Befco Kuriyama Bakauke Sesame rice crackers: Shaped vaguely like miniature banana or oblong boomerangs, these soy flavored rice crackers were purchased for under $3 from Sunrise Market in Manhattan. Each piece is individually wrapped and is just on the verge of being overseasoned, yet also has a sweet aftertaste. Pretty good overall, but probably not good enough to purchase again. 3.0/5.0
Sunrisemart japanese soy nyc befco kuriyama bakauke sesame rice crackers 3.0
FK Frozen Custard Black Sesame and Matcha White Chocolate Ice Cream: The last time I had ice cream from FK Frozen Custard, the brand was still named "Frozen Kuhsterd," and they were a food-truck-only business. Now they have a brick and mortar in the Lower Haight in SF, still offering a mix of classic flavors and asian-inspired options like black sesame, milk tea, and ube. I ordered one scoop with two flavors, which was generously sized and easily sharable – though I had the entire scoop for myself. (: My previous experience with Frozen Kuhsterd involved an ... (read more) 3.0/5.0
icecream sf blacksesame matcha fkfrozencustard black sesame white chocolate ice cream 3.0 sanfrancisco
Golden Gate Bakery Sesame Ball: A dim sum classic, fried glutinous rice balls filled with red bean and tossed in toasted sesame seeds are a rare treat often worth the calories. Instead of choosing the default eggtart at San Francisco Chinatown’s Golden Gate Bakery, I selected their take on the sesame ball, seemingly transmogrified to twice its normal size. Barely fitting in my palm, the ball still had the same thin glutinous rice shell you expect but with double the amount of red bean paste inside. As the red bean paste is... (read more) 2.0/5.0
redbean glutinous chinese sanfrancisco goldengatebakery sesame ball 2.0
Marukyo Black Sesame Funwariyaki Dorayaki: Dorayaki is a delicious filled pancake dessert from Japan that has no equivalent in American pastry (as far as I know). The closest likeness I can think of is the Whoopie Pie, though dorayaki has a bean paste filling rather than cream, and the ratio of cake to filling is slimmer. Berkeley Bowl sells an assortment of refrigerated cakes in their Asian grocery aisle, though I have normally been wary of these silica-packet-filled packaged snacks. I was intrigued, though, by this black sesame ... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended berkeleybowl japanese blacksesame marukyo black sesame funwariyaki dorayaki 3.5
Abide Monarch black sesame and matcha bubble tea with boba: In the 9 years I spent in Cambridge, we never had a dependable bubble tea shop. The short-lived bubble tea shop in Kendall was just ok, but since it was close to lab, I’d sometimes find myself there for quick meetings. Upon returning to Cambridge for mystery hunt, I visited a pop up boba shop at the Middlesex lounge with a diverse menu of tea and fruit drinks incorporating ingredients like peppercorn and cloves and with names like Binary and The Monarch. I ordered the latter, a hot milk tea ... (read more) 3.5/5.0
drinks bubbletea recommended cambridge abide monarch black sesame matcha bubble tea boba 3.5
Sul & Beans Black sesame bingsu: Different asian countries each have their unique take on shaved ice, though they all seem united by a combination of textures soft and chewy. Korea’s is bingsu, a dessert often topped with red bean, fruit, and condensed milk. I had my first experience trying bingsu today in Los Angeles’s Koreatown at a chain from Korea called Sul & Beans. My sister and I shared an enormous black sesame shaved ice (there is only one size), which was dusted with black sesame powder and topped with red bean, c... (read more) 3.5/5.0
desserts la shavedice sulbeans black sesame bingsu 3.5