Ruby King Bakery Café

Ruby King Bakery Café is an Oakland Chinatown bakery serving traditional Cantonese pastries and cakes, open since 2002. Known for Hong Kong-style egg tarts, flaky pastries such as curry beef puffs and baked chicken pie, Lotus Seed with Thousand Years Old Duck Egg (皮疍酥), and custom birthday cakes with a soft sponge base, all made from original recipes rooted in Guangzhou and Hong Kong flavors. The founder began baking in Guangzhou, first worked in Oakland's food scene in 1972, joined a local bakery in 1987, and opened Ruby King in 2002; the bakery is now transitioning to Ah-Hua, a longtime apprentice trained under the founder. Based in Oakland Chinatown. Reviewers consistently highlight the affordable prices, flaky pastries, not-too-sweet birthday cakes ordered by phone in advance, and the bakery's status as a longtime Oakland Chinatown institution.