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Both the “bingsu” shaved ice desserts and the Taiyaki cakes were delicious! Tried the mango cheesecake, matcha tea and strawberry shaved ice desserts, and loved the mango and matcha tea while the strawberry bingsu was just A-OK. Mochi rice cake + sweetened red bean + matcha tea powder = the best Asian dessert combo and irresistible! The shaved ice itself was soft, flaky and airy, creamy and not overly sweet. Taiyaki cakes were pretty good as well. While the Taiyaki’s were being made in the open kitchen, strong buttery smell filled the dining area; smelled so good and loved that smell! The fish-shaped cakes were as tasty as croissants but less flaky and less greasy, and the fillings (we got Nutella & bananas, plain red bean, and red bean & mochi rice cake) were all nice and sweet. Definitely would patronize the Houston locations for more yummy desserts!

HeeMee Coffee + Bakery – Menu with Prices – 20 E Congress St Suite 110, Tucson

This newly opened small bakery serves bingsoo and other delectable desserts. Bingsoo is a Korean dessert made with shaved ice and toppings are added. At HeeMee’s, the bingsoo is made with milk-shaved ice and you can choose from 4 flavors-green tea, mango, strawberry, or oreo. For approximately $8.00, this dessert is a big portion, especially if you’ve already eaten lunch and want to nibble something sweet afterwards. The mango bingsoo comes with cubes of mango, mochi, condensed milk, almonds, and maybe mango syrup. The milky shaved ice combined with these toppings makes bingsoo a must-have dish! HeeMee also serves baked goods, including cookies, muffins, and cakes. I tried the pecan, macadamia, chocolate, and caramel cookie today. It was baked to perfection and crunchy from the nuts. Definitely try out different baked goods if you’re here! There’s also coffee here that I have yet to try! The decor consists of a modern yet simplistic look that is simply adorable!

Izumi Matcha – Menu with Prices – 3005 Silver Creek Rd Suite 142, San Jose

Taiyaki has been blowing up all over the Bay Area lately so when Izumi Matcha opened up so close to home, I practically dragged the hubby there for the grand opening. While the desserts are certainly Instagram-worthy, the parlor itself is terribly boring and plain. I was flabbergasted to see such a lack of effort in terms of decorating. There was so much room, both figuratively and literally, to be creative, cute, and fun, and yet there were only blank white walls and wooden seats. What a pity… Stopping by during their BOGO promotion, I ordered the matcha soft serve with the red bean filled taiyaki, with chocolate pocky and matcha powder as toppings, while the hubby got the vanilla soft serve with a plain taiyaki, chocolate pocky, and coconut shavings. I was pleased to see that the taiyaki were baked fresh and pleasantly surprised that it didn’t affect the service. However, I wasn’t a fan of the fact that the taiyaki weren’t served with a wrapper or in cup, and instead just placed within our bare hands. It just felt messy, but in their defense, there were wrappers offered on the counter. Both flavors of the soft serve ice cream were creamy and silky, and the taiyaki had the perfect amount of sweetness. However, the pastry was a tad doughy, and the hubby wanted it to be crispier. The biggest fault of all, however, was how little of red bean I had in my taiyaki, barely filling the tail end of the fish. I would bet they forgot I ordered the red bean filling at all. However, even with all of those hiccups, the hubby and I were still quite impressed with the desserts. The ice cream was great and the taiyaki, overall, was quite delicious. Here’s to hoping Izumi will stick around for the long run!

Meccha Matcha – Menu with Prices – 2001 Coit Rd #166, Plano

Meccha Matcha offers a wide selection to their menu, from soft serves to shaved ice to parfaits. They also offer hot selections (tea and lattes) if you’re craving for some matcha on a cold day. I have tried this place multiple times since it has opened, and in my opinion, the best items on their menu are the ice cream (different from soft serves!) and the parfaits. I have never tried their soft serve because I’ve heard the matcha taste is more “diluted” compared to their ice creams, which comes in 3 levels of matcha intensity. I personally like the taste of matcha to be stronger when I’m purchasing matcha products. The parfaits are delicious because you get a variety of textures and tastes in a cup (red bean, mochi balls, granola, strawberry sauce, matcha jelly), topped with soft serve, which you can substitute with ice cream (for an additional charge). Their shaved ice is slightly disappointing, which is what I had ordered during my most recent visit. They drown it in condense milk, completely overshadowing the matcha, which should be the star of the dessert! I think the price is a little over the top for the quality and experience of what they serve.

