Formosa Cafe - Brooklyn, NY

I was so sad to find this place right before my fiancé and I moved. We honestly missed these kind of Taiwanese style cafes. The kind where you can spend all afternoon just sitting there chatting and drinking some bubble milk tea and munching on popcorn chicken.

In a way, I'm glad we found it. Very popular during the day time which makes it quite difficult to get a table. The service here is pretty good for an Asian cafe, the girls behind the counter works quick. The drinks and food are also very good. I've been getting their Bubble Milk Tea non-stop whenever I'm in the area. I love a good milk tea when I can taste the tea and not entirely too sweet. This place does it right and does it well. The Jasmine Milk Tea is also a winner here, taste light and refreshing.

Our first time at Formosa, we stayed and chatted the night away. We ordered the bubble teas, Taiwanese Curry Popcorn Chicken, and Durian Crepe Cake. Everything was good; chicken was crispy and not just covered in flour, crepe cake wasn't too sweet and had a light hint of durian.
We keep coming back here to just get their bubble tea whenever we're in Brooklyn. Definitely recommend.

Bubble Milk Tea and Durian Crepe Cake

Same as above but with Curry Popcorn Chicken

Verdict:
Food ~ 4 out of 5
Price ~ 4 out of 5
Service ~ 4 out of 5

Formosa Cafe
5323 7th Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11220

Grace Street - Midtown West, NY

I remember Grace Street to be a very unique spot. My fiancé and I visited Grace Street when they were still in the works a couple of years back. They were still renovating and fixing the dining area when we got our first hodduk.

It was the best dessert I've had before. Hodduk is basically fried dough with a sweet brown sugar filling in the center - almost like a donut. It was fresh and delicious.

Fast forward a couple of years, I re-visited Grace Street with my girlfriends. It's a lot more crowded since it's a good late night hangout spot, especially after dinner and you wanted a place to have some dessert and chit chat.

The wait didn't take too long and we sat at a bench. Wait staff was very friendly, even after a long day of work they look happy to serve you. We ordered Hodduk, Chocolate Brownie Waffle, Bubble Tea and Green Milk Tea. To be honest, everything tasted very mediocre. The hodduk tasted like it was just reheated in the microwave and cut up into really small pieces. The taste was there but the texture was lacking. The drink were good but not great. And the waffle...it just wasn't my cup of tea.

Grace Street wasn't how I envisioned and it's quite disappointing.

Green Milk Tea, Hodduk, Jasmine Bubble Tea

Chocolate Brownie Waffle

Verdict:
Food ~ 2 out of 5
Price ~ 3 out of 5
Service ~ 4.5 out of 5

Grace Street
17 W 32nd St
New York, NY 10001

Flushing, NY - Kulu Dessert

Kulu Milk Special

Mini Sweet Balls w/ Black Sesame Paste

Mango and Grass Jelly Tapioca in Coconut Milk

Kulu Dessert

37-06 Prince St 

Flushing, NY 11354

(718) 886-3302

Dominique Ansel - The Cronut

First off, I'm finally writing again after what seems like 1000000000+ years.

Another exciting news (well, for me), I finally tried that darn cronut people have been raving and crazin' about since 2013. The effect?

I have to say, DA knows how to package. But honestly, such a big box for a cronut, was it really necessary? The cronut keeps sliding all over the place even when you pick up the box.

The month's special was Matcha Golden Pineapple. The look of the cronut was very tantalizing which is probably why everyone is willing to stand on line to get or order it in advance. The idea of a cronut and how it visually looks is enough advertisement in itself.

Don't shoot me...
But, I wasn't amazed by this. Period. You can indeed see the layers of pastry inside the cronut but it wasn't exactly flaky, it was more dough-y. I'm guessing it's because of the filling that might have soften the inside. Yes, I like the idea and the flavors worked really nicely but it's honestly no different than a croissant and just slabbing on some jam. I've had other cronuts before and really wanted to try DA's before comparing and now I can!

Well, DA's cronut isn't the best. The only thing that makes it special is the different flavor and taste combinations they come up with each month. But if you're fine with just vanilla or chocolate, get it elsewhere, it's not worth the wait or the headache of online ordering.

