Gjusta Lemon Cake: This slice of lemon cake from Gjusta in LA is thickly sliced and has a decently tart flavor. Texturally, though, it eats a bit dry. In the landscape of lemon desserts, this one falls somewhere in the middle - not bad, but not particularly notable. 3.0/5.0
losangeles pastry dessert gjusta lemon cake 3.0
Gjusta Miso date cookie: Gjusta, the sister bakery of Gjelina in Venice, LA, is apparently popular enough to not need any signage. It’s unlabeled storefront conceals a narrow counter and dining area, where patrons wait for a variety of pastries (cakes, cookies, croissants) and hot and cold prepared items (pizza, salads, pâtés). Luckily, their express line was relatively short, which meant purchasing this miso date cookie took just a few minutes. The sizable cookie contains a single date at its center. Its texture is... (read more) 4.0/5.0
recommended pastry sweets la losangeles venice gjusta miso date cookie 4.0 dessert
Bubble Tea Sharetime Matcha milk tea with boba: This compact bubble tea shop on Shattuck in Berkeley, CA is best suited for ordering bubble tea to-go. Its proximity to my apartment, as well as its consistently good quality boba and drinks, have made it my go-to bubble tea cafe, particularly when it comes to milk tea (for fruit teas, Asha still wins). As far as Berkeley goes, the milk teas at Sharetime are better than UCha, Purple Kow, and Sweetheart Cafe, mostly because they aren't too sweet and taste more like tea than milk. On my last... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended bubbletea berkeley bubbleteasharetime matcha milk tea boba 3.5
Noosa Peach whole milk yogurt: Rounding out this week of Noosa reviews is their peach flavored yogurt. Peach is such a standard yogurt flavor that it verges on mundane, but a good one, even if it doesn’t surprise you, can be satisfying, as this Noosa flavor is. The sweetness of the fruit compote is slightly tempered by the richness of the yogurt. Overall, a solid take that’s a welcome option when you want to eat something familiar. 3.5/5.0
recommended noosa peach whole milk yogurt 3.5
Sweet Belly Desserts Rosie Milk Tea Soft Serve: Sweet Belly Desserts is a small shop around the corner from the 19th Street Oakland BART station. They have a rotating menu of seasonal soft serve flavors as well as mini donuts with housemade glazes and dips. I ordered just the softserve, without any toppings, which cost a little more than $5. This particular flavor is an excellent tribute to floral milk teas, capturing the herbal yet creamy essence of black milk tea along with an aromatic rose flavor. And it wasn't too sweet! Textuall... (read more) 4.0/5.0
oakland softserve icecream sweetbellydesserts rosie milk tea soft serve 4.0 recommended
Noosa Raspberry whole milk yogurt: I liked how the texture of berry segments was preserved in the fresh and sweet raspberry pulp mixed in to this Noosa flavor. As far as standard berry flavored yogurts go, this is above average but not so much so that I would go out of my way to eat a raspberry flavored yogurt (except to write this review). 3.5/5.0
recommended berkeleybowl noosa raspberry whole milk yogurt 3.5