Yeh's Bakery

The Boston pie at Yi Shih Yeh’s Taiwanese sweetshop is not what you’d expect—for one, there’s no chocolate glaze. Instead, this fan-favorite take on the classic treat is a large, sugar-dusted whoopie pie, with two flaky, delicate circles of sponge cake sandwiching vanilla-cream custard. The teensy Flushing storefront also has a limited but top-notch menu of cakes, including a sizable selection of roulades, in two display cases.

Sponge cakes are the main attraction at this small Taiwanese bakery near the Queens Botanical Gardens. Their version of Boston cream pie—no chocolate, just two thick, airy slices of cake, stuffed with an ethereal whipped cream—has a dedicated fandom, and we’re proud members of the club. Yeh’s also makes ultra flaky cookies and mooncakes.

Nestled between a Chase bank and a T-Mobile store, Yeh’s Bakery is easy to miss, but this Queens shop has been operating for over 30 years. The inside is bare bones, just a couple of refrigerated cases for the main attractions: egg tarts, red-bean buns, and traditional Chinese and Taiwanese layer cakes decorated with kiwi slices. The “super-aerated, superlight sponge cake” with whipped cream in the middle has turned dessert-maker Mina Park into a regular.

It’s a very traditional Chinese bakery with a wider selection of items like pineapple buns, scallion buns (too greasy in my opinion. I prefer Yeh’s Bakery for scallion buns), and egg tarts (mediocre). I like their potato salad sandwich, chicken roll in flaky pastry, and pork cutlet sandwich and my mother likes their pineapple bun, milk cream bun, and coconut cream bun.

A holdover Taiwanese bakery from before Flushing’s modern (and more mainland-leaning) expansion, and a favorite of Wong’s when she lived in the neighborhood. “It’s not a new style place; it’s very traditional. But they have almost everything.” Red bean-filled mooncakes, plush cream-filled buns, and light-as-air sponge cakes are in her regular rotation.

On the occasions when we seek out the even greener spaces of the Queens Botanical Garden, a 15-minute walk down Main St., invariably we walk a few minutes more to Yeh’s Bakery. This Taiwanese shop turns out curry puffs and scallion buns, moon cakes and egg tarts, and sponge cakes flavored with vanilla, strawberry, green tea or a rainbow of all three.

This bakery isn't right in the center of Flushing, but trust me, it is worth the trek. The cakes here, particularly the chestnut cake, are incredible. The fluffy cake combined with the chestnut purée and the light cream frosting makes for a perfect bite.

is a great place to find freshly-baked breads, pastries, and cakes. The bakery also offers a variety of savory dishes like dumplings and noodles.