Dominique Ansel Bakery
189 Spring Street
New York, NY 10012
(212) 219-2773

Kulu Desserts - a treat that was long awaited

A big gap formed from late December until now, no explanations really, unless you want a reason...and the reason will be I was extremely busy, with work.

I finally was able to relax after April and even then it I still have loads of work to do. The life of an accountant. J and I along with another two friends decided to invest in a day of relaxation, it was pretty much a spontaneous day. After a late lunch, we visited Kulu Desserts which has basically your average Asian desserts. Anything from bubble tea to crepes and cold/hot dessert soups.

I personally love watermelon, then again, who doesn't? The Grass Jelly and Watermelon in Coconut Juice really hit the spot. Had a nice coconut milk flavor that wasn't too overpowering, the watermelon gave a nice crunch while the grass jelly gave a nice jello-bite to the whole ensemble. It's a good choice for a hot day, especially since it's already July.

To wash everything down, J ordered our usual, Green Tea w/ Honey. It's extremely light and refreshing, has just enough sweetness from the honey but something tells me that they added a bit of simple syrup in there also.

Nonetheless, Kulu is pretty neat for a hangout spot but it gets quite cold in there with the a/c blasting. And also, there are a lot of young Asian kids hanging around. After a good 30 minutes, we felt out of place, our friend was like maybe we should've went to a bar...

Kulu Desserts
806 62nd St
Brooklyn, NY 11220
(718) 680-2818

Munchies Cafe - something to cool down with during the heatwave

Munchies Cafe (MC) is fairly new, a nice addition to Brooklyn. The little cafe is really bright with summer colors, but the one thing that probably draws the most attention would be their touch screen computer monitors. Each table of 4, has a computer monitor that is connected to the internet, smaller tables don't have this feature. You can use it like your regular laptop/computer, watch anything on it and do whatever you please.

Their menu is pretty big, anything ranging from drinks, desserts, and savory foods.

J and I just wanted to relax and get away from the heat a bit. We ordered a drink and dessert each.

I had a regular Green Tea w/ Honey while J had a Strawberry Green Tea. I thought mine was way too sweetie, too much honey in there (I actually think it's some sweet syrup other than honey).

J had the Mario Brothers Snowy Mix Fruit. He chose watermelon as his fruit and coconut and red bean ice cream, all swimming in a sweet milky broth. Not bad, but it was definitely filling and there was a lot in there.

I had the Mango and Papaya Snowy Mix Fruit with green tea ice cream and mango pudding. They definitely pureed the mango and papaya to use as the "broth" base. It tasted very smoothie-like and so many fruits and pudding...

In all, I'm not too crazy about this place. It's nice to hang out and chill but the food just didn't wow me. I would come back for a drink and just chat.

Munchies Cafe
12 Bay 25th St
Brooklyn, NY 11214
(718) 333-1088

Spumoni - Chef's Table to cure my deep and uttermost hunger

J's cousins came to NY to visit, dinner was always on the cousin so we really didn't care where we ate. We also know that the cousin likes Spumoni. No reservation for 5 people, waited around an hour for a table. Crazy packed and busy on a Friday night but definitely worth the wait.

The cousin chose the Chef's Table, better for us since we all don't have to decide on any dishes. Just keep it coming...

I was insanely hungry, waiting that long really got me grumpy. Good thing the bread and butter came, but the butter was rock hard. So glad my boyfriend's hand is so warm, he warmed up the butter in no time. Love me some salted butter with bread. They took it away from me after 3 slices because they were afraid I would get too full...

I never thought I would enjoy Artichokes this much, the lemon-y sauce was so good. Too bad each person only gets one...

This dish was really different. The Mozzarella in Carrozza pan-fried with mozzarella cheese in the center, covered in sauce-y and tomato-y bed. Oily and unhealthy but extremely delicious.

Moving on to the Chef's Salad so we don't feel too guilty. It was a simple salad with greens, tomatoes, onions, cheese and olives in a vinaigrette dressing. Good palate cleansing dish.

So much for cleansing 'cause the next dish was Shrimp Two Ways. The shrimp cocktail was really good, big pieces of meaty shrimp. I think I actually prefer the fried shrimp with tartar sauce, so good...couldn't really speak at this moment cause everything was just amazing so far.

