Russian Cheese Bun

The Russian cheese bun is a leavened pastry wrapped around a cheese or curd filling and baked, plump and golden, splitting open to reveal stringy cheese and warm milky fragrance, soft and gently sweet.

It springs from Russia's dairy and baked-goods tradition, travelling the Chinese Eastern Railway to Manzhouli, where it met local taste and became a familiar sweet-savoury snack in Russian restaurants and street stalls.

Best eaten hot from the oven, it serves as afternoon tea or an after-meal sweet, paired with a glass of kvass or black tea, its milk and wheat notes mingling on the tongue.

Its golden soft crust, stringy cheese filling and rich milky fragrance set the Russian cheese bun apart from Chinese-style pastries.