The Eastern Bakery in San Francisco’s Chinatown is a must-see. As the United States’ oldest Chinese bakery (it opened in 1924), Eastern Bakery touts their specialty of moon cakes, a rich, dense lotus-seed paste filled pastry that hungry residents and intrigued tourists stand in line for.

Make no mistake, there is nothing “light” or “healthy” in this bakery - if it isn’t deep fried, its stuffed to the brim with filling or encapsulated in mounds of dough, as evidenced by the Chinese Donut otherwise known as “Jin deui,” a pastry made from glutinous rice flour and filled with lotus paste, black bean paste or red bean paste.

There are many varieties of mooncakes at Eastern Bakery - some are chocolate covered, while others contain egg yolks from salted duck eggs, to which I say, no thank you.

In addition to all the pastries they offer, Eastern Bakery proudly displays then-President Bill Clinton’s visit to their establishment, where he sampled some delicacies himself. The text reads:  “President Bill Clinton came to visit Eastern Bakery on July 23, 1996 from 5:00 to 5:30 p.m. He shook hands with everybody inside our bakery. All of us, our customers and employees were thrilled and it was just like a short, but big, exciting and memorable party!!!”

The service at Eastern Bakery is quicker than at any establishment I’ve ever seen, so if you’re standing in the line that wraps outside the building, fret not - it moves fast. The seating on the other hand is dismal, so plan to eat your snacks along the way.  Lastly, don’t plan on buying a lot, especially if you’re wanting to try the mooncakes, one is enough as I found out the hard way when I bought a mooncake wedge and could only take one bite before pretty much throwing it away. Despite this, Eastern Bakery makes for a great pit stop while you’re walking about the city by the bay.