J's favorite Baked Clams. I love it also, with some lemon on top it was so perfectly summery. The breadcrumbs didn't over-power the delicate clam meat. J and I can probably eat endless dishes of this.

And if that clam dish wasn't enough, the Linguine in White Clam Sauce came. So effin' good. Pasta cooked al dente which is how it's suppose to be. Sauce was light yet flavorful and so many little clam meats. I would totally be a happy camper if I can have this all to myself, I wouldn't need anything else...just this dish and me.

So, that wasn't even the entree. The entree for the night was Grilled Steak, 2 plates of that sucker above. Could've been more on the rare side but it was good, like meaty carnivore goodness. All it need was a bit of salt and pepper, perfect.

Sides were mashed potatoes and broccoli rabe. I totally devoured the broccoli rabe, love it! Mashed potatoes lacked some flavor tho...

This moment, we were done. Hoping there wouldn't be more and just carry on to the finale.

Massive dessert. I don't even know if there's a name for this, Chef's Dessert will be the name. There was like 3 scoops of spumoni ice cream, those wedges of ice cream wrapped with chocolate, 2 slices of cheesecake (which I didn't care for - me no like cheesecake), and whip cream! We were all in the stage of comatose and had to struggle to lift ourselves off the seats to leave.

Excellent meal. It's even better when you don't need to pay for it...well we did pay for tip but that was probably nothing compared to the bill.

L&B Spumoni
2725 86th St
Brooklyn, NY 11223
(718) 449-1230

Hong Kong: Tofu Dessert

What's better than having Tofu Fa in Hong Kong? Nothing! It's its own origin and is authentic as it can get. After a fulfilling meal at a dai pai dong (previous post in HK), J and I were up for some dessert. Cheap and delicious dessert.

Grandma's Tofu (亞婆豆腐花) isn't your sit-down-and-eat place but a quick 1-2-3 bam kind of place. Quite popular for their tofu fa aka 豆腐花 and other things like herbal drinks.

A good bowl of tofu fa is light and silky with the right amount of sugared syrup in it. A bowl here is $7HKD if you eat it on the spot; $9HKD if you decide to take-out, charging you an extra $2HKD for the take-out container.

J and I wanted it right there, fresh and cold. By the way, you have the option of hot or cold. We chose cold since it was hot in HK even during the late night. The interesting part I thought (which I didn't take a photo of), is this orange powder they have. I thought it was some Hi-C orange flavor thing but it was just orange powdered sugar, weird. But it was great! Really fun to eat and it looked so pretty. Yes, I'm easily amused by strange miniscule things.

So, forget about the sit-down really sweet dessert. Get something light, quick, and cheap for a change. Cost us less than $1USD for that bowl...haha.

Audrey's Concerto - A little symphony to keep the sweetness going

Audrey's Concerto is a great cafe, especially in Brooklyn. Opened up and run by Chinese people, the desserts are light and quite creative.

I came here twice, once was takeout while the other time, I finally got the chance to sit down and enjoy.

There's limited seats here, 2 large tables that sits about 4-6 and then 2 comfortable cushion chairs and also a "bar."

The cafe is really clean and everything was so organized. We came on a snowy day which is why it looked so beautiful outside. The staff behind the counter were very friendly and helpful. Would never thought that J and I would have a light conversation with them.

Milk Chocolate, White Chocolate, Coffee and Shaved Dark Chocolate ($3.25)
Lavender Honey Creme Brulee ($3.25, takeout is an extra $1.50 for the cup)
Green Tea Tiramisu ($3.25)
Strawberry Rose Mousse ($3.25)
The desserts were interesting and majority of them revolved around mousse or pudding. All of them were unique in their own way and truthfully, I didn't have a favorite. None really "wow-ed" me but it doesn't mean I won't head back for more.

What I really liked was the Lavender Rose Tea w/ Honey ($3.50?). It didn't have a strong tea taste at all but just enough for you to notice and the honey worked so well. Pairing a tea with a sweet dessert really helps balance out everything. Not to mention the teabag is so pretty, you can actually see the petals.

I like the concept of Audrey's Concerto and I would come back, I would even recommend it even though the desserts weren't crazy amazing. It's a good cafe to check out and definitely different that your average Chinese bakery.

