Breadbelly

Cuisine	Café / Bakery
Price	$$ (16-30)
Rating	6/10
Last Visit	Sept. 30, 2024
Location	SFBA: San Francisco: West

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General Notes

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Breadbelly is an interesting bakery in the Richmond district that serves up pastries that combine Asian / Western techniques + flavors. They have some pretty unique pastries (e.g. guava rose blood orange twice baked croissant). The pastries are generally executed really well, although sometimes it can be a bit hit / miss -- there are definitely quite a few pastries that I didn't enjoy very much. Everything is fairly expensive. If you plan to eat here, definitely bring sunscreen -- there's no shade at all in their outdoor parklet. Supposedly they're opening a new location in the Dogpatch, which I'm really excited for. On average, I tend to prefer their sweet pastries more than their savory pastries (which often have some pretty weird flavors), but I'm pretty excited to try some of their other offerings.

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Negatives

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> there is no shade at all in the outdoor seating parklet, so definitely make sure to bring sunscreen

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Dishes Tasted

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• ★★☆☆ Shrimpwich -- panko gulf shrimp patty, remoulade, snow pea slaw, korean hot mustard vinegar, bread and butter squash pickle pandesal bun. Decent flavor and I like the accompaniments, could use a little more remoulade. The panko gulf shrimp patty was a little weird, not a big fan of the texture.
• ★★★☆ S'mores Twice-baked Chocolate Croissant -- twice-baked chocolate croissant, hazelnut frangipane, toasted Italian meringue, house-made graham crackers. Excellent flavor combination, nice texture!
• ★★★☆ Black Sesame Guava Brambleberry Danish -- guava jam, brambleberry compote, Wadaman black sesame crust. This one is delicious, almost looks like a kouign amann.
• ★★☆☆ Stonefruit Almond Twice baked Croissant -- apricot preserves, orange blossom frangipane, almond crumb. The apricot flavor is a little odd, not my favorite
• ★★★☆ Strawberry Lychee Danish -- local organic strawberries, lychee cremeux, strawberry jam, basil.
• ★★☆☆ Sweet Pepper Faux-caccia -- focaccia style bread, sweet summer peppers, roasted piperade. Decent flavor, overall not super noteworthy.
• ★☆☆☆ Gyeranbbang -- corn bread with a whole egg in the center, cheddar cheese, scallions, and gochugaru on top. Not a big fan of the crumbly texture, the flavor is meh
• ★☆☆☆ Ramp-chi Bun -- ramp kimchi, cheesy corn. It's okay, not particularly noteworthy.
• ★★☆☆ Caramelized Butter Toast -- sugar toasted bread stick with whipped butter and malted chocolate sprinkle. Great flavor, but the toast was a little too hard,
• ★☆☆☆ Sticky Rice Aran-Chino -- sticky rice with Chinese sausage and shiitake mushrooms, melty fontina cheese center, crispy panko crust, herbs, cherry tomato dipping sauce. Kind of a weird flavor combination, not my favorite.
• ★★★☆ Shishito Grilled Cheese -- shishito peppers, cheddar and gruyere cheese, gochujang mayo, milk bread. Solid flavor combination, warning that it's a little spicy!
• ★★★☆ Tomato Toast -- heirloom tomatoes, spicy fried peanuts, shiso chutney, elephant garlic, milk bread. Excellent combination, the shiso chutney in particular works beautifully and the toast pairs nicely.
• ★★★★ Kaya Toast -- milk bread, coconut-pandan jam, maldon. Delightful flavor, the milk bread is wonderfully soft and fluffy.
• ★☆☆☆ Fig and Honey Danish -- figs, honey cream, cassis jam, white sesame crust. Not bad, but also not exactly my favorite combination. It's only a danish in appearance; it tastes nothing like a typical danish and the bread part is more of a criossant / sesame ball hybrid.
• ★☆☆☆ Sesame Horchata -- Tastes very similar to 芝麻糊. Oat + rice milk, saigon cinnamon. Decent flavor, unfortunately this isn't my favorite combination in general
• ★★★☆ Guava Rose Blood Orange Twice Baked Croissant -- guava-rose syrup, blood orange marmalade, coconut almond... Ithis is a wonderful pastry. I typically associate croissants with buttery, chocolatey, nutty, caramelized; to have such vibrant fruity flavors in a croissant is unique and it's so well executed. The textural contrast is perfect; the addition of the crust adds another dimension. My only gripe is that this is a bit too sweet + tart; would like about ~30% less filling, especially in the center.
• ★★☆☆ Matcha Cappuccino -- Decent flavor, but pretty expensive at $6.25
• ★★★☆ Raclette and Mushroom Bun -- Maitake mushrooms, raclette cheese, roasted garlic, shaved... The flavor is amazing. I'm typically a bit skeptical about milk bread, but it works quite well in this application.
• ★★★★ Kaya Bun -- Coconut pandan cream filled milk bread bun. The crust gives it a lovely texture, and the filling is PERFECT. Such a great flavor, just the right consistency, and the coconut / pandan combination is delightful.
• ★★★★ Not-Ube Tart -- buttery crust, Stokes Purple sweet potato, toasted meringue, shaved salted egg yolk. Simple but amazing; the crust is buttery, flaky, but also crumbly; the flavors work together really well. And the color is so beautiful