Taiyaki NYC – Flushing (Pop-up) – Menu with Prices – 136-17 39th Ave Queens Crossing Food Court, Flushing

I had the pleasure of visiting Taiyaki NYC’s popup while I was in Flushing and it was surprisingly a dope experience! I ordered the “Straight Outta Japan” taiyaki because to be completely honest, I was just doing it for the ‘gram. After taking a billion photos, I gave it a taste and that matcha and hojicha soft-serve within the taiyaki was amazeballs. I seriously think Taiyaki NYC should be selling the soft-serve by the pint in all major outlets because it was CRACKKKK. Like seriously Taiyaki NYC, what can I do for a sponsorship for pints of the soft-serve? As for the taiyaki cake itself, it was aight… luke warm and boardline getting stale. That was not such a big deal in comparison to the chunk of red bean paste that was secretly settling in the bottom of the taiyaki. It was sweeter than my Grandma and drier than the Vegas heat. It would have been fire if they somehow spread the red bean paste inside the cake rather than me taking a bite out of the surprising tumor of diabeetus. To be super honest, I will still give Taiyaki NYC a five star rating even if the freshness of the cake and the red bean was not on point for myself, because some folks may think differently of my critique of the cake and red bean. I mean for the next time, I will just rock the soft-serve in a cup. Simple. Lastly, major shoutout to the staff members who served me at Taiyaki NYC. They were super attentive, friendly and quick service individuals. Like seriously, in my Birdman voice… put some respeck on their name. They be making everyone’s IG post poppin’ one post at a time. Cheers to the staff! Also wished they served them fluffy pancakes at this location. IG: @me_toe_knee

Bubble Cafe – Menu with Prices – 2534 Boca Chica Blvd suit 3, Brownsville

Echoing the other reviewers – this place is a gem. My partner and I haven’t had good bubble tea since we moved to the valley (from Boston), but this place was amazing. We had the matcha milk tea and the coconut milk tea (w/boba), as well as the taiyaki (with red bean). Both milk teas were excellent with perfect levels of sweetening (subtle, not overly sweet) and great flavor (the matcha in particular was very matcha-y). I was also thrilled to find taiyaki, which was was also *amazing* (freshly baked with a perfectly crispy outside and perfect red bean filling that comprised of whole beans and perfectly sweetened). Definitely made my top 3 favorite food options in the RGV. Will be stopping here next/every time we’re in Brownsville.

It’s Boba Time – Menu with Prices – 136 S Brand Blvd, Glendale

We were craving boba and happened to be in the area we decided to stop by Boba Time for a couple drinks. The line was extremely long but we decided to wait it out. We ordered the Strawberry Matcha & Mango Peach Smoothie. My Strawberry Matcha drink wasn’t good, it tasted very watered down, not sweet enough, and barely had any strawberry flavor once it was all mixed together. Definitely not comparable to Boba Guys’ Strawberry Matcha Latte if you’ve ever had it. I would say the boba helped add sweetness to the drink, otherwise it would’ve been very bland and not much of a pleasure to drink. I would probably try a different drink next time if I was in the area and wanted boba again. The Mango Peach Smoothie tasted like your average Mango Peach Smoothie at other boba spots. Nothing too special about it but it tasted way better than the Strawberry Matcha.

