Matcha Man Ice Cream and Taiyaki Black sesame taiyaki ice cream: This taiyaki ice cream shop in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood is the first to serve taiyaki in Seattle and proved popular on a Saturday evening, taking about 25 min from line to ice-cream in hand. They feature classic flavors like matcha and black sesame as well as Thai iced tea and dole whip. Being a big black sesame fan, I had to go for the classic in a fish-shaped waffle cone. The waffle is more western than taiyaki you would get in Japan, which is very crispy. This one instead was mor... (read more) 3.0/5.0
icecream blacksesame seattle matchamanicecreamandtaiyaki black sesame taiyaki ice cream 3.0
Milwon Black Rice Steamed Bread: Frozen steamed buns are some of my favorite quick breakfast items. Back when I lived next to HMart, I would purchase them frequently. After not having had them for several months, I was happy to find some at my local Korean grocery store. These Milwon buns are made with black rice, which gives them a speckled purple color. Each fits comfortably in the palm of your hand and has a red bean filling. The only positive thing I can say about this product is that it's not too sweet. Otherwise... (read more) 1.5/5.0
korean redbean asian milwon black rice steamed bread 1.5 avoid
Mr Bartley's Black and White Malted Milkshake: For my last official snack in Cambridge, I had to get one of Bartley's famous malted "frappes" (milkshakes). Over the 9 years I've lived in Cambridge, I've had their milkshake a few times, spaced several years apart. One of my earliest memories is going on a trip with a few members of my undergraduate dorm, walking from MIT to Harvard Square just to get milkshakes to go. Their legendary shakes are thick (and stay that way, due to the incorporation of soft serve instead of ice cream), and ... (read more) 4.5/5.0
drinks cambridge harvardsquare exceptional mrbartleys black white malted milkshake 4.5
Mr. Wish Black milk tea with boba: While I found the boba to be a bit too chewy, I otherwise found this classic beverage, which was not too sweet (I specified 25% sweetness) to be good. It is unfortunately too common to purchase black milk tea that doesn't actually have any herbal taste; this one fortunately avoids that pitfall. 3.0/5.0
recommended drinks boba milktea mrwish black milk tea 3.0
Nature's Soy Black sesame soy milk: I love Asian soy milk, which tends to be a lot less sweet and taste of actual soybeans/tofu compared to American soymilk (there's a very good chapter on this in the book Organic inc.), so when I went to Hong Kong Supermarket in Chinatown NYC, I checked out the refrigerated, fresh soy milk options. This brand happened to have black sesame and matcha soymilk, two of my favorite flavors. Since the half gallons we're quite large and black sesame is a bit more unqiue for this category, I purchase... (read more) 4.0/5.0
recommended soymilk asian chinese nyc hongkongsupermarket drinks naturessoy black sesame soy milk 4.0
Nezu No Pan Black Sesame Raisin Bread: I loved the bread I was gifted from this bakery in Nezu so much that I wanted to see all the flavors they had to offer. I bought two more mini-loaves to try. The first was sliced black sesame raisin bread, with a thin crust and chewy stretch interior mixing a healthy amount of black sesame and plump raisins. I really liked the savory taste of the black sesame, but I found the raisins to be overpoweringly sweet – about half the quantity would have been better balanced in my eyes. The quali... (read more) 3.0/5.0
bread tokyo nezu nezunopan black sesame raisin 3.0