Amid the sweltering fall quarter warmth, we’re all in search of enjoyable, new and refreshing dessert spots to chill down at. Possibly it’s a totally different mushy serve place out of your standard. Possibly you’re within the temper to attempt one thing completely totally different. No matter your craving is for, beneath is an inventory of the seven greatest Asian dessert spots across the Bay Space, organized by growing distance from the Stanford campus.
Wanpo Tea Store
Key options:
- 2.6 miles away — Stanford Purchasing Heart
- $6-$8 per cup of bubble tea, relying on measurement
⚠️Tip: For toppings, “boba” refers back to the typical boba, however “pearls” refers to mini boba.
General, Wanpo’s teas are flavorful and never overly candy. There may be at all times an abundance of boba and toppings, and the boba is the proper texture — good and chewy.
The favored Wanpo milk tea was flavorful at 50% sweetness, the standard stage I go for. It was a bit of bit on the sweeter aspect, however nonetheless not overly candy. In comparison with Boba Guys, whose bubble tea at all times appears watered-down to me, and T4, whose bubble tea is overly candy, the Wanpo milk tea hit the best spot.
The store’s facilities, together with a progress display screen, had been considerate however unhelpful. The display screen was additionally inaccurate — the wait time for our drinks was not so long as it steered.
Somi Somi
Key options:
- 2.9 miles away — College Ave
- $7 per Ah-Boong
⚠️ Tip: Order the upside-down Ah-Boong, in order that the mushy serve doesn’t drip over your palms.
Somi Somi serves the Korean dessert Ah-Boong, a fish-shaped waffle cone (taiyaki) on mushy serve ice cream. The mushy serve ice cream is obtainable in six to eight flavors, and you’ll usually select two swirls from the choice. The swirl combos change recurrently, with two new pairs of sentimental serve flavors provided every week. Clients may select a filling for the taiyaki, with choices that vary from the usual custard, to nutella, pink bean, taro and even cream cheese.
The matcha/oreo swirl with nutella taiyaki, topped with matcha powder, was an ideal steadiness of creamy and crunchy. The mushy serve was easy and complemented the flaky, crunchy and doughy taiyaki very nicely. The matcha powder accentuated the bitterness of the matcha mushy serve ice cream, making that taste pop.
The service is quick for mushy serve ice cream or Ah-Boong (about 5 minutes), however slower for taiyaki (as much as quarter-hour).
Satura Patisserie
Key options:
- 5.7 miles away — Downtown Los Altos
- Japanese Cake Store
⚠️ Tip: On-line order and in-store. You may solely purchase slices of muffins in-store.
Desserts from Satura Patisserie are mild and fluffy. The Satura Shortcake (strawberry shortcake) is their signature cake. The vanilla cake base and cream weren’t dense or heavy, and it was not overwhelmingly candy. I might style the strawberries in each chunk.
The Mango & Coco cake was equally scrumptious and flavorful. The mixture of the mousses, cake and kiwi gave the cake a easy texture with the occasional crunch of fruit. My solely critique is that I want there was extra fruit on prime of the cake.
Hong Kong Chinese language Bakery
Key options:
- 7.7 miles away — Castro Avenue
- Mother-and-pop store
- No preservatives
⚠️ Tip: Money solely!
Hong Kong Chinese language Bakery sells all forms of Chinese language baked items. The favored char siu bao — a candy and salty bun with a creamy pork filling inside — was each scrumptious and big. The bun was mild and fluffy. In the meantime, its pork filling had an almost-creamy consistency with little bits of char siu for texture.
The paper chiffon cake was barely candy, although a bit of dry on the skin. The cake’s redeeming qualities, nevertheless, included its lightness, fluffiness and moistness on the within.
On an loafer day, the wait is roughly 5 minutes. On busier days, the wait time will increase to fifteen minutes. The worth is sort of affordable for the scale and high quality of the baked items.
Sulbing
Key options:
- 15 miles away — Santa Clara
- Great spot for group dessert!
Sulbing was a really good place to flee the warmth. The bingsu, although a bit of bit on the dear aspect, was scrumptious. Each desserts that I sampled weren’t overly candy.
The pink bean injeolmi sulbing (the shop’s signature) was a flavorful deal with that was each candy and savory. The injeolmi powder supplied a nutty style harking back to cashew, whereas the pink bean was candy. Reduce-up almonds added a pleasant crunch and the mushiness of the candy pink bean added to the feel of the dessert.
The strawberry sulbing was a great steadiness of candy and bitter. This dessert was topped with a candy and tangy strawberry-like jam, with pink bean within the heart of this dessert.
As any individual that enjoys many toppings on desserts, I felt that Sulbing supplied simply sufficient, if not too little toppings on each bingsu. Sulbing has TV screens to provide you with a warning that your order is prepared — simply pay attention for a mushy dinging sound.
Hui Lau Shan
Key options:
- 16 miles away — Cupertino
- One-of-a-kind: Hong Kong mango desserts
- Great spot for group dessert!
Calling all mango-lovers: Hui Lau Shan is your subsequent go-to dessert spot. The Mango Chewy Ball dessert has a mango base (barely thicker than a slushie-like consistency) with chewy tapioca balls, mango slices and mango ice cream. Although the mango base was candy, the chewy tapioca balls (which had no taste) balanced out the sweetness of the mango slush and supplied a pleasant texture. The mango ice cream (on prime of the dessert) was easy, agency and never overly candy.
Consuming the mango pudding felt like consuming an actual mango — as the feel was chunky and agency, much like that of an precise mango. Hui Lau Shan additionally supplied milk to accompany the pudding, however there wasn’t a major change after pouring the milk on prime. Regardless, the style was on-point.
There will probably be a protracted line, although it goes shortly. Additionally, massive cups (positioned on the counter) for sharing desserts price $1.
Uncle Tetsu | Japanese Cheesecake
Key options:
- 18 miles away — Hillsdale Purchasing Heart
- One-of-a-kind: Japanese souffle cheesecake
- Great spot for group dessert!
⚠️ Tip: If you’re aiming to get a selected taste of cheesecake, go earlier within the day, so that there’s a much less doubtless probability of that taste being bought out.
If you’re within the temper for Japanese souffle cheesecake, Uncle Tetsu is the place to go. The cheesecakes are scrumptious when chilled; they’re mushy, moist, spongy and soften in your mouth — an enormous distinguishing issue from common cheesecake. The unique cheesecake was a lighter, fluffier model of a typical cheesecake; nevertheless, it was not as candy.
Uncle Tetsu cheesecakes are smaller than a 10-inch cheesecake (the standard measurement of a cheesecake at Cheesecake Manufacturing facility). Nevertheless, they’re nonetheless giant sufficient to share.
Editor’s Be aware: This text is a overview and comprises subjective opinions, ideas and critiques.