This place specializes in steamed buns and the first thing that stood out to me was how cute the character buns are. That's honestly what made me want to check it out because I knew my kiddo (and I) would love it. They have both savory and sweet options with a pretty big selection. Nothing is labeled with the fillings, but the lady helping us was very kind and just told us what each thing was filled with which was actually more helpful than the menu. My husband got a savory bun (which was huge) and my son and I went with sweet ones. We all really enjoyed them. The dough is super soft and fluffy. You can have them heat it for you there or take them home. We chose to heat them at home. Each bun is individually wrapped and boxed up, so it's really easy to take to go. Prices are solid too. Also note, there's no seating inside and it's a grab and go type place. Would definitely recommend checking them out. The characters are my favorite part but it was great that it tasted great too and the customer service was excellent. read more

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Buns were big! Lots of bread though. They were soft and fluffy and pretty solid, nothing amazing but tasty! read more

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Their character designs are super cute and note to self should have it warmed. We just didn't get it warmed because the kiddos would be impatient with waiting on cooling down. They loved the designs but it's not labeled as to if it was filled with anything or not. My son was just dough but he was okay with that. My daughter had custard in it and wasn't digging any of it after a bite. Super small place and all bar seating with a few bench seats outside. Parking is limited because it's within a shopping center so it's always packed. Cute baos but not delicious. read more

The first time I ate these baos was actually at an eating contest. lol My first impression was that the bread was so fluffy and soft! Since I was eating so fast, I couldn't savor the flavors, so I HAD to get some more! After eating a handful of different baos, I wasn't impressed. They're pretty good and have cute designs, but they didn't "wow" me. Combination meat bao (ground pork, quail egg, salted egg, and sausage) - This was pretty decent, but I wish the bao was a little bit bigger for the price. I also wanted more meat, so I wish the patty inside was bigger in general. I think for the price/taste, you would be better off just ordering a pork bun and save yourself some money. Char sui bao - This was very good! The flavor was great. Taro cream/mung bean coconut/cream egg custard - I tried all three sweet baos and thought they were okay. The cream filling wasn't a lot. I wanted it to be oozing out, like a jelly filled donut. I felt like the ratio of filling to bread was way off, so you can barely taste the filling. Vietnamese flavors are usually more subtle and less sweet compared to American flavors, so I think if they had more filling, then you can actually taste it. Overall, I think you can pass on the sweet baos because you won't miss out on much. The savory baos are definitely better and worth a try. I do think that there is more bread compared to the inside content. So, if that is rectified, then it would justify the price a bit more. read more

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I was making my rounds around the area one weekend and did a visit toward the Hong Kong City Mall 4 plaza in Chinatown. I have my usual places I like to stop in but one place that I visited a very long time ago but have notice was Bakery Ngoc Lan. I was reminded of the business thanks to social media. Walking in, it was around the opening hours so it was really subtle no one stopping in yet. The place is a rather cozy. This can be a nice quick bite place with a few seats to eat. The menu is unique and has some interesting choices of buns from savory to sweet. I chose 4 for a bit of variety for the visit: 2 taro custard, 1 salted egg and 1 cheese chaisu to go. The taro custard is a nice balance of sweetness, not too sweet and just enough. Filling is just the right amount. That was a nice way to test out one for what to expect with the others. The salted egg is a good flavor if it something familiar to your food experience. A very different taste profile oppose to it being sweet and this would be a quick bite bao and not a dessert. Lastly was the cheese chaisu. To me this was a very nostalgic flavor of bao growing up for me, if you had it at your dim sum gatherings but this leveled it up with cheese to give it more umami. I know it would be good and who can pass up on a cute piggy design too? Haha I do like one thing that there are a difference of colors and designs that are both colorful and unique. Every bao is never the same. Plus you can have them heated up or as is ready to eat. Overall my visit to Bakery Ngoc Lan was very good. A very nice variety and speciality in baos so it will never be just something simple. One thing I did not get to try was the other offerings of Vietnamese snacks and drinks. There a very nice claw machine as well if you would like to try your luck for a plushy. It is located on bit of a busier side of HK4, on the Ocean Palace side. I would give it a try and be open to trying the different flavors. Either that or be a fan of the different designs too. Whichever is your reason, you won't be disappointed. They also take Zelle as a form of payment if that is something you like to explore. read more

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The buns were so cute and fun! I bought some for my little cousins and they went feral for the Labubu themed ones. There was a great variety. The person behind the counter was also a nice lady. read more

