Our Top 5: Bakeries I’m obsessed with

Dessert is never an afterthought for me.

If it’s not part of every meal, it could qualify as its own.

I’ll seek out bakeries every change I get, whether I’m in Amsterdam or ‘Aiea.

And every bakery has something special to offer, a reason for me to come back again and again.

While I love the glazed donuts from Kamehameha Bakery, the chocolate custard pie from Sunny Side in Wahiawa, the malasadas from Agnes’ Portuguese Bake Shop, and the Cocoa Puffs from Liliha Bakery, there are smaller, lesser-known spots where I get my dessert fix.

Here are the Top 5 bakeries I’m obsessed with right now:

Nene Goose Bakery

I can’t get enough of the French baguettes and spinach bread from this hidden gem in the Keolu Shopping Center in Enchanted Lake. Even the glazed donuts and cinnamon rolls, made from the bakery’s flaky butter rolls, are to die for. The mochi anpan, however, are its top-seller. The sweet rolls are filled with an azuki bean paste and a round ball of mochi before baking. But you have to get there early: the bakery’s specialty items, especially the spinach bread, sell out in the morning.

Nene Goose Bakery
1090 Keolu Drive in Enchanted Lake
808-262-1080

Larry’s Bakery 

Once exclusively a wholesale bakery, Larry’s Bakery offers old-fashioned desserts like chantilly cake, chiffon cake, dream cake, chocolate fudge cake, bread pudding and various roll cakes. It’s located near Target, just a small window with hardly any signage. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with the bakery’s sticky buns that are perfectly sweet and buttery. But the butter loaf — how can you go wrong with that name? — is still one of my all-time favorites. Larry’s Bakery no longer has a storefront, but you can still order its goodies for pick-up on Wednesday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon. 

Larry’s Bakery
4369 Lawehana St. in Salt Lake
808-422-0059
www.larrysbakery.com

Chocolate + Vanilla Bakery

While I may gravitate toward old-fashioned, old-time bakeries, I’m always looking for new places serving new things. So when I had heard about a new bakery in Kaimuki that opened in April, I was there — with cash in hand. Chocolate + Vanilla Bakery on 12th Avenue is run by two sisters, Jayna Matsukawa and Jill Yamashita.

The menu is simple and manageable: cupcakes, macarons, brownies, panna cotta, bread pudding, cookies. Easy. While I do love their cupcakes and macarons — this is one of the few places I’ve found that makes a chantilly cupcake — I can’t get enough of the end pieces of its popular decadent fudgy brownies. And the entire container is just $5.

Chocolate + Vanilla Bakery
1115 12th Ave. in Kaimuki
808-737-2462

Nanding’s Bakery

Years ago I was introduced to sweet, buttery rolls in the shape of ladyfingers called Spanish rolls from Nanding’s Bakery in Kalihi. And ever since then, I’ve been obsessed with them — and not just because they’re three for $1. These rolls are the perfect carb craving, filled with a sugar-butter mixture and topped with baked bread crumbs to give it a little texture. I love to dip these in soup — with Portuguese bean soup is my favorite — or alone as a snack. While the bakery sells other delights, such as saucer-huge emsamadas and ube rolls, the Spanish rolls are a must-order. (And if you can’t get to Nanding’s in Kalihi or Waipahu, you can find these rolls at 7-Elevens across the island. But fresh from the bakery is still best.)

Nanding’s Bakery
918 Gulick Ave. in Kalihi
808-841-4731

Deluxe Pastry Shop

Located near another bakery — Kaneohe Bakery, which has great custard pies — is Deluxe Pastry Shop, a small bakery next to a laundromat with three parking stalls outside. It has daily specials on pies — the lemon custard is my personal favorite, though it’s only made twice a week — and the pastries are almost always fresh. But if you’re going to head out there, you can’t leave without a couple — OK, a box full — of long johns. The soft, sweet bread is filled end-to-end with a creamy, sweet custard that’s so good, you might not want to share. (I don’t!)

Deluxe Pastry Shop
45-1042 Kamehameha Highway in Kaneohe
808-247-4235

Photo by Nat Nishida