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
Nohohon Iced Matcha: I was really excited to finally try this small matcha shop on St Marks, where matcha beverages are whisked by hand to order. To judge the quality of the matcha alone, I opted for the iced matcha instead of their lattes. While I enjoyed the experience of entering the small storefront through their traditional Japanese Noren curtain and watching my beverage made, with hot water poured into the whisked matcha with a wooden ladle, the positives end there. The matcha was bitter with no complex... (read more) 1.0/5.0
drinks matcha nyc manhattan nohohon iced 1.0 avoid
Boba Guys Chai tea with boba: A pretty good drink from Boba Guys in Canal Street market, but too sweet even at 30% sugar. Otherwise, a nicely spiced chai. I generally find the boba to be a bit inconsistent from this location. This time, it was overly chewy. 3.0/5.0
drinks nyc bubbletea milktea bobaguys chai tea boba 3.0
Bonsai Kakigori Coconut Lime Crunch Kakigori: Located in the back of Canal Street Market, Bonsai Kakigori serves freshly-shaved Japanese ice desserts. Similar to Korean bingsu, the shaved ice has a fluffy consistency that's much lighter than Italian ice. At Bonsai, the shaved ice is piled high and served with a generous number of toppings. The Coconut Lime Crunch flavor had a coconut foam topping, toasted coconut flakes, lime zest, and toasted peanuts. Equal parts crunchy, creamy, and citrusy, it was well balanced and a treat to sha... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended desserts nyc japanese lime bonsaikakigori coconut crunch kakigori 3.5
Meet Fresh Sweet Potato Tofu Pudding: Meet Fresh is a sweets shop from Taiwan serving a variety of hot and cold desserts combining classic toppings such as mung bean, taro, and barley, along with glutinous rice balls, boba, and other chewy treats. Their first New York City location is around the corner from Cooper Union. I ordered the chilled version of their tofu pudding with sweet potato, which came with a small mound of ice, all swimming in a lightly-sweetened honey water. The sweet potatoes came in homely, large chunks, a... (read more) 2.5/5.0
desserts nyc taiwanese sweets meetfresh sweet potato tofu pudding 2.5
Mr. Wish Mango passion fruit babo drink with aloe: I was sad when I learned that Mr Wish in Flushing had closed, but the franchise has quickly expanded to many other locations in the city, so it’s actually easier to find now. I purchased a mango and passionfruit babo drink with aloe from the Williamsburg location. Originally I thought babo was a typo, but it’s a name they’ve given to their carbonated, non-tea fruit drinks. They just use fresh fruit, so I didn’t adjust the sweetness level. The textures in this drink, from the fruit pulp to th... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended nyc drinks brooklyn Williamsburg mrwish mango passion fruit babo drink aloe 3.5