Pangea Bakery Cafe

Pangea has closed.

Welcome (back) to mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Kirk, ed (from Yuma) and Cathy usually share their adventures in eating here. Your being able to vicariously experience is a bonus.  Cathy is writing today.

Well.  The Mister and I were some of the first people to go to Pangea Bakery Cafe when it opened, in about May of 2011.  We went here a few times and I was ready to post and looked around on the interweb and it seemed that just about every San Diego blogger had done a post.  So I put the photos in a very special place. Finding some of them brought back some memories and since The Mister and I chose this for one of our eight days of birthday snack stops, more recent photos should make this post complete.

Located on Convoy Street, just south of Engineer Road, right next to Tea Garden the visible storefront has a small driveway where you can park for 15 minutes if you are just running in to pick up a snack. Otherwise, passing through the gauntlet of cars leads to a small parking lot.  The one way parking lot exits onto Brinell Street, which usually has plenty of parking (depending on the day and time you are there) and since the lot is small, the walk isn't bad.

When the store first opened, the display racks of baked goods were pushed up against the walls and a small center island contained breads and trays. This Taiwanese bakery is filled with an ever changing variety of baked goods.

The display racks have now been brought inward and tables and chairs line the glass walls

and the center table now mostly holds day old baked goods.  In this above photo, you can see a heated glass display case on the coffee/check out counter in the background.   

On the other side of the cash register counter are refrigerated cases. 

 

On the inner display racks are trays with individually wrapped selections. The above are garlic knots. Buttery...

Although, from this 2011 photo, you can see that items were not always individually wrapped. 

There are trays stacked at the end of the cases are so you can place your selections separately without crushing any of the delicate pastries. 

Above is what we ordered on our very first visit. There was a paper sign at the register after we had selected the sweets we wanted, offering pan fried dumplings and a choice of beverage for $2.49. Beverage choices were coffee, tea and hot soy milk.  We chose the soy and also a coffee (there is (and was) an extensive list of espresso drinks available).

Above is a cross section of the dumpling.  It was wonderful, crispy and not gummy, filled with ground pork, cabbage, carrots cooked in sesame oil. At some point, they stopped offering the beverage special, as well as the dumplings.  You can still order a hot soy milk, but it isn't listed on the menu.

Here's a cross section of a cheese filled pastry.

Above is a photo of our birthday snack- at 12 o'clock is a red bean paste filled pastry, the item at 2 o'clock is pineapple filled and in the 6 o'clock position is a hot cheese pastry which came from the heated case on the countertop, next to the register. Fresh, still warm and all very good.  Sometimes there is more of a pizza in the hot tray; it's good.

Above is a little snack/meal we brought home the other day.   The 11 o'clock item is another red ben paste filled goodie, in the 5 o'clock position is a three pack of almond puff pastry...and that item placed at 1 o'clock

is a quite large loaf of ham and cheese bread.  We can get 3  nice slices from this bread and always grab it when it's available.

The prices here are reasonable (the puff pastry was $1.25 and the cheese bread was $2.50). There is a lot of seating and it's a nice place to share a snack and talk.

Pangea Bakery Cafe 4689 Convoy Street, Suite 100 San Diego 92111 (858)560-0688 website

Comments

[caninecologne]

Great post and round up of all the different baked goods they offer! I really like this place. Plus, the older ladies who work there are really nice!

The owner was recognized by our local school district for her success with the bakery, as she had taken classes and graduated from the culinary program through Chula Vista Adult School (under Chef Ellem Baum).

[Cathy]

Thanks, cc. Everybody has always been nice to us when we drop in here. It's nice to know the history of the ladies-they do have a pride in their product.

[Sandy]

It may have been your post that got me to Pangea's in the first place. I like the red bean pastry and a coffee-almond pastry. The pan fried dumpling looks good; it's too bad they no longer have them.

[Cathy]

So glad you enjoy Pangea also, Sandy. Red bean seems to fulfill cravings for me, too. Coffee almond sounds good; I must seek it out.

[Lynnea]

I have to admit that i've become completely addicted to their macarons. And it was your post on Pangea that made me try it out in the first place.

[Cathy]

Isn't it fun to have an indulgence that isn't expensive, Lynnea? So glad you like it here.