Koreana Plaza Market Mochi: Inside the Koreana Plaza Market in Oakland is a small cash-only bakery with a variety of asian sweets, including lotus-paste-filled pastries (review forthcoming), pineapple buns, and almond cookies. I purchased a pack of two red-bean mochi (despite the oven-fresh sticker on the packaging, I'm pretty sure they were steamed). The mochi are about 125% the size of packaged mochi. Biting into a piece, I could instantly tell that it was very fresh. The glutinous rice flour had a bit more resis... (read more) 3.0/5.0
oakland sweets dessert japanese koreanaplazamarket mochi 3.0
Benkyodo Co Mochi: One of the original mochi shops in the US, Benkyodo in Japantown, SF opened back in 1906. Today, the storefront is an odd mix of diner counter, Asian 7-11-type snacks, and fresh made mochi. All of their mochi come in cupcake liners and taste very fresh because they are. The texture is softer than I personally prefer, and there is a little too much starch that coats your mouth with each bite. But I did enjoy that they were not overly sweet. The best was certainly a mango mochi that had f... (read more) 3.0/5.0
japantown sanfrancisco japanese sweets dessert benkyodoco mochi 3.0
Blue Star Donuts Buttermilk Lemon Poppyseed Donut: Portland is pretty serious about donuts. On my latest visit, I saw a much higher percentage of commuters eating donuts for breakfast than I have witnessed in any other city. So when I was about to fly out from PDX and realized there was a Blue Star next to ticketing, I willingly went through security a second time in order to see what all the fuss was about. There were many flavors I was interested in trying, from their strawberry-rhubarb jam-filled pastry to a more traditional donut ring ... (read more) 3.0/5.0
sweets dessert portland bluestardonuts buttermilk lemon poppyseed donut 3.0
Blockheads Black sesame shaved ice with red bean, rice cakes, almond jelly, and condensed milk: Finally got to try this LA-based Taiwanese shaved ice chain. The black sesame ice cream had decent flavor but the texture was not as fluffy as I knew it could be given my recent experience at Powder in San Francisco. At Blockheads, they make their rice cakes in house, which are essentially tang yuan (the mochi-like glutinous rice dumplings that often accompany red bean soup). I expected their almond jelly to be almond jello, but it was more like the harder gelatin cubes often used in Asia... (read more) 3.0/5.0
dessert icecream asian losangeles shaved ice rice cakes almond jelly condensed milk 3.0 redbean blacksesame blockheads
Full Tilt Ice Cream Mango Strawberry Sorbet: Part ice cream shop, part arcade, Full Tilt is a chain of family friendly shops located in various parts of Seattle. Along with their colorful assortment of flavors is their equally colorful staff (many heavily pierced and tattooed, at least at the time of my visit to the Ballard location). The texture of the mango strawberry sorbet I purchased could have been smoother, but the flavor combination was unique, although a bit sweet. I'm hopeful that they're able to maintain a sanitary environ... (read more) 3.0/5.0
seattle icecream dessert fruit fulltilticecream mango strawberry sorbet 3.0
DeKEFIR Kefir frozen yogurt with peaches : While I've had store-bought kefir, this was my first experience with a frozen version of the yogurt. The mildly tangy, smooth frozen yogurt at deKEFIR is surprisingly hydrating and refreshing. However, its fruit toppings are honestly a little sad, as can be immediately identifiable by the color of my slightly brown sliced peaches. 3.0/5.0
Toronto froyo frozen dessert dekefir kefir yogurt peaches 3.0