The way to my heart is straight through Tasty Place.

As slot editor, Ileana picked up some ridiculously tasty goodies from our favourite little bakery in Chinatown, Tasty Place to serve to our Medill counterparts. As her partner in crime, I was down for the ride!

Tasty Place is a clean, bright and consistently delicious bakery that is cheap cheap cheap! Everything Ileana bought came to under $14 and the average price for a baked good is $0.80.

As we picked out both sweet and savoury baked goods, I decided it might be more helpful to you if I took a picture of everything we got and then label and describe each item. It can be quite scary to wander into a bakery in a foreign neighbourhood and choose from a bunch of suspicious looking items with nondescript names like, “Tasty Balls”. What the hell is a Tasty Ball? And WHAT is that gelatinous blood-coloured filling?!

But no worries, love. I have simplified this process for you and you will no longer have to question what you are putting into your mouth.

• A = Winter Melon cookie – really does not have any melon taste, whatsoever. This cookie tastes like a doughy pina colada with a moist and flaky crust.
• B = Red bean stuffed sesame sweet bar – you have to love red bean paste to love this bar, which I do not. Red bean paste is just what sounds like and does, indeed, taste like red beans. There is a whole heck of a lot of filling in these little suckers, which means they pack a whole lotta red bean punch. Try them at least once.
• C = Lotus cookie – this is probably the most interesting cookie I have ever, ever had, and I HIGHLY recommend it. The Lotus cookies tastes as if Tasty Place made peanut brittle, liquefied it and then made it into a stodgy, gelatinous filling. The flavour is delicate but complex and incredibly addictive.
• D = Almond bun – oh. my. gosh. Eat these! The delicious almond-butter pastry is stuffed with dry coconut and almond paste and is sweet as can be. Seriously, the combination of flavours is gorgeous.
• E = Egg custards – sweet, but not too sweet, the pudding-like custard is piped into crumbly mini-pie crusts and air on the bland side. Still, they are safe bets for picky eaters.
• F = Cocktail bun – Ileana’s favourite. The pastry is packed with a mild coconut egg custard and is a true delight. This is also a really safe bet for people who are iffy about trying new pastries.
• G = Filled Sesame Balls – the exteriors of these balls are chewy and crusted with toasted sesame seeds, but be careful which ones you get. Most places in Chinatown have sesame balls that have identical exteriors but are filled with very very different things. Imagine getting something you think is filled with saccharine-sweet red bean paste and finding out (only after you are mid-bite) that it is actually barbecue pork. Not saying it is a bad thing, but it can be shocking!
• H = Egg and ham bun – you get what you see. A small sliver of poached egg and cooked ham nestled between fresh-baked bread.
• I = Pineapple roll – in keeping with the grand scheme of Chinatown baked goodies not tasting like their names, the Pineapple roll tastes nothing like pineapple. The cake is ridiculously soft and spongy with a very thin layer of sweet cream in the middle and the crust is brushed with egg to yield the beautiful yellow colour you see above.
• J = Hot dog bun – my favourite! A hot dog shoved into soft sweet bread for $0.80. You. cannot. go. wrong.

Enjoy! Dev x