Dominique Ansel Bakery Peach Creme Fraiche Mousse Cake: This teardrop-shaped dessert consists of a lemon cake with peach compote, all covered in a thin shard of pink-striped chocolate. It had a sharp, acidic flavor, and technically, the cake was soft and moist. But I couldn't help but wonder what exactly this dessert was trying to accomplish. While I hadn't had anything like it before, I wouldn't say it was particularly satisfying; it exists in its own world that's not quite delicious, yet not really challenging enough to stay in my memory. 3.0/5.0
desserts nyc bakery cake pastry lemon dominiqueanselbakery peach creme fraiche mousse 3.0
Snowdays Ube shaved ice: Taiwanese shaved ice in a classic ube flavor is true to the sweet, earthy flavor of the vegetable. Texture is close to snow - fluffy and light, yet a bit more dense and clumped together at the bottom of the large cup, even for the smallest possible size. Purchased from the East Village location of chain Snowdays. 3.0/5.0
nyc dessert icecream snowdays shaved ice 3.0 ube
Mah Ze Dahr Gingersnap cookie: Overall, this cookie would have been just fine had it not been for the sugar coating, which made it too sweet. While the texture was certainly better than storebought, it had the same underlying flavor of decent ginger snaps, which is not to say it was bad, but not particularly interesting beyond what you would expect. 3.0/5.0
nyc dessert mahzedahr gingersnap cookie 3.0
Fairway Kettle corn: Fairway is the great equalizer, with a mix of affordable conventional and organic produce and snacks that aren't easily found in other chains in NYC. Their kettle corn is more buttery than most, and the caramel coating is not overwhelmingly thick and crunchy. Overall, it's a good value snack. 3.0/5.0
nyc fairway kettle corn 3.0
Rabbit Rabbit Tea Japanese buckwheat milk tea with almond pudding: A caffeine-free option at bubble tea shop Rabbit Rabbit Tea, located at the edge of Union Square. It tasted more of milk than buckwheat, but it did have a familiar Asian breakfast porridge vibe to it, reminiscent of powdered grain packs you mix with hot water. The tea was so so, but the almond pudding was quite good - it had a distinctly non-dairy-milk nutty quality and a soft, slick texture. Overall, though, I probably wouldn't come back to Rabbit Rabbit gven the quality of this drink alone. 3.0/5.0
drinks milktea nyc rabbitrabbittea japanese buckwheat milk tea almond pudding 3.0
Keki Matcha cheesecake: My company lets us pick our birthday-treat-of-choice. I learned my lesson last year, when I requested my favorite dessert (mochi) but found there weren't good ways to order it fresh in NYC. This year I went for a local favorite instead: Keki cheesecake, which was introduced to me by my RC Food Club friends. My indoctrination to Keki was through their original Japanese cheesecake, which has an excellent light and fluffy texture, but we also ordered their matcha 'fancy' cake to try. It costs ... (read more) 3.0/5.0
cake dessert japanese nyc keki matcha cheesecake 3.0