At last, the vacant spot between Toaster Oven and Chipotle on Telegraph has fulfilled its promise. The much anticipated (that “Coming Soon” sign hung for too long) Sheng Kee Bakery officially opened on Monday and has been flooded with hungry and curious students. For those disappointed by U Cafe, the first local Asian bakery that opened just last August on Durant, Sheng Kee offers a larger selection of pastries, bread, and cake and at cheaper prices.

As one of those students frustrated by Berkeley’s strange lack of good Chinese food (Sun Hong Kong and Lotus House exist to give poor students sustenance, not quality Chinese cuisine), I eagerly headed over to Sheng Kee with some other Cantonese ABC’s (“American Born Chinese”) hoping to maybe get some cocktail buns and sesame seed balls. Upon entering we were excited by the size of the store, the long line of customers, and the hustle of employees keeping the shelves stocked with freshly baked goods. However, after scanning the shelves we were dismayed by the available choices – they all seemed to be of Western origin or Westernized. There was garlic bread, hot dog and cheese buns, French palmier cookies re-named “Butterflies,” and even what looked like fillet burgers labeled “Crispy Chicken Sandwich.” Sure, they had some familiar classics like egg tarts, shredded pork buns, and sponge rolls, but everything else looked like a fusion of Western and Eastern pastries. Where were the cocktail buns and sesame seed balls?

To be fair, Sheng Kee Bakery is a Taiwanese chain (I did not know this at the time of my complaint), and cocktail buns and sesame seed balls are Hong Kong pastries. Also, Hong Kong bakeries have a lot of Western influences, namely the British Imperial ones; for example, Hong Kong egg tarts were inspired by English custard tarts. Hence my image of an authentic Asian bakery is already Westernized to some extent. Nevertheless, if you’re an Asian American used to Chinatown bakeries you probably won’t find many of the baked goods at Sheng Kee’s familiar. Luckily, though, their goods are delicious if you’re willing to try something new. Yelpers and I would recommend the green tea mochi pastry.

Now that there are two Asian bakeries within a block of each other, there might be some confusion. You may wonder, what’s the difference between U Cafe and Sheng Kee? From what I understand U Cafe is cuter, smaller, and offers mostly the same goods – buns, tarts, cookies, bread, boba, cakes. They also offer macaroons, which Sheng Kee does not. U Cafe and Sheng Kee have similar prices for unpackaged baked goods – no more than $2 – though Sheng Kee has more choices and, with its current business, fresher products that taste arguably better.

Whichever bakery you favor, it’s great that there is now a choice of Asian bakeries near campus that sprang up within the last year. Not to mention the recent opening of Happy Valley, a decent Chinese restaurant (that is, a little better than the aforementioned options) on Telegraph. So next time you have a craving for Asian cuisine, you can breathe a sigh of relief that you don’t have to go all the way to Oakland or SF Chinatown.

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