Review: Creative pastries on display Unni Pastries

Sometimes with a first bite, you know you’ve found a great place. That one bite can define an entire review. That was certainly the case at Unni Pastries, a Korean bakery located at 1773 Robson St.

Like a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, Unni isn’t the easiest to get to if you’re visiting downtown. Past larger bakeries like Thierry on Alberni, the unavoidable Breka and the industrial COBS, Unni is, for all intents and purposes, off the beaten path for those just visiting downtown for the weekend. 

Opened in spring 2023, the Korean bakery started in a commissary kitchen, fulfilling online orders before they branched out to set up their own actual physical shop.

The interior is cute but simple. Wooden tables, almost Ikea-like chairs, dotted with some simple artwork, it’s not a huge space. Rather, it appears designed for functionality, with a focus given to the massive bakery in the back, the team working up front and a large display window showcasing everything they make.

And what they’re baking deserves your full attention. 

Now, long-time readers will know I’m not a huge fan of Instagrammable food. It’s a necessary evil for restaurants looking to stand out, but it pushes food into gimmicks, moving all food and our own tastes closer to a single vision of what algorithms deem good. Uniformity, rather than diversity, wins out, with less photogenic food, even if it’s good, being ignored.

While there are elements of that with Unni, I didn’t get the impression the designs were done entirely for Instagram. Brioche cream-filled donuts are simple in design — an artfully placed slice of banana, bright red strawberries, fluorescent green matcha filling. All beautiful but not extravagant. 

The donuts, ranging from $5.25 to $4.25, certainly stand out the most. Earl gray cream, ruby strawberry yogurt, the team at Unni is playfully working with your standard types of donuts, but infusing their own sense of creativity. Rather than just a chocolate one, it also has banana cream, along with a well caramelized chunk of actual banana. 

If you squint hard enough, it almost looks healthy…

It’s not just donuts, they have dacquoise ($3.25), but Korean style. It’s a more dense version of a macaron, chewier and less airy. If you like macarons, it’s a lovely change and contrast to the timeless classic. 

The person I peppered with all my questions recommended the creme brulee donut, a yellow cream-filled pastry with a hard, brown caramelized top. The toffee-coloured exterior was unmistakable. 

As soon as your teeth crunch through the crystalized top, you’re hit with a strong sweet flavour that is quickly overwhelmed by the subtle creme brulee cream inside. The whole bite is a real mouthful, in a good way. The cream is denser than similar donuts I’ve had at Mello, another place doing excellent brioche donuts, but the cream contrasted well with the sweeter toffee top.

They also recommended any of the cream cube loafs. While I recognize there is an element of Instagram-ability here, I’m willing to let it pass since it’s not croissant dough. Instead, they’re using milk bread, a Japanese soft, pillowy alternative to brioche using Tangzhong, a roux of flour and water or milk. With flavours like black sesame cream, I’ll be back one day to try it. 

They also have cakes in flavours like lemon dairy and birthday cake, matcha pound cake, and a variety of brioche. 

In a city full of donut options, Unni has joined the ranks of places like Mello, offering alternatives to the standard deep-fried dough. Playfully incorporating Korean, Japanese and Chinese flavours, it’s well worth a detour the next time you’re downtown. 

Similar places

• The aforementioned Mello was one of the first reviews I wrote! But it’s only available for Insiders

Dig deeper

• If you have a subscription to the New York Times Cooking, here’s a useful recipe for milk bread

• Looking for a high-quality, if a little more technical, baking book? Tartine: A Classic Revisited, by the team at Tartine, the famous bakery in San Francisco, is a welcome addition to any aspiring baker’s bookshelf