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.

Best mango bubble drink is in Chinatown

I usually go to Chinatown for a meal if I'm downtown catching a movie, simply because I don't know where else to go. I've recently decided on my favorite drink to sneak into the theaters: the mango bubble from a shop simply named "Vietnamese sandwich and bubble tea" located on ~50 Harrison Ave in Chinatown.

The mango bubble comes with mango juice, mango chunks and a scoop of mango ice cream blended together and poured over tapioca pearls with a good chewy consistency. At $3.50, it's the same price as most places, but it's way more value for money. This is the only place I've found (so far), that doesn't give me a fruity syrup and ice and calls it a mango bubble.

If you know any other place that serves real fruit and stuff in their bubble teas, let me know. Thanks!

PS. I do not recommend the bubble tea in the Porter Exchange Mall -- the pearls are squashy, not chewy. They probably used the instant version, which is just wrong.

A treat from Chinatown

I discovered something new and delicious in the Chinese bakery, and it's not an egg tart. It looks like a giant fluffy marshmallow, but there wasn't a label in the display so I don't have name for it. Let me call it the Chinese mochi.

It's softer than a Japanese mochi, but still chewy. The outside of the rice dough is dusted with unsweetened shreds of coconut. The rice dough is barely sweet, possibly unsweetened. The inside is a filling of sesame seeds, peanut bits, shredded coconut and sugar. It's sweet, but not overwhelming such that when you chew it, everything blends harmoniously. The smooth chewy outside contrasts well with the crunch of peanuts, the occasional sugar granule, and the rough coconut bits. It's roughly half the size of my fist, which is kinda huge. Just one makes an ample treat. At 70 cents a piece, it's a bargain.


I got mine at Ho Yuen Bakery in Boston's Chinatown, but it must be available elsewhere. I've been there twice, and it seems to sell out a little past mid-afternoon on Saturdays. I think they will look lovely in a box for the next time I need to bring snacks to a friend's place.