Thursday, May 14, 2009

Another Chinatown find! (Sweet sucks)

In Boston. I'm sure you can find the equivalent in a Chinese bakery near you.

A review of Sweet
So I've been very disappointed by my latest foray into American bakeries -- overpriced, overly sweet and undelicate cakes. I tried Sweet out, because they opened a store in Harvard Square. The reviews on yelp looked good; some complained about the sweetness of the cupcakes. I'm a sugar fiend, so I was undeterred. One of their top sellers is the red velvet cupcake, so I had that.

The regular cupcakes are $3.25 each, and regular-sized looked really tiny to me. They also add a generous amount of frosting that seemed to go well with the cake. The first bite should reveal a delicious melt-in-your-mouth feel. I thought it was great, and didn't understand how they could serve such small cupcakes (there are even smaller ones that go in one bite). Halfway through my cupcake (bite #3), I understood. The melt-in-your-mouth delight suddenly becomes a gagging mess of sugary nothing. It took me a while to react, but my friend was gagging from the very first bite.

Back to the Chinatown find:
I chanced upon a crowded bakery in Chinatown this past weekend that also serves western style goodies. They had these adorable mini-tarts at 3 for $1.65 (fruit) or $1.95 (cheese tart) -- how can you pay the same amount for one cupcake? They also had a wide selection of cakes with mousse, which I am going back for. The price range looked like it was $2-4, which is a steal. I tried the double fudge chocolate cake, but it seemed a little dry: perhaps it was the overnight stay in my fridge. Unlike in American bakeries, the frosting in the cake was just sufficient to give the cake a chocolatey flavor without overwhelming it. I think I'll be back to try out the other items so look out for updates. Oh, the place is called Baobao Bakery, and according to some yelp users, the service can be bad. For such a crowded (and disorganized) place, I don't doubt that tempers can get short.

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