Sota-Mita by Thanh Thi Bakery

Opened in 2024, Sota-Mita is less than two miles away from its older sibling Thanh Thi Bakery, one of Little Saigon’s traditional and affordable Vietnamese dessert shops, and offers a very similar menu in a nicer setting. Unlike Thanh Thi, which sits in the corner of an aging plaza and has no seating for guests, Sota-Mita has a central spot in a newer-looking plaza and feels nicer inside, with two full-sized tables for group seating and friendly service behind the counter.

Sota-Mita specializes in homemade-style baked goods, including muffin-sized mini “banh and thach” baked or jelly cakes commonly purchased in batches; semi-liquid che dessert cups made with corn, black-eyed peas, taro pudding, and banana pudding; several drinks; and a relatively small number of savory pastry items, such as pate chaud and crispy rice cakes with pork floss, sausage, and hard-boiled egg. Everything is aggressively priced: Most of the baked items are $1.25 each, and there are small discounts for buying multiple items at once. The tradeoff is that there’s very little in the way of fancy presentation or plating.