We ate at Huge Tree Pastry in Monterey Park for brunch this morning. It's a no frills, order-as-you-go restaurant focusing on smaller items such as pastries, soy milk and even xiao lung bao. I found it best to stick with the breakfast items here. The you tiao (Taiwanese donut on the menu), is served hot, crisp and, in the inside, soft. It went well with the soybean milk, which we got "sweet" (you'll need to add sugar to make it actually taste sweet).
Probably the favorite dish at the table was the baked sesame bread with egg--basically an egg sandwich. The other egg dish we got, the pan fried green onion pancake with egg, also hit the spot.
Perhaps the heartiest single item we got was the baked sesame bread with beef. It wasn't anything elaborate, but it came early in the meal, when we were pretty hungry. So, it was well received.
Other items we got include the ham and radish pastry, which was exceedingly small (not much larger in diameter than a silver dollar) and a salty fan tuan, which was a roll with pork sung.
I was slightly disappointed by the xiao lung bao, which I found to be leaky and the skin a little tough. It's hard to do this well and it's hard to blame the restaurant for its effort.
While Huge Tree was hit and miss, I don't question its value. We ordered nine items in all and with tax and tip the eight of us were fed for $44. Again, if you go here, stick with the meat- and egg-filled pastries and maybe the soy milk.
Note: The men's restroom had no soap and no paper towels.
Huge Tree Pastry
423 N Atlantic Blvd.
Monterey Park, CA 91754
(626) 458-8689