Small lil bakery tucked into a corner of a shipping plaza. So many cute lil decorated buns. So.e had sausage and some had no filling, I opted for the mung bean filling which was only lightly sweetened. The bao was moist and soft and the filling just added to it. I got a cute lil hello kitty bun. Staff was helpful and nice. Huge parking lot out front. Would definitely return and try other bao buns. read more

Bakery Ngoc Lan - Bakeries Near Me - Houston, Texas

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I went here with my friends on a Sunday about an hour before they closed. Overall, it was a pretty great experience. The person taking our orders was super friendly and helped us pick some buns we would like. One of our group also forgot her purse & they made sure we remember it (which was super nice)! The food came out pretty quick ~5 min and was super hot. We got an assortment of buns. My favorite was the bbq pork and cheese bun, but they were all pretty delicious. The ube cream & hedgehog bun tasted pretty similar and were both good too. The normal bbq pork one was delicious too!! They were all so cute :) The restaurant was pretty nice inside. It wa a nicely decorated and they made good use of the space. One thing to note is they don't have bathrooms. Overall, this is a great stop for a quick savory or sweet snack. I'd 100% go back here read more

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Pretty laid back spot serving cute buns. I was a little skeptical and set low expectations at first since we found this place through social media. I'm always weary of the places serving "cute food" thinking they might not be good. The shop is in the corner of the strip in HK mall. Parking might be challenging during peak times, but we were lucky to find a spot. The guy behind the counter was nice and gave us some suggestions. It's really hard to miss the cute buns that they have on display. It's almost kinda weird eating them lol. We got the charsiu, charsiu with cheese, and ube with custard filling. All of them were pretty good. The custard filling was not what I expected - it's a little more light which I actually enjoyed. Additional positive was the employee warned us about a 3% credit card charge - they take Venmo though if you don't have cash! read more

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On a recent trip to Houston, my mom found out about this place and was on an absolute mission to find these super cute baos! We finally found this place after wandering around and I'm happy to report this was a positive experience. We ordered a variety of bao. I love the creativity of their flavors - they're not unique but to be able to get different types of bao is not something we have in Atlanta. I ordered their special, the BBQ pork with cheese, for myself. This was delicious! My mother ordered a variety of bao but unfortunately I did not get a chance to sample any other ones except my own. I also do not remember how much we paid for all the baos, so I can't relate to all the reviewers saying these were overpriced, however, since I don't have a comparison price in mind, no price is too high, amirite? Extra stars for service - I'm guessing the owner - a super nice gentleman, engaged us in conversation, gave us thorough reviews and recommendations of Houston must-eats, and was very accommodating. I noted Yelp hours said they are closed but he decided to open his shop for the lunar new year. I think these are just really great people delivery an awesome product. Support this small business! read more

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I came here this morning for a quick breakfast while doing some shopping in the area. I arrived as soon as they opened and they welcomed me in and had my food ready within 5 minutes. They do have a small seating area inside as well as seating outside on the sidewalk. Prices are affordable at I believe around $3.50 per bun. It cost me $7 for both and it was enough to fill me up. The BBQ pork bun was really good. Being a huge hello kitty fan I had to try the hello kitty bun, but wasn't really a fan of the custard filling. They have a few other buns I want to come back to try soon. read more

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This place gets busy despite it being quite hidden on the corner of Hong Kong city mall. It's not big for dining in, but enough space to move around people. My sister really wanted to try this spot out and we came to get the pork bun bao. I was skeptical at first because places with cute looking things rely on the look of their cute items to carry the product, but I was happy to be wrong. Their dough is not dense. It is fluffy, soft and they really fill the buns. The filling is flavorful and juicy like you expect a pork bun bao to be. They were also very quick and even reheated the buns for us. Definitely worth coming to. read more

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Cute bakery in the Hong Kong Mall plaza. Many items crossed out on menu, and there's usually a wait after ordering. The bao bread is soft and fluffy, but filling is subpar, in my opinion. read more

