starbucks of Taiwan” (don’t let that deter you) opens its first Houston location and its 1,000th worldwide. Another is coming soon at 1027 Blalock Rd. and marketing and PR coordinator Christopher Jocson says Houston can expect at least one more this year.
Though many of the delicacies, like buns covered in pork sung or blackened with squid ink, are unmistakably Asian in heritage, the American division of 85°C has its own research and development team. “We’re trying to develop more fusion,” says Jocson. He says the success of the venture has been evidenced by the diverse clientele other locations have attracted. However, he adds: “We still want to remember our roots.”
Why does the brand create mania wherever it lands? Jocson argues that there aren’t many places to buy three pastries and a coffee for less than $5. Especially not at the quality offered at 85°C. The name refers to the temperature at which La Marzocco espresso machines brew the brand’s own Guatemalan-sourced beans, which the brand touts as the perfect temperature for creating coffee.
But for our money, the bakery is the best reason to visit.
Alice joined Houstonia in November 2015 and has been relishing exploring the city’s vibrant food scene ever since.
She began her journalism career at age 13 with a cult film criticism ’zine. As an adult, stints with WWE Magazine and EatingWell led to her job as senior food writer at Vermont’s alternative newsweekly, Seven Days, in 2008. In that capacity, she became one of the state’s most well-known TV and radio personalities. Her first book, Vermont: An Explorer’s Guide, was published in 2015. Alice has won an AltWeekly Award for Best Food Writing, two Daysies for Best Print/Online Journalist, and two "Top Social Foodie" awards from Burlington Social Media Day.
