Iceskimo Shaved Snow: Located in La Jolla, Iceskimo is a self-proclaimed "artisan snow shavery" serving shaved ice inspired by those found in Taiwan and Hawaii. The shaved ice is a mix between ice cream and shaved ice - creamier than the shaved ice found on the streets of Taipei, shaved thinly into overlapping ribbons. They have many classic Asian flavors to chose from, from black sesame to matcha to Thai tea. I tried both the black sesame (pictured) as well as the Thai tea and found the Thai tea to be the mos... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended desserts taiwnaese shavedice blacksesame thaitea boba icecream iceskimo shaved snow 3.5
Japonaise Bakery Green Tea Cake: Located on Beacon Street in Brookline, this small bakery has an assortment of pastries as well as packaged Japanese snacks. Their green tea cake is multi-layered, with green tea creme and a layer of gelatin on top. While the matcha flavor was not bad, the cake was a bit dry, and the gelatin was largely for texture (it didn't have much flavor). It looked better than it tasted. 3.0/5.0
matcha desserts japonaisebakery green tea cake 3.0
Lotte Chocolate Caramel Choco Pie in Ginza : The iconic snack Choco Pie from Korean brand Lotte is available in most places shops in Japan. This particular Ginza chocolate caramel cake flavor is part of a special edition "around the world" series which takes iconic desserts from various cities around the world. For example, it previously featured the NYC cheesecake. I've never actually heard of a Tokyo-specific chocolate caramel cake (and a quick Google Search comes up empty). This is a very decadent Choco Pie, with chocolate cake i... (read more) 3.0/5.0
japanese desserts inegaya lotte chocolate caramel choco pie in ginza 3.0
Mah Ze Dahr Banana Bread: Mah Ze Dahr is a small bakery in Greenwich Village with pastries carefully organized on wooden boards and raised platters, somehow conveying both abundance (through its variety of baked goods) and scarcity (there are <10 of each). This banana bread was served in a sizable disc, like an enlarged, leveled-off muffin top, or an especially thick cookie. Unfortunately, while banana bread is one of my favorites, I found it to be a bit on the dry side, and the sugar coating on top made it far too... (read more) 2.0/5.0
desserts bakery nyc mahzedahrbakery banana bread 2.0
Mai's Bakery Banh Tu Quy: An assortment of generously-sized glutinous-rice-flour-based desserts purchased from Saigon Sandwich in the Tenderloin, SF. More gelatinous and firm than typical mochi desserts, it has a consistency somewhere between mochi and jello. All four in this combo pack had a mild mung bean or taro filling, two were coated in shaved coconut, and the black had an herbal jelly flavor. The best was the chestnut-colored mochi with coconut, but all were tasty in their own right. Good value; tastes home... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended mochi chinese vietnamese desserts maisbakery banh tu quy 3.5
Mango Mango Mango Sampler: Purchased from the St. Mark's location of asian-dessert-chain Mango Mango, this platter contains a sampling of three different desserts. The first was starchy and slightly too firm glutinous rice balls paired with fresh mango fruit (the latter of which was ripe and sweet). The next was lychee jelly (very sweet and similar to the type you would expect to be at the bottom of a bubble tea) and a scoop of mango ice cream, which was a tad creamy and did not tasting distinctively of mango. The ... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended desserts nyc mochi icecream lychee jelly glutinous fruit asian mangomango mango sampler 3.5