Nice Choice Egg Soft Flour Cake: With a quintessentially lost-in-translation Chinese name, this brand of sachima is a great deal. The cakes are very substantial (you could share one with a friend) and have a satisfying chewy consistency. For those who have not had sachima before, it's a rectangular Chiense treat with fried dough and melted rock sugar that lends a chewy and slightly crispy texture. As one of the less expensive snacks at HMart, Nice Choice is indeed a nice choice. 3.5/5.0
hmart asian sachima nicechoice egg soft flour cake 3.5 recommended
Japonaise Bakery Green Tea Cake: Located on Beacon Street in Brookline, this small bakery has an assortment of pastries as well as packaged Japanese snacks. Their green tea cake is multi-layered, with green tea creme and a layer of gelatin on top. While the matcha flavor was not bad, the cake was a bit dry, and the gelatin was largely for texture (it didn't have much flavor). It looked better than it tasted. 3.0/5.0
matcha desserts japonaisebakery green tea cake 3.0
The Paris Creperie Mango Passion Smoothie: The ideal drink on a hot summer day, this smoothie contains mango juice, strawberries, peaches, and mango sorbet. It's sweet but very satisfying, and a small is very substantial. The texture is smooth and consistent. 3.5/5.0
recommended brookline drinks fruit thepariscreperie mango passion smoothie 3.5
G.L. Alfieri fresh fruit mango nectar: Thick mango drink with a pure and concentrated flavor. Easily consumed in a few gulps. Just realized the name is eerily close to Guy Fieri; realization does not impact score. 3.5/5.0
glalferi drinks mango nectar fruit 3.5 recommended ferrybuilding glalfieri fresh
Tower Ginger Beer: Soda with poorly designed packaging tends to be very authentic - they're created by small distributors who don't have a marketing/branding team. Tower, a Boston-based soda company that's apparently been around since 1914, falls into this category. Upon further research, I found that Tower was actually founded in Somerville. The ginger beer soda is very strong, with a sharp spicy flavor, but the aftertaste was a bit strange and musty. Somehow, though, this adds to its authenticity. Purch... (read more) 3.0/5.0
soda drinks broadwaymarketplace boston somerville tower ginger beer 3.0
Shribark Toasted Coconut Caramel Snack: Up to this point, I've avoided this brand of snack from the Media Lab Leanbox, fearing that it was another questionable health-food snack. Lacking alternatives, though, I decided to purchase the bar and was pleasantly surprised. The texture is very good, with a sweet caramel that binds together the granola and seeds that comprise the bar. It was very filling and leaned more towards the candy end of snack bars. Would purchase again. 3.5/5.0
recommended leanbox shribark toasted coconut caramel snack 3.5