Chinese Bakery Near Me on Mott Street: Fay Da's Tongs-and-Tray Morning

Fay Da Bakery unlocks its Mott Street door at 7 am every day, and an egg custard tart costs $2.50 on the bakery's own online shop. The store is at 83 Mott Street, New York, NY 10013, between Canal and Bayard Streets in Manhattan's Chinatown, and it stays open until 7 pm on weekdays and 8 pm on Saturday and Sunday. Anyone typing chinese bakery near me below Canal will find this is the branch of the city's best-known Chinese bakery chain that sits right in the old core of the neighborhood.

The Canal Street subway station is a three to four minute walk away, and it gathers the 6 train at Lafayette Street, the J and Z at Centre Street, and the N, Q, R and W along Broadway. From any of those exits, walk east on Canal past the jewelry counters and produce stands, turn right onto Mott Street, and number 83 is a few doors down on the left side heading toward Bayard. Mott narrows here and fills with delivery carts in the morning, so walk on the sidewalk rather than the curb lane.

Driving is not worth the stress. Street parking on Mott and Bayard is metered and almost never free, and trucks double park while unloading roast meats and vegetables. If you are coming from Queens, the cheaper option is simply to visit one of Fay Da's Flushing or Elmhurst branches instead, since the company runs more stores in that borough than anywhere else.

Fay Da's own history is short and specific. Founder Han Chou honed his baking skills and refined his recipes in Taiwan, immigrated to the United States, and opened the first Fay Da Bakery in Manhattan in 1991. The company still describes itself as a small family-owned business, and its stated goal is high-quality baked goods at affordable prices that make it easy to share Chinese bakery culture through food.

That small business has grown well past one shop. The official locations page lists two stores in Manhattan, this one on Mott and another on 6th Avenue in Greenwich Village, nine in Queens across Flushing, Forest Hills, Woodside, Elmhurst and Maspeth, a Rego Park store marked coming soon, and a counter inside Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut. Viewing NYC profiled the company in 2019 under the headline of how it became the city's most iconic Chinese bakery, and Food Insider and Buzzfeed are both credited on its about page.

The egg custard tart at $2.50 is the anchor order, and Viewing NYC named egg tarts, roast pork buns and pineapple buns as the bakery's most popular items. The roast pork bun is $2.75, a sweet glazed dome filled with char siu. For something flakier, the curry beef puff is $3.75 and the taro puff is $3.25, the latter singled out by Time Out when it reviewed this branch. Welcome to Chinatown's bakery guide picked curry puffs, steamed buns and sesame balls as the top three at 83 Mott.

The sweet side of the case is where Fay Da shows its Taiwanese training. Time Out described the mango mochi as a chewy, Turkish delight-like rice-flour treat with orange liqueur and fresh mango bits, and it is $3.00 online, the same as the taro mochi and the peanut and coconut mochi. A coconut tart is $2.95, a wife's melon cake $2.75, and a plain sponge cake $2.50. The baby cheesecake at $3.85 is a small, airy Japanese-style round that travels well in a bag.

Whole cakes are a separate business. The Japanese cheesecake is $25.00, a fresh mango cake $42.00, and the bakery is selling Halloween cakes this month, including a witch, a Frankenstein and a jack-o-lantern design at $28.00 each, listed on its online store in mid-October 2026. Steamed buns and the drink menu are only sold at the counter, not online, so those are an in-store decision.

Fay Da runs the classic Chinatown system. You pick up a tray and a pair of tongs near the door, lift what you want out of the glass cases yourself, and carry the tray to the register, where staff bag and price everything. Time Out's review described customers lining up, tongs in hand, in front of an amber-lit display, and that is still the routine. The line moves quickly because nobody is ordering item by item at the counter.

Payment is where first-timers stumble. Older reviews called the shop cash only, but recent review summaries report that cards are accepted with a $10 minimum, so a single tart and a bun are easiest paid in bills. Seating inside is limited to a few spots, and most customers take their bag outside. A small detail that matters: the egg tarts do best eaten within the hour, while the mochi and the palmiers hold up for a train ride home.

The best window is right after 7 am on a weekday, when trays are full and the shop is mostly neighborhood regulars on their way to work. Weekend mornings bring tourists walking down from Canal, and early afternoon brings a second wave after lunch at nearby noodle shops. Egg tarts are the first thing to thin out, so if they are your reason for coming, do not wait for late afternoon.

One honest call: skip the plain sweet butter loaf and the multigrain loaf on a first visit. They are fine sandwich bread, but you can get similar loaves anywhere, and the reason to stand in this line is the tarts, puffs and mochi you will not find in a supermarket. If the case is picked over, Mei Li Wah on Bayard Street is a short walk away for roast pork buns, and Tai Pan Bakery on Canal Street is the other big self-serve bakery in the neighborhood.

Take the bag one block west to Columbus Park, bounded by Baxter, Worth, Bayard and Mulberry Streets. The New York City parks department notes it was designed by Calvert Vaux and opened in 1897, and on most mornings older residents play cards and Chinese chess at the tables while others practice tai chi. Find a bench along the edge, because the central courts are often busy with basketball and handball.

Heading the other direction, walk back up to Canal and east toward the Manhattan Bridge to the Mahayana Buddhist Temple at 133 Canal Street, open daily from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm. Its main hall holds a large golden Buddha, and it is a calm, free stop that pairs naturally with a morning bakery run. Eat the tarts before you go in; food is not part of the visit.

Fay Da Bakery, 83 Mott Street, New York, NY 10013, between Canal and Bayard Streets in Manhattan's Chinatown. Hours are Monday to Friday 7 am to 7 pm and Saturday and Sunday 7 am to 8 pm. Self-serve trays and tongs, pay at the register, cards reported with a $10 minimum, limited seating. Online pickup orders run through the bakery's own website. Nearest subway is Canal Street on the 6, J, Z, N, Q, R and W.