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Located within Hong Kong market/Ocean Palace plaza, hidden in a corner and entrance from the outside (not inside Hong Kong market). Seems pretty clean inside and out with a few seatings and no public restrooms. They accept cash and cards with adequate parking, shared among many businesses within this plaza. Now, to the goods - the cute baos. Surprisingly, not everything are cute. I wanted to check out Bakery Ngoc Lan since it first opened but never got the chance to until recently. Service was okay. Nothing spectacular as this is common among Asian bakeries. Many of their cute bao are just plain with no fillings. Mung bean coconut (also known as "full bao" on their menu, the one that has Phuc Loc, 2 baos) are semi-sweet and many Asians will enjoy this combination. Their bunny bao (sausage) was disappointing. Sausage wasn't right, it's small and nothing spectacular besides being a tiny cute bunny. But for $2.99 and craftsmanship, it can be okay. Cha sui bao was disappointing. Plain on the outside as in no cuteness and the cha sui was okay. Not a Cantonese style and more peppery with onions. I'm not saying it's not eatable. It was just okay because I can get the same size elsewhere for cheaper with similar quality bao. Would I come back? Maybe for their mung bean coconut bao but not for their savory bao. There's a better bao bakery that's only about 15 steps from Bakery Ngoc Lan, inside of Hong Kong market plaza. read more

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I was doubtful of this place at first because I saw on one of the instagram reels but the baos were great and they had cute designs also! The prices are decent $3-$5 per bao. The char siu bao was my favorite. This place is outside of Hong Kong City Mall in Chinatown. They do charge 3% if you use a credit card to pay but you can pay through cash, venmo, or zelle. read more

Bakery Ngoc Lan - Char Siu Bao, Mung Bean Custard Kitty Bao, Ube with Custard Bao - Bakeries Near Me - Houston, Texas

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ngọc lan bakery has the cutest and most creative bánh baos ive ever seen! they have a large selection of sweet and savory bao buns including popular characters like hello kitty and various animals. they also serve different types of vietnamese coffee and refreshing pennywort juice. and they offer shipping within the us! what we got: - piggie bao (bbq pork + cheese) - octo bao (no filling) - doggy bao (no filling) - bunny bao (sausage) - hedgehog bao (taro) - purple piggie bao (taro) - yellow piggie bao (mung bean) - kitty bao (mung bean) ig: @whatsviveating read more

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This was my first stop off the plane in Houston after a 5 AM flight for breakfast, and it certainly did not disappoint. Tucked away in the corner of the Hong Kong City Market (not accessible inside, must go outside), this bakery had a ton of banh bao options that were very cute and delicious. There were a few tables outside and inside but seemed mainly like a takeaway spot. We got the BBQ pork bun, a mung bean pig bun, and ube cream buns (sold in pairs). My favorite was definitely the ube cream, which had a great flavor. Neither that nor the mung bean were too sweet, and all the buns were soft. Took about ~10 min to steam the buns there, but you could also take them home to steam! These buns live up to the hype -- not only are they cute, they're also delicious. read more

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Eh, the hype is unfortunately not real. Maybe for their sweet buns, but their savory bun is disappointing. Ordered the combination pork bun, cost $5 but taste was not umami. I'm not sure how you can mess up a pork bun but it's missing so much ingredient that makes the pork bun what it is. This pork bun has no pork bun smell, no onions, black fungus, Chinese sausage has no flavor. The salted egg was not the style of salted egg you would think of for pork bun, it was more like a salted egg they use for mooncake, so no salt, just thick. This pork bun has a-lot of garlic chives, way too much it taste like dim sum's shrimp and chive dumplings. The bun itself is self rising bun, heavy yeast smell and taste. They probably use same dough from their sweet bun instead of having a batch for their savory buns. What a disappointment. read more

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Really cute baos here. I really liked the bbq pork buns and the durian buns. The sesame buns were a little bitter for me. The taro and the mung bean were just ok. read more

Bakery Ngoc Lan - Bakeries Near Me - Houston, Texas

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Super nice guy behind the counter today (Sunday). Took his time explaining and suggesting the different types to us. We opted on 2 sweet ones, one with filling and one without. Both were hot, yummy and very satisfying taste wise. Yes, they are a little pricier then normal but you are paying for both artistry AND culinary satisfaction in one. I would come back to try the savory ones just based on my experience today. read more