Taiyaki NYC – Boston – Menu with Prices – 119 Seaport Blvd Suite B, Boston

Finally, ever since I saw soft serve ice cream and Taiyaki from Taiyaki NYC since last year, I’ve been wanting to go there. I love ice cream, taiyaki and just tea-based dairy in general..plus..the totally Instagram worthy taiyaki were big reasons why I always wanted to check out Taiyaki NYC! This past weekend, I found myself in Seaport district…so I thought of and looked up Taiyaki NYC to see if it was still open after i was done with my errand…and luckily, it did! So, off i went to check out this long-time bookmarked spot of mine! The shop itself is really small…so dont expect to find your seats there if you go (there were just 5-6 counter-facing seats there…so..it’s mostly a grab and go spot if you ended up finding yourself there. Luckily for me though…there were just a few people there..so I was able to grab a seat (a bit dirty..so I ended up having to wipe off a counter surface myself) and enjoy my Taiyaki without having to brave a cool fall evening weather in Boston. I got a Straight Outta Japan ($8 net), which came with matcha and hojicha soft serve, taiyaki with 1/4 stuffed mashed redbeans, a bit of mini mochi and ojo wafer. I loved the presentation of this and enjoyed the software ice cream, which wasn’t too sweet at all. Although i could taste some hojicha, I wished though that the ice cream tasted a lil stronger in the tea dept…but..I guess people have different preferences on how strong they want their ice creams to have the flavor of tea. The waffle itself was ok. I wish it was a lol crunchier..but I guess it had been sitting out/stuffed with red beans for at least a few hours already..so it didn’t seem as fresh to me. Otherwise, I think everything was good (albeit a lil pricey). Check it out if you love Taiyaki! You can custom made your own, too..but i think if yoj go that route..you may end up having to spend a few more bucks for each thing you want to customize on your softserv Taiyaki. P.S. they have other things like taro slush etc too..but like what their name suggests…most people were actually there for soft serve Taiyaki.

Matcha zanmai – Menu with Prices – 1428 Mackay St, Montreal

I love matcha desserts and was very excited and eager to try this place as it reminded me of Tsujiri and Nona’s Green Tea. I came here on a Tuesday evening (after visiting this place on Monday and realizing that they are closed on Mondays). The interior was simple and small, and it perfectly complimented the needs of this restaurant as people would constantly flow in and out. Service was quick and efficient and got my parfait within 2 minutes of ordering it. I got the Signature Zanmai Parfait ($8.50). Overall, I enjoyed the parfait. The matcha flavour stood out in the soft serve, and it went really well with all the toppings (matcha cake, red bean paste, matcha jelly). I especially loved the matcha cake with the matcha soft serve and will probably choose the Matcha Cake Parfait if I were to return! However, I did notice that their matcha soft serve was not as creamy and strong when compared to my experience at Tsujiri and Nona’s Green Tea. Nonethless, the parfait at Matcha Zanmai was still very enjoyable and they have a great selection of matcha items to choose from!

Himalaya Shaved ice & Tea – Menu with Prices – 2760 N Germantown Pkwy Suite 281, Memphis

This might just be the only place you can get bingsu (Korean shaved ice) in Memphis now. The worker at the counter was very helpful to me and my boyfriend in choosing an option. We ended up sharing a small strawberry & mango bowl and ended up very satisfied with it! Lots of fruit and the ice was super soft. It’s not as great as places in ATL, but this is the best that Memphis has! Will definitely be coming back soon & trying out new options.

Hong Kong Bakery & Deli – Menu with Prices – 21720 Vermont Ave, Torrance

Whenever I take a day trip to the South Bay, Hong Kong Bakery is always my first stop, for lunch or a quick dessert. I’ve been buying cakes and dining at the bakery for lunch since the 80’s and became immediately addicted to their white strawberry cake. Sweet white frosting, light white spongy cake with strawberry and white filling. Absolutely refreshing and delicious for an in between the meal snack. Hong Kong has quite a variety of Asian desserts, my wife’s favorite being the fresh spongy steamed white rice cakes. It’s worth the drive from Orange County to pick up a box of these particular rice cakes, as this variety is hard to find down there.