Audrey's Concerto
2379 86th St
Brooklyn, NY 11214
(718) 266-2829

Spot Dessert Bar - My life is golden with sweetness

After having our lunch in KoreaTown on New Year's Eve, J and I wanted some dessert. Or, maybe it was just me that wanted dessert. It was really cold out and we wanted to go somewhere warm, just bum around for a bit and digest the food we just had.

Just around the corner from our lunch spot was Paris Baguette, a Korean bakery but we decided no and went to Food Gallery which was right across the street and headed up to the 3rd floor where Spot Dessert was. We saw it opening up a few months back and saw the Golden Toast, I knew we had to try it.

We did worry that it might be seasonal but good thing they still have it!

Apparently, J knows the girl behind the register. How coincidental! She even gave us a friend discount, awesome! There were a lot of seats since it's an open food court.

So, I wanted the Hot Thai Coffee but I think J said the wrong thing when he ordered and we ended up with a Hot Thai Milk Tea ($3.50). Probably just rolled off his tongue since he's so use to just having the thai milk tea instead of coffee...

It was good though, nice and hot. Some places don't make their beverages hot enough and I appreciate that Spot does.

The Golden Toast ($8.75) really caught our eyes. Especially after coming back from HK and having the best french toast of my life, I needed this. Although this didn't cut it but it was still good. Infused with honey, the toast didn't come out as sweet as I thought it would be. The whip cream actually helps balances it out and the strawberries were a great counter-ingredient. The combination of the sweet toast and the tartness of the fruit made it that more bearable.

Would I get this again? Probably not because the Kabocha Brulee Cake will always be my favorite at Spot.

Spot Dessert Bar
11 W 32nd St
2nd Fl
New York, NY 10001
(212) 967-1678 

Momofuku Milk Bar - Midtown West

My coworker recently brought up Momofuku Milk Bar and remembering the first time I ever had it wasn't so memorable. It was a couple of years back and in the East Village when Momofuku wasn't so popular.

Since my coworker wanted to go, I was thinking - why the heck not. It was a bit of a walk for us but no complaints since it was a beautiful day. MMB is a small spot and you could totally miss it if you didn't know it existed there. I was surprised at how empty the place was. Looking at the menu which was written on the chalkboard, I was trying to find the meal deals that was posted on the website. I asked the girl behind the cashier and she looked completely lost, so I said maybe this location doesn't carry that offer? She nodded frantically and said yea, don't think we have that. Basically I just answered my own question, lame.

I ordered pork buns and 2 types of sweets. The buns took a while and I didn't know Má Pêche existed behind the milk bar. We waited about 10 minutes for our buns, and couldn't wait to get back to the office and have a bite into it.

Too bad there weren't tables or chair for the milk bar, I probably would've appreciate it more if they did.

Truthfully, the Pork Buns ($10) are tiny. I was so disappointed to see how small they were. I've had pork buns or any sort of buns at other places before and it never appeared to be this tiny. But I did appreciate how much pork they gave.

I actually really enjoyed the pork buns. There was 2 slices of pork belly and each was loaded with pork fat, delicious. I wished they gave a bit more cucumbers because it was lacking a bit of texture.

The Compost Cookie ($1.85) was extremely weird. I didn't like it one bit. Seeing that it was the popular cookie of MMB, I decided to get it and was utterly disapopinted. There was too much happening within the cookie, too much odd ingredients and it just didn't work out for me. It was confusing and the taste was so oddly off.

On the other hand, the Birthday Cake Truffles ($4) were quite amazing. Even though they were small, they pack a lot in those little suckers. The center was densely compressed with cake while the outside was sugarly coated. It wasn't overly sweetened which is a plus because I'm always afraid they add extra sugar so it taste "good."

There were ups and downs with going to MMB. I don't think I'll be heading back for pork buns just because it seems so overpriced. I mean, $5 for a pork bun, really? But I do want to try the fish bun and the crack pie. Maybe I'll purchase those at their original milk bar in the village. We shall see.

