Alaska: August 2026: Day 1: Anchorage

Alaska

August 2026: Day 1: Anchorage

Interesting wallpaper.

Aloft Anchorage Midtown.

Inside. Just enough decor to not be overly plain.

Microwave, coffee maker, and fridge.

Some decor by the bed.

Welcome gift from the hotel.

The view.

Charlie's Bakery and Chinese Cuisine.

They were busy when I arrived and got completely packed a few minutes after I ordered. Menu.

Menu.

Big cakes.

Why are the dan tat wrinked.

Tiramisu.

Jelly roll.

Breads are pretty picked over this late.

Dan tat was okay. Crust was crumbly and not good, filling wasn't bad.

Shrimp spicy won tons were good but small, bok choy were huge.

Bean curd with pork was huge. Not much flavor.

Did they forget to season the pork.

Lo mai gai is giant, har gow skins way too thick and bland.

Giant lo mai gai with dan tat for scale.

Pork shu mai were not bad.

Har gow skins way, way too thick and lacked flavor, but they were pretty.

Lo mai gai also needed better seasoning.

The Aloft in Anchorage is in Midtown, a bit further south than the more popular haunts in downtown, but it looks like midtown is sort of the primary strip mall/retail area as opposed to the more touristy downtown. It's a pretty new hotel, comfortable enough, except that public transit in the area is not nearly as good as downtown, at least not for tourists.

Dinner was an unexpected find that I passed by on my afternoon run: Charlie's Bakery and Chinese Cuisine, an absolutely packed local place. They had massive cakes in the American style, some Chinese/Asian breads, and quite the menu of typical fast-casual Chinese food (rice plates and whatnot), but also a selection of dim sum. Being intrigued I went for the latter, and it was best described as a somewhat odd experience.

The lo mai gai was enormous, more like a brick, with the one piece being easily the size of two (or more) of the regular sized ones seen at dim sum. Filling was pretty meh due to insufficient seasoning, although the quantity was good, and the rice itself wasn't bad. Spicy shrimp won tons were on the small size, bok choy were large by comparison, both were quite decent. Bean curd wrapped pork was like the lo mai ga, oddly enormous and similarly too light on seasoning for the filling. Har gow were pretty but the skins were to thick and poor in flavor and texture, while the shu mai (pork, not chicken-- they had both) were perhaps the best item, pretty mid, but from this meal, I'd take mid.

Final item was the dan tat. Crust was quite meh, too crumbly, and the filling was oddly wrinkled, like it came out of the oven too hot and cooled too fast. Still, like the shu mai, the end result was acceptable.