David's Pastries and Bread Tianyi 大衞麵包房 天一店 (Ningbo, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

We have approximately two hours to explore Ningbo before our scheduled train takes off for Hangzhou (杭州). Instead of having breakfast, the first order of business (according to my itinerary) was to check out a couple of dessert spots.

Located on the ground floor of a small complex on Zhongshan East Road just a few steps from our hotel, David’s Pastries and Bread (大卫面包房) is a recently opened bakery shop cum café that offers a decent selection of comfort food, freshly bakery goods and pastries.

I wasn’t interested in any savory food (pizza and pasta) at this hour so I immediately headed for the dessert counter.

A grapefruit (一顆柚子) (¥35) – It wasn’t the first time a pâtissier took on the challenge of creating ultra-realistic fruit pastries—and it certainly won’t be the last. Last time we tried something like this, we were at Restaurant Le Dali at Le Meurice Paris getting our faces messy indulging in world-renowned Chef Cédric Grolet’s gorgeous fruit collections. Well, I thought this looked pretty good as well.

Inside the grapefruit-shaped chocolate was tangy grapefruit compote drizzled with kiri cream cheese and finger lime. To no one’s real surprise, this came with a sharp burst of acidity.

Little fireman (小火人) (¥38) – Not surprisingly, my little nugget picked this cute little fire-shaped pastry 🔥.

There were more than just acidity inside this one. In fact, it featured a vibrant blend of tartness from Greek yogurt and passion fruit, nicely offset by the natural sweetness of mango and pineapple. I thought pretty decent.

Next door was another dessert shop by the name of YOOOOSHARE and I've seen posters of their mille crêpes cakes left and right. Leaving no stone unturned, I am going to check it out as well.

Food Rating: 5.2/10

Price: ¥¥¥

Address: Shop 1-38 145-151 Zhongshan East Road, Haishu District, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China 

浙江省宁波市海曙区中山东路145-151号 1-38

Closest Metro Station: Dongmenkou (东门口 - 天一广场)

Opening Hour: 9:00am - 10:00pm daily