Momofuku Milk Bar
15 W 56th St
New York, NY 10019
(212) 757-5878

Dessert Works: Yat Yat Sweet

It's nice to know that Asian desserts are being served other than the generic American sweets. I mean I like cakes, cupcakes, ice cream and sweets of those sorts but you have to admit that they're quite overly sweetened sometimes. There are moments where I want dessert but not crazily sweet to a point that I feel like I need to rinse my mouth.

Yat Yat Sweet opened up in Brooklyn and serves Hong Kong style dessert and beverages. I always see it on television how Hong Kong-ers would order or eat in their desserts. Usually in styrofoam containers which is great since you can hold on to it whether it's hot or cold. What Hong Kong-ers call dessert in Cantonese is Tong Sui which literally means "sugar water" in English.

Ice w/ Evaporated Milk & Toppings. (includes small sago, mix fruits and lychee popping boba)
Such a refreshing cold dessert.

Herb Grass Jelly w/ Coconut Milk. (includes longan, passion fruit and lychee popping boba)
Can you tell that I'm obsessed with the popping boba? They're so fun to eat because if you put enough pressure on them in your mouth, it burst open with the fruit flavor. The herb grass jelly in this was extremely bland, wouldn't hurt to put some sugar in them. Plus, the amount of coconut milk was a joke. So little, this particular dessert was dry in general.

Ginger Soup w/ Black Sesame Mochi.
There's only 5 pieces in the container, wish there was more because they're pretty good. Even though it's hot dessert, it's really soothing. I wish there was more to it than just plain ginger soup with mochi balls, like maybe have the option to add toppings like taro or sweet potato...that would be pretty awesome.

7-Up w/ Salty Lemon.
Sweet and salty, love that combination. Be great for a hot summer day which it was that day when I went.

A nice rare shop that sells Hong Kong desserts and beverages. No longer do I have to tell my mom to make some Tong Sui, I can just get my fixin' here.

Yat Yat Sweet = Day Day Sweet --> everyday sweet!

Yat Yat Sweet
1926 Bath Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11214
(718) 513-6355

Dessert Works: Buttercup Bake Shop

It's dangerous how close Buttercup Bake Shop is to my office. Ever since my firm introduced me to the cupcakes they offer, I fell in love. I rarely like sweets, especially cupcakes because I think they're overly sweetened. But there is one from them that I absolutely love, probably mention it in another post. Besides cupcakes, they do sell cakes, cookies, bars and hot/cold drinks.

Brownie with Walnuts.
I was craving for a brownie one rainy day and I never usually do. I'm not a big fan of chocolate sweets but I have my moments, odd moments. My coworker and I walked over to Buttercup and load and behold the sweet scent. I ended up getting one with nuts because I always love a crunch to my food, wouldn't want a chocolate overkill.

It was satisfying, I only had half because consuming the whole would overwork my taste buds. The outside was crunchy and soft and moist on the inside, something I wouldn't expect judging by the looks of it. Not bad for a brownie, or not bad for a person that usually doesn't eat brownies.

Buttercup Bake Shop
973 2nd Ave
New York, NY 10022
(212) 350-4144

Spot Dessert Bar

Being the crazy couple that J and I are, we somehow landed upon Spot Dessert Bar and decided to do the omakase. Thinking and probably hoping that by doing the omakase, the dishes would be smaller but somehow I really doubted it.

I really didn't know what came over us, but we did it and it was overly painful towards the end because we had a sugar coma. We pretty much tried every dessert in one sitting, never again... never, never, never again.

In no particular order, we had the following --


Yuzu Eskimo



Green Tearamisu



Smoked Coconut Cheesecake



Thai Tea Creme Brulee



Kabocha Brulee Cake



Soft Cheesecake



White Miso Semifreddo


There was only one plate that stood out to me which I absolutely loved. It was the Kabocha Brulee Cake, reminds me of pumpkin/carrot cake. The others didn't work for me, the mixture of different flavors were just off-putting and didn't work together.

After supposedly 8 plates of murderous sweet, we had to order a drink and decided on something cold and light.


Calamansi Honey Thai Tea

Amazingly refreshing and knocked out all the sweetness in my mouth. I would come back, but not for the omakase. Although I don't know how soon I'll return since it was sort of traumatizing?

Spot Dessert Bar
13 St Marks Pl
New York, NY 10003
(212) 677-5670