Yida Haw Cheese: As a child, I imagined if I needed to sustain myself on my paltry allowance, I could afford to live off Haw Flakes, a traditional Chinese candy consisting of stacks of purple-red discs (think Necco wafers, but thinner), costing about fifty cents for a pack of 10 rolls. They taste like strawberry fruit leather and are made of a Chinese fruit called hawthorn. Texturally, it's hard but then slightly chewy at the first hint of moisture. This individually wrapped candy from Yia is a different t... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended candy yida haw cheese 3.5
Calbee Takoyaki Corn Puffs: Similar in size and texture to Utz cheese balls but tasting nothing like them, these octopus-flavored puffed corn snacks from Japanese snack brand Calbee actually hail from South Korea. They’re coated in a light brown powder tasting strongly of Worcestershire sauce, giving each bite an initial vinegary and savory hit but ending on an unexpectedly (and slightly overpowering) sweet note. They don’t have as strong of a seafood flavor as I would like, probably because the Worcestershire seasoni... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended octopus korean calbee takoyaki corn puffs 3.5 nijiya
Icelandic Provisions Peach cloudberry skyr: Used in jams, which in turn is a topping for desserts like ice cream and waffles, cloudberry is a type of berry popular in Nordic countries. This cloudberry peach yogurt was the first time I tried it, though the yogurt tasted mostly of peach with a slight tanginess (presumably from the cloudberries). Icelandic Provisions skyr is thick (but not as thick as Siggi’s) and less sweet than normal yogurt (though more sweet than Siggi’s). The tub-shaped container makes it seem more substantial than ... (read more) 3.5/5.0
yogurt icelandicprovisions peach cloudberry skyr 3.5
Golden Gate Bakery Egg Cupcake: No surprise that lines at famed San Francisco bakery Golden Gate Bakery were long for Chinese New Year, but I still didn’t expect it to take 80 minutes to get egg tarts. At around 6pm, the owner started rationing; no single person could order more than 2, for fear she would run out. The eggtarts were as good as ever, but waiting this long necessitated making another purchase, this time for an egg “cupcake,” seemingly made just of egg, flour, sugar, and oil. It was very lightly sweetened, sof... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended sf goldengatebakery egg cupcake 3.5
Marukyo Black Sesame Funwariyaki Dorayaki: Dorayaki is a delicious filled pancake dessert from Japan that has no equivalent in American pastry (as far as I know). The closest likeness I can think of is the Whoopie Pie, though dorayaki has a bean paste filling rather than cream, and the ratio of cake to filling is slimmer. Berkeley Bowl sells an assortment of refrigerated cakes in their Asian grocery aisle, though I have normally been wary of these silica-packet-filled packaged snacks. I was intrigued, though, by this black sesame ... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended berkeleybowl japanese blacksesame marukyo black sesame funwariyaki dorayaki 3.5
Kind Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Bar: Kind is a rare brand where quality meets affordability. Their mantra, "Ingredients you can see and pronounce," clearly manifests in their packaging and choice of ingredients. This bar, combining glazed nuts drizzled with dark chocolate on top of a chocolate-coated granola base, is familiar yet executed well. A good, filling snack. 3.5/5.0
chocolate peanutbutter granola protein kind peanut butter dark bar 3.5