JJ's Bakery (Arcadia)

This is probably THE most popular JJ's bakery in Los Angeles. When my college friends found out I was moving to the "valley", they told me that I HAD to try this Chinese bakery. And of course by the time I moved up here, JJ's was no mystery...my co-residents already knew about it.

It's located in the chinatown of san gabriel valley--Arcadia...right off Duarte and Baldwin Ave.

Weekends are busy days for JJ's. Crowds are lined up trying to get their freshest baked goods--straight from the oven.

They use the same type of bread for almost all their baked goods--it's this slightly chewy and slightly sweet soft bread--probably very similar to the texture of hawaiian rolls. The main difference is what's inside (or outside), and it varies from dried pork, barbeque pork, coconut, taro, red bean, mochi, hot dog, corn, and more.

They also have more "baked goods" which includes moon cake, birthday cakes, mochi, and little fruit tarts. The other side of JJ's has a small "cafe" that serves coffee from Illy-the famous rich Italian coffee.

(from left: hot dog bun, red bean mochi, dried pork)


I've been here probably half a dozen times so far, and can say that I've tried half of their baked bready items. So I thought I can give my "tips" of going to JJ's:

1) Arrive early if you want the freshest and largest variety of baked goods.
2) If you do arrive early and they don't have what you want, ask them. Most likely it's in the back.
3) All of the baked buns have a unique look on the outside--if you know exactly what you want, you can tell by how it looks without reading their small signs.
4) Buns run out fast, especially the popular ones.
5) If you don't know what to get, look at what others are getting.


My favorites:
Sweet buns: Red bean bun with mochi (outside: half of the bun has sesame seeds)
Savory buns: Barbeque pork bun (outside: plain), or the 3 miniature dried pork buns (comes in 3, has dried pork all around it)