Chinese Bakery Near Me in the Sunset: Pineapple King's Butter-Stuffed Buns

Pineapple King Bakery sells a plain pineapple bun for $1.95 and caps weekend customers at 12 regular buns each, because the trays empty that fast. The takeout-only shop sits at 1915 Irving St, San Francisco, CA 94122, at 20th Avenue in the Sunset, and opens at 8 am every day, closing at 6 pm on weekdays and 6:30 pm on Saturday and Sunday. For anyone typing chinese bakery near me on the west side of the city, this is the Hong Kong-style counter worth the line.

The bakery sits on the Irving Street commercial strip, one block south of Lincoln Way and the southern edge of Golden Gate Park. The closest rail stop is the N Judah at Judah Street and 19th Avenue, one block south and one block east of the door, so the walk from the platform takes only a couple of minutes. Riders coming from downtown stay on the N through the Sunset Tunnel and past UCSF Parnassus before it reaches the avenues.

Driving means hunting for metered or residential street parking on Irving and the numbered avenues, which is tight on weekend mornings when the line forms. The shop has no seating, so most people park, grab a box and leave. Placing a pickup order online ahead of time trims the time spent circling, since the bun is waiting when you arrive instead of the other way around.

Pineapple King was founded in 2015 by sisters Jennifer and Stephanie Leung together with their uncle, Guo Chi Ng, according to What Now San Francisco. SFGATE wrote about the shop's toasty butter-filled pastries within months of opening, in April 2015, and Bay Area A-List voters ranked it third of 56 bakeries in 2016 and first of 54 in 2017. The Irving Street store is still the flagship, small and built for takeout.

In 2023 the family opened a second Pineapple King in Fremont after customers in the East Bay kept asking for one, and the San Francisco Chronicle covered the arrival that November. Nothing about the original changed. The Sunset counter still bakes the full lineup daily, and the bakery's Google listing was posting new items, such as a croissant coconut tart, in October 2026.

The name refers to the crumbly golden crust on top, not the fruit, and the house specialty is the Hong Kong bo lo yau: a warm bun split open around a cold slab of butter. The classic Pineapple Bun with Butter is $3.10. The guava butter version, pink and about a centimeter thick by The Infatuation's measure, is $4.65, the same price as the pandan coconut butter bun and the Pineapple Butter Gold made with grass-fed butter.

Because the butter has to stay cold against hot bread, every butter bun is assembled when you arrive, and the online menu warns that you will be asked to wait at pickup. The salted egg butter bun with salted egg crumbs is $5.10, and the chocolate marshmallow butter bun is $4.90. For a first visit, the Butter Supreme Box at $10.75 puts four mini butter buns, including guava, salted egg, chocolate marshmallow and original, in one container.

The filled buns are cheaper and travel better. The Original Pineapple Puffs, two small buns pumped with cold egg custard, are $3.70 and have been a customer favorite since the first day, per the bakery. Mango puffs are $4.00, matcha puffs $3.80, the matcha mochi pineapple bun $4.85 and the ube pineapple bun $4.20. Red bean, sesame, taro and a version with real pineapple inside run $2.85 each.

Not everything here wears the cookie crust. The classic egg custard tart is $2.35 and, per the online menu, is available any time after 10 am, so an 8 am visit will not get one. The newer croissant egg tart with a caramelized top is $3.90, the salted egg pork floss egg tart is $4.15, and the fall persimmon egg tart at $4.35 is made only while persimmons are in season.

The everyday Hong Kong bakery staples sit beside the specialty buns. A cocktail bun is $1.80, the hot dog bun that The Infatuation calls a classic, perfectly done, is $2.60, a BBQ pork bun is $2.50 and a floss roll is $3.35. Hot milk tea or yuanyang, the coffee and tea mix, costs $5.25 to $6.95 depending on size and comes with a complimentary pineapple bite on the side.

The Infatuation describes a line running down the block and people walking the blocks around Irving and 20th with big pastry boxes of still-warm buns. Weekends are the crush, which is why the 12-bun limit applies on Saturday and Sunday and any online order above it is refunded. The skip: do not plan a weekend mid-morning visit just for a plain pineapple bun, because at $1.95 it is the item most likely to have sold through and you will wait longest for it.

The better move is the online store, which lets you schedule pickup at the Irving Street counter. Bring a physical ID or the credit card that matches the name on the order, check in at the counter, and expect a short wait while butter buns are filled. Unclaimed orders are not refunded, so do not book a slot you might miss. Weekday mornings right after the 8 am opening are the calmest.

If the trays are bare or the queue is too long, Plan B is Sunset Bakery on 9th Avenue in the Inner Sunset, a short ride east on the N Judah. The Infatuation's September 2026 pineapple bun guide noted that nothing on its menu costs more than $2.40 and recommended its cocktail buns and egg tarts. It is a classic counter rather than a specialty butter-bun shop, but it keeps the morning on track.

Pineapple King has no tables, and The Infatuation's own suggestion is to carry your box into Golden Gate Park and eat on the grass. Lincoln Way is one block north. From there, walking into the park leads to Blue Heron Lake, where Blue Heron Boathouse has rented row and pedal boats since 1893 with no reservations required, and runs a cafe in the historic boathouse for coffee to go with the buns.

Farther east along the park's southern edge, near 9th Avenue, the San Francisco Botanical Garden covers 55 acres with more than 8,000 kinds of plants, and it is part of the same Gardens of Golden Gate Park group as the Japanese Tea Garden. A box of mini pineapple puffs survives that walk well, unlike the butter buns, which are best eaten within minutes of leaving the counter.

Pineapple King Bakery, 1915 Irving St, San Francisco, CA 94122, at 20th Avenue in the Sunset. The bakery's own site lists no phone line; it takes questions by email at info@pineapplekingbakery.com. Hours are Monday to Friday 8 am to 6 pm, and Saturday and Sunday 8 am to 6:30 pm. Takeout only, with no seating. Online pickup orders are paid by card through the bakery's own store, and pickup requires an ID or the matching card. Weekend limit of 12 regular pineapple buns per customer. Nearest transit is the N Judah at Judah and 19th Avenue.