5 Seattle-area pastry pop-ups featuring flavors from around Asia

Seattle’s vibrant pop-up scene sports more pizza options than a college dorm could go through in a year, and a pandemic’s worth of sourdough bread, but the most exciting options come from the sweet section, where local pastry chefs and bakers show off a fluency in flour and the flavors of their Asian heritage.

Operating on preorder models, mostly through social media, with weekly menus that sell out in seconds, these bakers show off how modern versions of the Filipino pastries, Southeast Asian buns, and Korean treats they grew up with can find a niche among Seattle’s cavalcade of croissants. But all of them require thinking ahead, because if you want these you need to make sure to preorder your pastries.

Enseamada

Enseamada wins off the bat for having the best kind of pun as their name – a combination of the name of their signature product, the Filipino-style ensaymada, and Seattle, where they operate. These ensaymadas stick to the traditional brioche-style roll and thick slathering of butter found around the Philippines and its diaspora, but use high-quality ingredients and incorporate bold colors and flavors to make for eye-catching pastries – and it comes with adorable branding. Enseamada’s big flavors like ube overload, triple cheese, and salted egg stand out, but they somehow manage not to overwhelm the pastry. Also, they are enormous, but thankfully if you over order, they reheat well in about 10 seconds in the microwave. Snag them via Instagram DM for pick up in locations all over Seattle, from Federal Way to Shoreline.

CocoPandan

This local online shop’s collection of Indonesian/Singaporean desserts features the two flavors in the name: coconut and the striking green of pandan leaves. You’ll find them in the signature milk bread rolls and the kaya jam that comes with a large order, as well as in the chiffon cake and CocoPandan balls – coconut sugar and shredded coconut wrapped in flavored cookie dough. Orders go through a web-based form and you can select from pick up in Lynnwood or delivery to an enormous range anywhere from Everett to Renton, including all over the Eastside.

El’s Bread n’ Butter

This home-baker turned pastry pop-up sells one of social media’s trendiest items, the Korean street food of cream cheese garlic bread, but also sells more serious and storied items, including roll cakes and financiers. The messy, fragrant, and pillowy-soft garlic bread comes in original, corn, and sweet potato flavors, while the roll cakes are either injeolmi (toasted soybean) or black sesame. The financiers – French almond cakes – come in gorgonzola or yuzu options. Contact the shop via Instagram to order and arrange pick up in Lynnwood or Bellevue.

Akio’s Bakery

Named for the owner’s pug, not herself, this bakery specializes in the light, fluffy cream puffs with crispy tops that she first tried in Japan. The creamy, crispy, bite-sized treats come with rich, creamy fruit fillings in rotating flavors like yuzu, blueberry lavender and passion fruit, as well as the option for standard vanilla. The bakery also offers cookie-topped melonpan buns (with or without custard filling) and soft loaves of shokupan bread by the half or full loaf. Akio’s offers pick up in Renton as well as delivery from Everett to Tacoma, and east to Issaquah for pre-orders taken through the website.

Umma’s Bakery

In Korean, the word “umma” is a casual way to say mom, and fitting to the name, Umma’s makes kid-pleasing treats, like a banana rice bread in the shape and color of a banana. Umma’s describes itself as baking “With love and healthy ingredients,” and the rice breads are made with organic rice flour, and come in banana, chocolate, and strawberry. They also offer a soft, rectangular sponge cake called castella, and pound cakes in flavors like lemon, matcha, and chestnut – all made from rice flours, so naturally gluten-free. Order via Instagram for pick up in Bellevue or Bothell.