Crackly, warm buns filled with slabs of salted butter, the sought-after specialty of San Francisco’s Pineapple King Bakery, are coming to the Peninsula for the first time.
The Cantonese bakery will open a new location at 145 E. 3rd Ave. in San Mateo late this year, representative Vincent Chan confirmed. It will be Pineapple King’s third bakery and the first one on the Peninsula, “allowing us to better serve our growing and loyal customer base in the region,” he wrote in an email.
Sisters Jennifer and Stephanie Leung opened the first Pineapple King in San Francisco’s Sunset District in 2015, inspired by baked goods made by their uncle, Guo Chi Ng. The bakery grew a devoted following for its namesake pineapple buns, or bolo bao, which are not made with pineapple but have sugary crusts that resemble the outside of the fruit.
People come from all over the Bay Area to line up for the airy buns stuffed with pats of chilled Kerrygold Irish butter, or spinoff fillings like housemade guava butter, salted egg or matcha custard. Customers visiting from outside the Bay Area are known to bring boxes of buns back with them on flights. The bakery also makes classic Chinese pastries, including egg tarts, mooncakes and cocktail buns.