The Little Box of Treats!

Stockton Heath, the epitome of Cheshire suburbia…now home to a Chinese bakery and tea house!

Yes, I know there’s Wong Wong’s and things in Manchester so I shouldn’t wet myself too hard but still…awesome!

The Little Box of Treats is sort of a hybrid little English tea and cake shop/Chinese bakery:

It’s all about the oriental sweet goodness, less about the techno-orientals and Asian-grandmas in flip-flops (yes, racial stereotyping, but give me a break, I grew up being the only oriental in a big Caucasian school). No to the austere Victoria Sandwiches and raisin laden scones, but yes to WI ladies and middle-class couples with small obnoxious off-spring.

L>O>V>E>>>>IT!

The lovely gal who served us was a total sweetheart…it got a bit busy when we were there and she’d sent some staff home as it was fairly quiet before hand; we had to wait like two whole minutes more for our order (yes, I chatted to her at the till, I chat to everyone at a till, I chat to anyone anywhere)…so, back to my point, oh yeah, she threw in some mango and some coconut pudding as an apology! SO SWEET…I plan to make her my new BFF.

Now, right, I was reviewing a bakery, so food…

Dreamy! Tasty good, super quality and really reasonably priced!

They do all kinds of goodness:

• Sweet buns
• Savoury buns
• Puddings
• Chinese sponges/cupcakes
• Dim sum
• Speciality Teas
• Bubble Tea

They also do some great offers like Chinese afternoon tea for two that comes on little three tier cake stands (I told you, total fusion!) and little meal deals, like tea and dim sum for just under £5.

Simon had the dim sum and tea; pot o’ tea and 4 steamed dim sum either Har-Kau or Siu-Mei (he got two of each). Sweet Baby Jesus! The Har-Kau were huge and amazing (I stole a bite…all for the review of course). Really well steamed with two lobster sized prawns cuddled up inside a duvet of glutinous pastry heaven! The Siu-Mei were of equal size, quality and gorgeousness but I can’t think of any great way of describing a ball of meat that won’t make you feel disgusted with me of slightly misty in the nethers.

I had a Char-Siu Bao…my all time favourite food BTW if you wanted to at some point mail me goodies? If you are used to the little white “fluffy towel” kind, it wasn’t like that…more like a sweet, white, milk-roll (but huge and looked a bit like a boob) glazed on top and encasing the glistening, ruby chunks of char-siu pork that feature heavily in my sexy food dreams…divine! They were exactly what you’d pick up from a bustling bakery down Nathan Road in Hong Kong for a pick-me-up betwixt shopping malls.

I also tried one of the speciality teas, Fairy Blooming Jasmine (jokes to yourselves people…low hanging fruit). It came in a glass teapot and is a ball of leaves and things that unfurls into a beautiful blossom with nano jasmine flowers that float around the rest of the pot (and breathe, long sentence, could not or should not be shortened)! Nectar scented, flowery and delicately sweet like liquid floral candy floss; the perfect accompaniment to my buxom bun.

This is where there would probably be pictures of the food…but no, we noshed down before taking pictures so here are empty plates…

You will have to be satisfied with a few snaps of the food counters…

and here’s some things you can buy!

They sell samples of the speciality teas, I got a bag of five Fairy Blooming Jasmine for £7.50! You get four in a box from Fortnum & Mason for £12.50! I also got a sample of Rose Tea which is just a bag of teeny tiny little rose buds…again with the total Anglo-Asian greatness!

I’m totally planning to live in this shop for the foreseeable future as I want to support local business (we are planning to move to Stockton Heath), I want to promote the greatness of Asian bakeries, I want to big up those brave enough to take the plunge and earn a living selling baked goods…erm, ok, I just want to eat cake.

Next plan is to sample one of the Chinese cakes which I just get giddy over, so light, so bright, so creamy…remember the movie Hook and the imaginary feast? Live the dream!

My only slight sad face is that the bubble tea has small tapioca pearls not the frogspawn on ‘roids that you need a special extra girthy straw to suck up (minds, gutters, hang your head)

If anyone wishes to join me for tea and cake Asian style…I will pay, I will drive and chauffeur you, I will even carry you from the car to the bakery…ring me…NOW!