Belly Good Cafe & Crepes Adzuki, Srawberry, and Green Tea Crepe: On my most recent trip to San Francisco, I found myself in Japantown hungry for a mid-day snack. A quick search revealed that the highest reviewed spot was a crepe stand by the name of Belly Good, located in the food court on the upper level of the shopping complex. While I have a healthy skepticism when it comes to Yelp reviews, it is impossible not to notice a place that has 4.5 stars and over 1,000 reviews, especially given its unassuming storefront and questionable photo menu. I also r... (read more) 0.5/5.0
sanfrancisco dessert matcha bellygoodcafecrepes adzuki srawberry green tea crepe 0.5 avoid
Besfren Taro and matcha soft serve: I stumbled upon this tiny pastry shop on my way to Penn Station from KTown and was impressed with the quality of their soft serve. Served in a large but slightly pricy cup (at $5.50), the purple and green ice cream swirl is well balanced and perfectly smooth. The creamy, slightly vegetal flavor of taro works surprisingly well with bitter matcha. My only quibble is that the way the soft serve was swirled gave it a hollow center, so I think a third of the cup I received was just an air pock... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended besfren taro matcha soft serve 3.5 nyc ktown softserve icecream dessert
Breadtop matcha red bean bun: Breadtop is an Asian bakery chain in Australia. There is one close to the hotel I'm staying at in Brisbane, and it offers staples like sausage buns and sesame balls but also modern takes, like this matcha red bean bun. Unfortunately, the bun was unsuccessfully; the dough had very little matcha flavor, and the red bean filling was overly sweet and uninspired. The dusting of icing sugar made it messy to eat, without much added flavor. 2.0/5.0
breadtop bakery bread matcha redbean asian australian 2.0 red bean bun
Bubble Tea Sharetime Matcha milk tea with boba: This compact bubble tea shop on Shattuck in Berkeley, CA is best suited for ordering bubble tea to-go. Its proximity to my apartment, as well as its consistently good quality boba and drinks, have made it my go-to bubble tea cafe, particularly when it comes to milk tea (for fruit teas, Asha still wins). As far as Berkeley goes, the milk teas at Sharetime are better than UCha, Purple Kow, and Sweetheart Cafe, mostly because they aren't too sweet and taste more like tea than milk. On my last... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended bubbletea berkeley bubbleteasharetime matcha milk tea boba 3.5
Cha Cha Matcha Matcha softserve: I was worried this matcha cafe may be more trendy than good, but NYC-based Cha Cha Matcha’s matcha-flavored softserve (also available in a matcha and vanilla swirl) is very good, with a consistent smooth texture and clean green tea flavor. It has a pleasantly bitter flavor. Well balanced and also reasonably priced (this $5 serving can easily be shared and costs less than many of their $6 special drinks). Given its quality, I would not hesitate to come back to order some of their beverage ... (read more) 4.0/5.0
recommended nyc softserve icecream chachamatcha matcha 4.0