Powder Matcha Shaved Ice: This Taiwanese shaved ice shop on Divisadero in San Francisco has a variety of Asian flavors like black sesame, matcha, and Vietnamese coffee. Having had their excellent black sesame on a previous trip, I opted for matcha, which was shaved into thin, overlapping ribbons. While I remembered the black sesame shaved ice being remarkably light, this one texturally was more dense, with the ice cream packing together less than 1/3 of the way through. The matcha flavor, though, is very good and ... (read more) 3.0/5.0
recommended icecream taiwanese sanfrancisco powder matcha shaved ice 3.0
Volcano Tea House White peach oolong tea with boba: At 25% sweetness, this herbal oolong tea had a light and refreshing white peach flavor, though it did taste syrup-y. The boba was quite good-neither overly chewy or soft and just a tad sweet. Good enough that I would consider revisiting this Sawtelle-based bubble tea shop in the future. 3.0/5.0
recommended drinks bubbletea volcanoteahouse white peach oolong tea boba 3.0
Minamoto Kitchoan Green tea mochi: Minamoto Kitchoan is a Japanese sweets shop that is one of my favorite places to purchase gifts. This was a box gifted to me, containing a set of green tea mochi with red bean filling. Matcha is both mixed into the glutinous rice “pouch” but also dusted as a coating, giving the dessert a slightly bitter flavor that balances well with the sweet red bean paste. This is not my favorite mochi, but it’s definitely solid. 3.0/5.0
recommended matcha mochi minamotokitchoan green tea 3.0
Lays Nori seaweed potato chips: One of my favorite things is when friends gift me snacks to review (thanks Anjali!). These Lays potato chips are from Thailand and are seaweed flavored, not sushi (which was my first guess upon seeing sushi rolls on the packaging). The texture and consistency is as you would expect (thin and crispy, as much oil as it is potato), and the chips have green nori flecks that make them look like sour cream and onion. It's as sweet as it is savory, which I didn't expect but also seems to be the cas... (read more) 3.0/5.0
recommended potatochips thai international lays nori potato chips 3.0 seaweed
Annie's Organic cocoa, honey, and vanilla friends bunnies: A new cereal from Annie's consisting of bunny-shaped puffed grains. The cocoa, honey, and vanilla flavors are in good balance such that a regular portion size leaves a bowl of milk tasting of mild chocolate milk, less sugary and deep in color than full-on chocolate cereals. An organic take on kids cereal that's still enjoyable as an adult, though it is very sweet (though not using high fructose corn syrup). 3.0/5.0
recommended annies organic cocoa honey vanilla friends bunnies 3.0
Chichiasu 毎朝快調ヨーグルト: I wasn't expecting to write a review of this yogurt, having now tried several brands of plain yogurt in a sad attempt to counteract the inevitable effects that stay-at-home measures have had on my BMI. But amidst the blur of blue-and-white-labelled standard yogurts was this gem, literally translated to english as Good Morning Yogurt, which is definitely not just a plain yogurt. Sized like kids yogurt, which seems common in Japan, this yogurt pack tastes like a yogurt version of Yakult, the... (read more) 3.0/5.0
recommended japanese inegaya chichiasu 毎朝快調ヨーグルト 3.0