Food Should Taste Good roasted red pepper brown rice crackers: This snack had done the impossible--make brown rice taste good! A rare case where a snack cracker holds its own without any dip. In fact, to pair it with a dip would mask two characteristics that make it essentially perfect. First, the red pepper and sesame flavor is pronounced, and the cracker is already perfectly seasoned. Second, the texture of the cracker is ideal: super crispy, yet just thick enough to still be substantial. This hardly ever happens, but I am at a loss at what could make... (read more) 5.0/5.0
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Golden Steamer Red Bean Bun: Here's a classic Chinese bao favorite from Golden Steamer in NYC, filled with sweet red bean paste that is surprisingly mild in sweetness, especially compared to the typical sugar bomb you get elsewhere. Surrounded by soft and plump steamed white bread. This one is not bad, but it isn't especially interesting. If you like red bean buns, you will enjoy it, but it will taste like you expect it will. Costs under $1. 3.0/5.0
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Hop Shu-Kuri-Mu Matcha and red bean bread: There is a small bakery in the heart of Azabu-Juban in Tokyo that has the most delicious cream puffs – they also sell a variety of other baked goods, including fresh loaves of bread with visually striking swirls of flavor baked in, similar to what you might see for flavored milk bread loaves at Asian bakeries more generally. Their loaves tend to be about half the size of what you might see in the US. I really enjoyed the spongy, stretchy texture and faint sweetness of this loaf. If you ev... (read more) 3.5/5.0
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iTea Matcha milk tea with boba and red bean: This matcha drink from iTea in SF contains red bean and boba as default toppings. While the matcha milk tea was decent, the red bean was heavily sweetened so that this 30% sweetness beverage tasted more like a normal 100% sweetened drink. Texturally, the red bean also seemed canned as it was slightly too soft. As a result, I’d recommend getting the drink but skipping the red bean topping. 2.5/5.0
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Kimuraya Red Bean Bun: This small but popular bakery is right near the Ginza metro station, offering a variety of Japanese / french breads and pastries. Their speciality appears to be inexpensive miniature buns that cost 150¥, under $1.50; sized like dinner rolls and coated in amaranth, its shell is slightly browned and overall tastes largely neutral in flavor with red bean filling (they also offer different types of fillings). Overall, it's more like sustenance than something to be enjoyed, given its inexpensiv... (read more) 3.0/5.0
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