Ring Baked Tofu Donuts Adzuki Donut: Ring is a donut shop in Los Angeles I've been wanting to try for a long time but haven't until now because it's a bit out of the way in Canoga Park. Their vegan donuts are made from tofu from Meiji Tofu (previously reviewed on Tasty Snacking) along with other high quality local ingredients. Located in an office park, it has a small storefront with a variety of Japanese flavored donuts as well as a selection of house-made beverages. I tried three different donuts which I'll write reviews o... (read more) 4.0/5.0
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Shrimp peanut snack: Despite my best effort at detective work with Google Translate and Reverse Image Search, I wasn’t able to track down the exact brand of this senbei snack. Too bad, because it’s one of the best ones I’ve had before. Purchased from Tokyo Fish Market in Berkeley, the snack consists of baked hollow balls filled with peanuts. Unlike the traditional crunchy glazed rice crackers I’ve had before, this one had a crumbly, buttery exterior that melt-in-your-mouths. The shell is well seasoned with a rob... (read more) 4.0/5.0
recommended tokyofishmarket japanese shrimp peanut snack 4.0
Keki Bakery Ube cheesecake : I purchased this "bouncy" ube Japanese cheesecake from Keki bakery in K-town after having tried their classic cheesecake at their Chinatown shop. Stated to serve 3-4, it easily could serve 5-6 if you're mainly in for a small taste. At $15, it's a great deal for the quality; combining the best of a rich cheesecake with a light and airy texture that I'd describe as more fluffy than bouncy (though we ate it the day after it was purchased, so the texture might have changed a bit). Its intense pu... (read more) 4.0/5.0
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Sun Fruits Apple Juice: In the basement of the swanky Tokyo Midtown department store is a speciality fruit shop called Sun Fruits, the type of shop where sumo oranges (dekopan) are individually wrapped in a form-fitting web of styrofoam and boxes of pale white strawberries go for 8,000¥ ($73 USD). The one item I felt I could afford, and also I was most interested in trying, was a bottle of what I presumed to be a barely-pink fruit soda, which cost $3.50. It turns out that it was a bottle of apple juice, with frui... (read more) 4.0/5.0
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The Laughing Cow Belcube Ham, Tomato, and Green Peppercorn Cheese: I used to get these Laughing Cow cheeses from supermarkets in Taiwan, but also very shortly in the US before they stopped selling them in the American market (in favor of those red-wax cheese wheels), so I was glad to see that they sell the cubes in Japan. This pack came with 15 cubes, 5 of 3 different flavors: ham, tomatoes a la provencale, and green peppercorns. Each cube is wrapped in foil and has a convenient system that peels off the central sides of the cube to make them easy to open... (read more) 4.0/5.0
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Nico Sweet potato donut: There's a pocket-sized store close to the train station that sells freshly made donuts about the size of a Montreal bagel. They're a bit pricy relatively, compared to how inexpensive most things are in Japan, but a purple Japanese sweet potato donut caught my eye, and I purchased one at about $2.50. The texture of the donut was very unique, not crumbly like cake donuts, but also not oily at all like heavily fried donuts. Almost like a very light pound cake, but barely sweetened. In fact, th... (read more) 4.0/5.0
recommended tokyo japanese dessert nico sweet potato donut 4.0