Market City underwent a major update of their dining precincts in 2017. Gone is the dingy food court now replaced with trendy outlets and fit out and no sign of the cheap plastic seats and dirty tables. 85 Degrees Bakery & Cafe is one new outlet in the Level 1 Dining Precinct and with it a large selection of more tasty and inventive items than you’d see in more suburban branches of its stores.
This is the Coffee Mochi Red Bean Boroh ($2.80). It’s a coffee Danish dough with red bean filling and soft mochi, topped with crispy almonds and boroh crust. Boroh refers to pineapple in Chinese (bo lo) with the association taken from the pineapple bun that is so named for the resemblance of its checkered sugary top crust to the epicarp of a pineapple and otherwise containing no pineapple.
The interesting flavour combination works here, with the coffee pasty having a strong aroma and being unsweetened to allow the sweetness of the red bean to came through. The mochi doesn’t add much in terms of flavour, but it does add a chewiness. That said, I’d be happy to see it replaced with red bean for extra flavour. The crust and the almonds add a crunchy textural contrast to the softer pastry. While enjoyable overall, I’m not entirely sold on the flavour pairing of coffee and red bean.
This is the Japanese Cream Boroh Bun ($2.00), a soft and tender milk bread with custard stuffing and crispy boroh on top.
This one does not bother with the traditional checkered pattern of boroh. That said, the boroh – much like a sugar cookie – provides a crunch to the softer bread underneath and the custard. Both the boroh and the eggy vanilla custard have a restrained sweetness that works well with the soft milk bread.
Moving away from boroh, this is the Asuki Pan ($1.80), a traditional sweet soft dough with a specially made red bean filling.
The sweetness in this bread comes from the smooth red bean paste with the bread itself tasting more like a butter roll. A sticky and slippery sweet glaze covers the bun, but any unpleasantness is countered by the nuttiness of the black sesame seeds on top that goes well with the red bean.
And finally, for some real pineapple, this is the Pineapple, Ham & Cheese Bun ($2.20). It’s a very simple combination of flavours, but a very satisfying one with a refreshing pop of pineapple and stringy cheese that doesn’t have the weird gluggy consistency of the cheese in the bread at Bread Top.
The bread at the 85 Degrees Cafe & Bakery in Haymarket is pleasantly less sweet compared to other stores that create Chinese style Western bread.
85 Degrees Cafe & Bakery is located at Level 1, Market City, 9 Hay St, Haymarket NSW 2000.