Asian bakeries across the capital are finding success with fusion creations that combine trending Eastern flavours with traditional Western formats.
These include sweet treats like matcha-flavoured croissants and crêpes, or pandan and coconut-infused mille-feuille, as well as savoury snacks such as a pain Suisse with chicken curry.
Tapping into growing interest in Asian cuisines, the businesses are able to deliver taste trends playing out on social media with the quality and presentation afforded by European patisserie.
Happy Sky Bakery has been supplying Japanese bread to wholesale customers in London for the past 20 years, more recently opening shops in Shepherd’s Bush and Soho. Founder Motoko Hida cites the Tokyo Olympics and the wider popularity of Japanese food such as sandos as to why her business has grown approximately 45-fold since its inception.
Among signature menu items is the Warabi Mochi Matcha Cheesecake Croissant – a crispy pastry filled with creamy matcha cheesecake, topped with chewy rice cake (mochi), and finished with black sugar syrup (kuromitsu). A mixture of textures is also found in another bestseller, the Mochi Matcha Brioche, which features soft brioche dough stuffed with matcha custard and mochi. It has also added Japanese yuzu to Portuguese pastel de nata (tarts) for a citrus balance to its traditional creaminess.
“We do not create combinations simply for novelty,” asserts Hida. “It is important that the flavours and textures complement one another naturally and remain enjoyable for customers experiencing Japanese ingredients for the first time.”
Aróme Bakery, which operates three sites in Marylebone, Covent Garden and the recently opened one in Chinatown, describes itself as having a French foundation with an Asian accent. Products said to be gaining traction with customers include a Pandan Coconut Custard Slice and a Creamy Pistachio Marzipan and Butter in a Sourdough Chocolate Chip Baguette. A savoury option currently in development is a Soft Cheese, Brown Butter & Sweetcorn Bun.
Its co-founder Alix Andre tells British Baker that NPD inspirations are drawn from travels, particularly to Singapore and Japan. “We don’t work on a fixed schedule when it comes to changing the menu, but we’ve found that the Chinatown crowd is very receptive to trying new items, which makes it really fun for our team,” he adds.
Another Chinatown tenant is Sakurado, which also regularly introduces innovative Asian desserts with new flavour combinations to offer something different for existing and new customers. Its Matcha Mille Crêpe, for example, has been “incredibly popular with matcha lovers” and had a lychee variant for the summer trading period. This autumn season, it is launching a Black Tea Roll Cake and a pistachio-flavoured mooncake.
A recent NPD was its Coffee Mochi Bun, based on a Malaysian staple and featuring soft bread with a coffee crust that crackles. “We have added our own twist with our fresh mochi and salted butter filling – absolutely delicious and we now have a cinnamon version,” says Sakurado founder Mei Rubin.
Over at Brunswick Shopping Centre in central London’s Bloomsbury district is a new Asian-fusion bakery shop called Rise & Fold, founded by Chin Teow who also created the matcha and dessert brand Tsujiri. Some of its star lines are Lemongrass Chicken Curry Pain Suisse, Black Pepper Beef Pain Suisse, Black Sesame Banana Bread, and Kimchi Focaccia. It has also recently rolled out a Matcha & Hōjicha Pain au Chocolat and a Garlic & Spring Onion Cream Cheese Brioche.
The company says it is constantly developing new ideas but launches them only once the recipe and consistency is ready.
Meanwhile, both Happy Sky Bakery and Aróme have Honey Butter Toast as a signature bake. This is an adaption of French toast that uses thick slices of Japanese milk bread (shokupan) – made from scratch, sliced thick, soaked in honey and French cultured butter, and finished in the oven until golden. Happy Sky also offers variations including matcha, hojicha (roasted tea), and chocolate.
“Consumers aren’t only looking for sweetness”
HungryPanda is an Asian food delivery platform that started out in 2017 serving Chinese communities in the UK but has since experienced significant growth through a wider group of consumers that are increasingly willing to explore beyond established categories such as Chinese takeaway, sushi, or bubble tea.
Asian bakery and desserts is a category of rising interest, particularly in London, notes the company.
“Looking at recent sales across some of the specialist bakery and dessert merchants on HungryPanda, we see strong demand across a surprisingly broad range of products – from egg tarts and cream puffs to mochi breads, taro cakes, and pork-floss pastries,” comments Kitty Lu, director of public affairs at HungryPanda.
Lu believes one of the reasons why the category has considerable room to grow is its diversity, with many products combining flavour profiles and different textures. “Mochi is a particularly good example,” she adds. “Consumers aren’t only looking for sweetness – they’re discovering the chewy, creamy and sometimes savoury combinations that are very characteristic of contemporary Asian bakery.”
Mrs Bakery in Chinatown is one of the strongest performers on the platform, with leading products being its Matcha Mochi Lava Stuffed Bun and Black Rice Mochi Bread. A short walk away is Master Bun Pastry, which also trades well via HungryPanda including in its signature Xiaobei pastries such as the Crispy Seaweed Bun along with fusion creations like the Caramel Croissant Tart.
“What these brands show is how broad the definition of ‘Asian bakery’ is becoming in the UK,” says Lu. “It can encompass Chinese pastry traditions, Hong Kong-style baking, Japanese-inspired matcha and mochi flavours and European patisserie techniques – often within the same bakery.”
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