On Friday I had to run some errands with my 11 month old daughter. After spending two hours going…read morehither and thither I was in the mood for something sweet from some place new. I searched Yelp for bakeries in Lincoln, ordered by rating and came across Emma Bakes. My first concern was that the reviews were from a year ago and later so I called to make sure they still existed. Once I confirmed I checked the map and found that they are located on O street. This left me wondering what parking would be like, but then I remembered I lived in Nebraska and even if it was street parking only I'd have options.
Their location is on the South side of O street and comes complete with plenty of off-street parking. The shop is small but has a nice bright yellow sign out front and an yellow interior accent wall inside as well as plants and pastry cases. Each pastry is made on site and comes in its own resealable packaging. The proprietor, who I expect is Emma was kind and helpful. I selected 4 items and headed for home.
I got an egg tart, a sausage and cheese bun, garlic bread, and a strawberry and cream cheese pastry.
I started with the sausage and cheese bun, the non-sausage parts were a bit salty, not in a bad way, just a bit off. The sausage looked more like a hot dog than any special type of seasoned link. I have to say, after eating this I was concerned about the other items (I'd give this item 3 stars).
Next I tried the egg tart, it was the last one in the store and the star of the other reviews I read. Oh my goodness, this was incredible, the crunchy-crispiness of the crust and the creamy subtle flavor of the center, it was perfection. Had there been more in the case I might have gone back and ordered a half dozen.
Once my wife got home we split the strawberry pastry, it was also a solid five stars, great homemade filling, light flaky pastry dough, delightful.
Finally, I cut into the garlic bread, it had quite a lot of cheese inside, tasted great and had a strong garlic kick.
Overall, I will be back, either when they open or just after 1pm when the afternoon batch of pastries comes out of the ovens.
Oh, and I should mention, they offer Banh Mi as well, I'll have to try those as well next time.
