Sunmerry Bakery

At a time when there are tons of 85°C locations across Southern California, a locally smaller rival – Sunmerry Bakery – is doing a great job from two and a half stores in Orange County. Founded in Taiwan in the mid-1980s (but with earlier, unspecified roots in Japan), Sunmerry is primarily a bakery offering Taiwanese pastries with “Japanese baking techniques.” From traditional pineapple and rainbow taro mooncakes to curry donuts and pork puffed pastries, the shelved breakfast and lunch items are straight out of the best pastry shops in Asia, and consistently very good to great. Even if the rainbow desserts feel like Instagram bait, they’re visually distinctive, always available (not just during Pride), and tasty.

While many of Sunmerry’s offerings are more obviously Taiwanese and French than Japanese, there are exceptions. At a time when it was impossible to find authentic Japanese mochi donuts in California, Sunmerry stood out as one of a handful of places that more closely approximated the experience. Flavors have varied over time, but include matcha white chocolate, black sesame, strawberry, Oreo, and churro, all good, and offered at affordable prices.

Sunmerry is also a good source for cakes, particularly full-sized versions. If you’re looking for relatively light cakes, such as traditional or rainbow-style sponge cake rolls, or not particularly dense Japanese-style cheesecakes, Sunmerry will have something that will catch your eye while satisfying your need for a fairly low-sugar sweet. Note that the flavors tend to be mild to moderate rather than bold, and pair well with their coffee and tea drinks.