On October 27, 2023, Pineapple King Bakery opened a new location on Warm Springs Boulevard in Fremont. Founded by sisters Jennifer and Stephanie Leung as well as their uncle Guo Chi Ng in 2015, the bakery mainly sells pineapple buns, Hong Kong style baked goods, and traditional Chinese snacks. 

I visited the store a week after the grand opening, and waited for around an hour to order and receive my food. Since it was a soft opening, they were only selling certain pineapple buns and four types of drinks. The interior was also very small, with space for workers to make and pack the orders on site. Because of this, customers have to stand outside to wait to order and for their food. 

For their soft opening, Pineapple King was selling two types of combination boxes: a deluxe box and a butter supreme box. I purchased the butter supreme box, which includes buttery pineapple buns along with two original pineapple puffs. The butter supreme box included pineapple buns with flavored butter sandwiched between them. The butter flavors included chocolate marshmallow, guava, salted egg, and the original.

I really enjoyed the original pineapple puffs. They had a sweet creamy filling that was quite similar to the filling of cream puffs. The crispy sugary crust on top of the fluffy buns also added a really nice texture to the overall taste of the pineapple puff. The same went for the other pineapple buns with butter as well. Since all the buns were made on site, they were warm and were crispy when we received them.

As for the ones with butter, my favorite was definitely the guava butter pineapple bun. Though pictured as a block of butter the guava filling became more like a soft filling in the warm bun. It didn’t taste exactly like guava, but had a rich and sweet taste that wasn’t too sweet. Next the chocolate marshmallow butter was not really what I expected. The marshmallows weren’t part of the butter but were chunks inside the butter which added a strange texture. The combination of pineapple buns and chocolate was something I’ve never had before. It was pretty good but not amazing.

The two flavors I didn’t particularly enjoy were the salted egg butter and original butter pineapple buns. The salted egg butter didn’t fit that well with the sweet crust of the bun, as it tasted just like a salted egg yolk, slightly dry and salty, which was the complete opposite of the bun itself. I personally didn’t enjoy it that much, but if you enjoy snacks like salted egg yolk pineapple cakes, you’ll definitely enjoy this flavor.

My least favorite flavor was definitely the original flavor. The filling was straight butter, and had no special taste whatsoever. The taste of plain butter with the pineapple bun was a bit overwhelming. Despite this, I would say my overall experience at Pineapple King was a positive one. If you do go, I would definitely recommend the original pineapple puffs and the guava butter pineapple bun.