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Came to this bakery while walking Hong Kong City Mall, and was eager to try a delicious bao. I've become a huge fan of baos, I look for them all over the city of Houston, and had recently found videos on social media promoting this bakery. The shop is fairly small, built more for food on the go, although, they do have a few tables outside. It was about 5pm when I arrived, although the sweet baos looked beautiful and very creative (they offer sweet crepes in all different colors, with designs of different cute characters), I decided to try a savory one. I wanted to try the BBQ pork bun, however they didn't have any left, so I had to resort to the pork bun. The person working the front was very friendly, offered business with a smile, and told me that it would take about 5 to minutes to get my bao, since he would have to heat it up. He gave me my receipt and a little buzzer, that would ring one the bao was ready. After about 5 minutes, the buzzer rang, and I was handed my bao. Once I opened it, it looked like your typical bao. However, once I bit into it, it was immediate disappointment. It seemed like the bao had just been frozen, and thrown into a microwave. Wasn't that fresh in my opinion. Also, it contained ground pork, quail egg, and Chinese Sausage. It was a bit of a combination that I did not enjoy. All these ingredients seemed jumbled up inside the bao. Not good for me, just couldn't finish it. Maybe I'd go back to try a sweet bun, since those looked more appealing, but as of now, I was pretty disappointed. read more

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Last couple of visits, service is absolutely horrendous from missing Bao's to getting orders last since take out customers apparently gets priority. Went this morning and was first in line, after paying for our order, we proceed to find an open table to wait for our food. Well our food never came. Every customer who ordered after us were long gone after receiving their order. 20-30 mins transpire and I ask for a refund. The owner not only argued with me about the refund. She said to just wait a couple more minutes. Boy I was heated, they finally gave us our order and it's all messed up and not even the correct items we ordered. One bad visit and I will never return. My family works too hard for our money to throw away into any business whom doesn't put customers first. They don't accept cash nor cards and only payment services like cash app or Zelle. Now I have to find another Bao place who will respect weekly paying customers read more

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Stopped here while waiting for our favorite dim sum restaurant to open, and was very happily surprised by the taste and freshness of the rolls, outstanding customer experience, as we asked what was the most popular roll, and it did not disappoint. The salted egg bun was just delicious, and the ube, the ube oh wow just awesome, and there made to order. Worth the 10 minutes wait. Hidden gem here. read more

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These might be the cutest banh baos I've eaten. A little pricey for the few bites of banh bao, but you're paying for the creativity and cuteness of them too. The restaurant is a fairly small, but was a nice place to stop while waiting for our dim sum table. read more

Bakery Ngoc Lan - Bakeries Near Me - Houston, Texas

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The presentation on the bao is great but the taste is not that great. It's a bit over priced. It locates in the HK4 market at the end of the mall. read more

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Super cute sweet and savory buns for a snacking or maybe even a small meal. My kids got enticed by the cartoon-looking buns. I haven't tried them myself but they seem to really enjoy them, especially after being warmed up. I would definitely come back! read more

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Super cute places! Found this location on tik tok and had to visit. It definitely didn't disappoint with all the cute design bun options they had. I had a few selections, flavor is there but bun could be slightly softer but great for party favors . read more

The buns are pretty sweet and really soft! Purple pig bun was filled with taro, which was good. Ube bun was just purple with no character. Pikachu has no filling, which is kind of disappointing. Hello Kitty has mungbean filling, which I wouldn't get again. I would come again to try different flavors! read more

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Pricier than other places, but I find it worth the price. Consistent bao and the flavors are good. I do follow their instructions on how to heat up at home in microwave, and therefore it does not get dry. My favorite is the combination bun and the durian bun. I tried a couple of the sweet buns, and all is as expected. But the durian stood out the most for sweet bun. The combination has everything I want inside, pork, quail egg, 1/2 salted egg yolk, and Chinese sausage. The BBQ bun brings back some childhood memories. I tried the fried buns today and it was satisfying since it provided a different texture. I like that there isn't too much bread to filling ratio. read more

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After all the Instagram fangirling over these adorable buns, I tried 4 different buns. Unfortunately, it takes a while to get them if you want to eat here. The staff isn't very good at making suggestions or getting your order right, so make sure you look ahead what you want. Despite disclosing that I didn't eat pork they gave me a pork bun instead of the vegetarian bun.The Ube buns were my favorite here. The sweet character buns are average and the veggie bun wasn't anything to come back for. read more

Came here for the first time after seeing it on social media. Really wanted to check it out because of how cute the buns were. Figured my toddler would love the piggy bun and others. Upon coming here, the interior is cute and clean. The staff is nice. The buns are cute. HOWEVER, will not plan to come often due to the steep prices. One piggy bun was $3.25 pre tax. It's a small bun too. I do understand there has to be a cost to the time the bakers put in to make such cute buns but at the price point and size, I can't justify coming again. read more

