Hong Kong-style pastries are a tradition at Chiu Quon, Chicago's oldest Chinese bakery

BySarah Baniak Localish logo
Monday, June 7, 2021
Chicago's oldest Chinese bakery makes Hong Kong-style pastries
Chicago's Chiu Quon is the oldest bakery in Chinatown. Now a new generation is carrying on the tradition of making classic Hong Kong-style pastries.In Chicago's Chinatown, Chiu Quon, the city's oldest Chinese bakery, has a new generation making Hong Kong-style pastries.

CHICAGO -- Inside Chiu Quon, the oldest bakery in Chicago's Chinatown, customers gush over the flavor and texture of their barbecue pork buns. The family-owned business has been making savory baked goods and traditional Hong Kong-style pastries since 1986.

"We bake them and when they come out they're this beautiful golden brown color," said Joyce Chiu, whose parents founded Chiu Quon. "The barbecue is sweet and salty and the bread is soft."

Chiu Quon boasts over 100 items which are baked and stocked daily in bakery cases and freezers. Chinese immigrants made up their clientele in the beginning, but today the bakery is equally loved by everyone in the neighborhood.

"These are the recipes my dad brought over 30-odd years ago," says Joyce Chiu. "The traditional items, they're made the same."

Joyce and her brother Matthew have taken over full ownership from their parents and are now continuing the tradition. As other bakeries have come and gone, Chiu Quon remains a staple of the South Side community.

"We have a responsibility to the people working here and a responsibility to the community to provide this service," said Matthew Chiu. "We really appreciate our parents coming here as immigrants. Their generationthey worked really hard."

For more information about Chiu Quon, visit their website.