The Only Cafe – Menu with Prices – 2678 W 4th Ave, Vancouver

This is an Asian/Japanese-style cafe located in Kits, on 4th Avenue. In addition to serving up various drinks, both hot and cold, they have various sandwiches and baked goods. I had a Matcha Latte, Japanese Cheesecake, and Matcha Pound Cake. While I wasn’t a huge fan of their cheesecake, I enjoyed the pound cake and was impressed by their latte, which had a pretty good matcha flavour. The staff was friendly and the prices were fair. This is definitely worth checking out. Matcha Latte ($4.75): 4/5 The latte was actually not sweet at all, but was slightly bitter with a creamy texture. It had a pretty good matcha flavour, which was quite impressive seeing that most matcha-flavoured drinks tend to be a little weak. Japanese Cheesecake ($4): 3/5 The cake was more light and yogurt like compared to NY cheescake. The filling was creamy and tangy, but a bit lacking in flavour and gummy in some areas. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a big fan of the crust beneath, which was a bit grainy. Matcha Pound Cake (around $4-5): 3.5/5 The cake was a bit hard, but still tasty and had a mildly sweet flavour. The matcha flavour was a bit weak, but that is kind of expected from most matcha-flavoured desserts. Summary: Food: 3.5/5 Price: 4/5 Service: N/A Overall: 3.5/5 Recommendations: Matcha Latte, Matcha Pound Cake

Matcha Cafe Maiko – Garden Grove – Menu with Prices – 9738 W Garden Grove Blvd Unit #8, Garden Grove

I’m in love with Maiko! I’ve been there three times already in their first opening week. As the name suggests, Maiko is a tea/dessert shop focusing on Matcha products. In addition to their Matcha desserts, they also have a variety of teas — some unique to Maiko such as their Kuromitsu milk tea (black honey milk tea). I’m a huge matcha fan! This place is now my favorite Matcha place in the area. It’s definitely better than Mr. Matcha and is of a higher quality Matcha then Midori Matcha in Costa Mesa. The tea they use is really strong and full of that matcha flavor. Interior wise, I think the store is cute. It has a neon sign, a mural, and loads of paintings and signs. It’s purposely designed so you can take lots of photos for your ig page. It’s actually a surprisingly large store because there’s a game system in the back near the bathrooms. I think the store could definitely benefit from more seating though. I hope they’re also in the words to get AC installed too because it’s been pretty warm inside and it’s only get warmer as the summer months appear. Matcha Soft Serve (5/5): Amazing! You can order this in a cup or cone. It’s full of bittersweet matcha tea flavor. It’s a good mix between icy and creamy. I personally recommend the cup, especially for hotter days because the ice cream melts pretty fast (as most soft serves do) and then you can have it neatly form to drink at the end. Definitely get if you’re a big matcha fan. Matcha Vanilla Mix Soft Serve (5/5): I tried this and I was really impressed by how well it blended together well! The sweet vanilla actually pairs with the matcha really well and works to enhance the matcha. Get this if you’re okay with Matcha and/or prefer something on the sweeter side. Hojicha Soft Serve (5/5): I actually hate Hojicha lol but I surprisingly really enjoyed this!! Hojicha is Roasted Green Tea which makes it a bit more nutty tasting. I’ve always thought Hojicha tasted reminiscent of pistachio but you can definitely still taste the strong tea flavor here and hence, less nutty taste. It’s sweeter than the Matcha but doesn’t lose the tea taste. Matcha Latte (5/5): I really like their Matcha Latte but tbh it’s just their Matcha Soft Serve but in drink form. If you don’t want a dessert, just get this, it tastes exactly the same. I loved it because it keeps the same wonderful matcha flavor and isn’t overly milky like Mr Matcha or Starbucks is. Get the large because at $4.50 it’s cheaper than Starbucks grande lol. Maiko Special (5/5): I’ve always wanted to try these parfait desserts because of their prominence in anime and I really enjoyed Maiko’s version. You can order this with any ice cream flavor. It comes with Soft Serve, Red Bean, Mochi, Chestnut, Jelly, Matcha Tea, and Brown Sugar at the bottom. At $7 it isn’t cheap but I loved this dessert so much. It has a lot of different elements in it and I never got tired of eating it. Every bite had different textures and flavors so I felt like I could eat it forever because of the variety in one cup. Surprisingly when I got close to the end of the dessert, I mixed up the brown sugar with the matcha. I expected it to be overly sweet now but instead I was impressed how the entire flavor was changed. The brown sugar mixed with the rest of the soft serve and tea to add another flavor to it!! It’s definitely their signature item for a reason. There’s lots more stuff I can’t wait to try at Maiko such as their shaved ice and their various tea drinks. I’m so glad Maiko has come to the community and I can’t wait to come here often for a Matcha fix.