Chinese Bakery Near Me on Canal Street: Taipan's Papaya and Green Tea Tarts

Taipan Bakery opens at 7:30 am every day at 194 Canal Street, New York, NY 10013, on the block between Mott and Mulberry Streets, and closes at 7 pm. It is the Manhattan branch of a bakery that started in Flushing in 1990, and its specialty is the single-serving pastry: small tarts, single slices of Swiss roll cake, and buns filled with red bean, roast pork or taro. If chinese bakery near me brings you to the Canal Street end of Chinatown, this is the busiest counter on the strip.

Taipan's story starts in Queens. The Museum of Food and Drink's Chinatown guide says the first shop opened in Flushing in 1990 and quickly became that neighborhood's go-to spot for sweets reminiscent of home, and that the Chinatown location on Canal Street opened its doors in 2005. The bakery's official site still lists the same family of stores: Taipan Flushing at 37-25 Main Street, Taipan Snacks further up Main Street, and Taipan Chinatown here on Canal.

The brand spells itself Taipan, with the Chinese name 大班餅店 on its website, though you will see Tai Pan on maps and review sites. Time Out walked in back in 2013 and described a pristine, neon-pink-tinted bakery where the experience is sheer sensory overload, with a bustling crowd herding around the counter. Thirteen years later the pink glow and the crowd are both still part of the visit, and Google still lists the shop as open every morning.

MOFAD's guide makes the tart case the main event. Beyond the standard versions common in mainland China and Macau, Taipan bakes egg white, papaya and green tea egg tarts, flavors the museum notes you would be hard-pressed to find in China and calls a product of New York's mingling food cultures. Order one classic and one of the odd ones side by side; the papaya version is the conversation piece, and the green tea tart is the one regulars tend to come back for.

The bun list on the official site runs to more than thirty items. The ones that move fastest are the pineapple bun, the roast pork bun, the crispy pork floss bun, the taro bun and the coconut cream bun. The savory row includes a tuna fish bun, a ham and egg bun, a hot dog Danish, a scallion pork floss egg roll, and two noodle-stuffed buns, one with Singapore fried noodles and one with Dapeng fried noodles. Japanese yam bread and a lemon raisin twist round out the sweeter breads.

A Yelp reviewer in September 2026 found what she called the only pineapple croissant in the store, so look for hybrids alongside the classics. The cake list covers mango cake, chestnut cake, taro cake, a mille crepe, the house Taipan cheesecake and a green tea red bean mousse cake. During the Mid-Autumn season the homepage advertises gift boxes in red bean, sesame and green tea flavors.

Taipan takes its drinks more seriously than most bakeries on Canal. The official drink menu lists a run of house soy milks: walnut sesame black bean, sesame black bean, fried rice black bean, fried rice soy milk, red jujube, almond walnut, wolfberry and barley. A cup of red jujube or wolfberry soy milk with a pork floss bun is about as close to a Taipei breakfast as this block gets.

On warm afternoons the slush list takes over, with taro, mango, strawberry and kiwi. The taro slush pairs naturally with a taro bun if you want to go fully purple. Drinks are made at the register, so add them when you pay rather than lining up twice, and ask for the soy milk hot in the colder months, since several of the black bean versions are thick and taste best warm.

Ordering is self-serve. Take a tray and tongs, work your way along the cases, and carry everything to the register to be boxed and rung up. Review summaries describe the shop as cash only, so bring bills, and expect limited room to eat inside; most people leave with a bag and keep walking. The aisles are narrow, which is why the crowd Time Out described always seems bigger than it is.

Timing matters more than the line. The September 2026 Yelp reviewer arrived at 6 pm and found very few buns left and the store pretty chaotic, which matches the general advice to come early. Mornings after the 7:30 opening and the hour after lunch are the calm windows. Another reviewer in October 2026 wrote that it is a bit more expensive than other Chinatown bakeries but that the quality is a bit higher, with good bread and buns.

An honest judgment: skip the whole cakes unless you are buying for an occasion. The slices and single tarts are where Taipan stands apart, and a whole cake means waiting at the register while the box is tied. If the cases are bare or the queue fills the doorway, walk two blocks to Fay Da on Mott Street, which runs the same tray-and-tongs system and stays open later on weekends.

Canal Street station is a short walk west along Canal, with the 6 at Lafayette Street, the J and Z at Centre Street, and the N, Q, R and W under Broadway. Exit toward Lafayette, walk east past Centre and Baxter, and the bakery is on the north side of Canal between Mulberry and Mott. From Brooklyn, the B and D to Grand Street put you about ten minutes away on foot through Chinatown.

Canal Street traffic is constant, and there is no parking worth looking for on this block. If you are coming from Queens, the Flushing store on Main Street sells the same style of pastry and is a few steps from the 7 train terminal, which may save the trip entirely.

For a longer Chinatown morning, carry the box down Mott Street and turn onto Doyers Street, the short bent lane known for its curve. Nom Wah Tea Parlor at 13 Doyers Street has served dumplings and dim sum in New York since 1920, by its own account, and Google's listing showed it opening at 11 am this week. Arriving right at opening is the easiest way to get a table without a wait.

If you would rather keep walking, Mulberry Street runs north from Canal into what is left of Little Italy, a block from the bakery's door. It makes the contrast of the neighborhood easy to see in ten minutes: red lanterns and roast duck windows on one side of Canal, espresso bars and cannoli on the other, and your bag of green tea tarts in hand the whole way.

Taipan Bakery, 194 Canal Street, New York, NY 10013, between Mott and Mulberry Streets in Manhattan's Chinatown. Open daily 7:30 am to 7 pm. Self-serve trays and tongs, pay at the register, reported cash only, little seating. Sister stores at 37-25 Main Street, Flushing, NY 11354, and Taipan Snacks on Main Street in Flushing. Nearest subway is Canal Street on the 6, J, Z, N, Q, R and W.