Bakery Ngoc Lan - Bakeries Near Me - Houston, Texas

Saw a video on this place and had some try the cute bao treats. The location is in the inside corner of a large shopping area so be on the lookout. The inside is a bit small but that is to be expected, there are a handful of tables available and a couple outside. The boas are all in the display cabinets and there are a few multipacks on the counter. I had the little green hedgehog filled with a delicious tarot cream, they warmed it up and it was soft and tasty! I grabbed an egg cream puppy and two plain pandas. The cashier was friendly and gave me info on the different options. Cute spot, I would stop by again and grab a few treats! read more

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Love this little spot in Hong Kong Mall. The owners are so sweet and helpful with my order! I had everything perfectly wrapped and waiting for me to pick up. The baos are so cute and tasty! I love the little characters on them. The only thing I didn't know is there's two entries. I went in from the parking lot and almost missed the cute store front. Walk in through the entrance of Hong Kong Mall to not miss out. Can't wait to go back and try more! read more

Bakery Ngoc Lan - Kitty bao @ohcayeats - Bakeries Near Me - Houston, Texas

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Located in the same plaza as Hong Kong City Mall, it's right by Viet Street and Crawfish Cafe. The baos/buns are super cute and have lots of interesting fillings from savory to sweet. The breading was thick (I'd like more filling than bread personally) but mine were fresh and not hard/tough as other reviews I read, said. A con was that it's cash/venmo/zelle only for now, no credit cards. Another con was they didn't have two of the ones I wanted (Hello Kitty) and the purple piggy one. I got the yellow piggy (mung bean), bunny (sausage), and hedgehog (taro cream). Man behind the cash register was nice and let me use their displayed steamer baskets to take pics after I told him I have a good blog. read more

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The cutest banh bao= steamed buns shop in Bellaire. . From savory to sweet buns, they offer great variety of fillings and designs. Buns are individually wrapped or come in a box of 4 or 6. They offer to warm up the buns for you if you want to eat them right away. As of now, they only accept cash/zelle/venmo as the method for payment. Call them before you come to make sure they have the flavors you want. read more

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Love the steamed bao! Been 3 times already. The ladies are very friendly. Cute little bakery. read more

Bakery Ngoc Lan - Bakeries Near Me - Houston, Texas

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Definitely my favorite banh Bao place in Houston! I love the xa xiu flavor buns, the durian, and black sesame the most! Interior design of the place is adorable and totally picture worthy! Located in the Hong Kong city mall plaza. On the outside. Far right corner. Between viet street and ocean palace if that makes it easier! read more

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This place was the most recommended place to us prior to us visiting Houston. The area was little hard to find since they have two different sign on top of each other. The person in the front was nice but he didn't really answered my question right. Thought he didn't speak English well so I spoke to him in Viet and he didn't answered my question either. The place is super adorable with all the decoration and drawing on the wall. We proceed to order many things including the fried banh bao, durian bun, salty egg bun and a regular mung bean bun. When we asked the cashier how much was the trays of durian bun, he goes $10; so I asked, the whole tray? to which he replied yes... My sister and I both questioned ourselves why it was so cheap, but since we got here in Houston; we got a lot of surprises so we didn't questioned him. The fried bun came out with other items since we wanted heated up. The Durian came out last and we both were laughing. It was ONE bun!!! There was 5 in a tray and we did asked how much so we can buy the whole thing. $10 for that one little bun is too much for me. This place has so much potential with all the cuteness and their bun is not bad either. the fried bun is super good but the salty egg bun has a sour smell to it. They do displayed their bun with no heat lamp; just wrapped them in plastic wrap, therefore, I guess the sourness came from there. Until next time!!! Peace read more

Came here to get some cute baos, and yes they were cute, but the ones that were cute had no filling. It was straight bread but the bread was dry. I think if I'm gonna spend this much on a cute, fillingless bao, the bao better be good. Service was really nice tho. read more

This is definitely a really pricey place to pay for baos. This is definitely a unique place though with how cute and creative they are with decorating the outside. I was expecting a bit more when I paid for a "box" but it only came with a few pieces inside of a brown paper bag. I've gotten more baos for a lower price at other places. I got the regular white baos and the fried baos. I would recommend the fried bao, but it was definitely a smaller size than what I was expecting. I honestly don't know if I would come back here again just because of how pricey it was and for such a small size, but it wasn't bad. read more