The Better Chip

Update Review, May 2020

Given that I never really want tortilla chips, I did not seek out more of the veggie forward versions from The Better Chip, but, they wound up in my snack cabinet when my partner was gifted a snack box.  

I still tried a few bags (one new flavor for me, one repeat, see my earlier review), since it had been 6 years since my last try of the product.

Conclusion?  Yup, I still don't ever want tortilla chips!  That said, the 2 flavors I had were the most boring in their lineup - perhaps sweet potato & plantain or chipotle & poblano are more interesting?

Spinach & Kale.

"These whole grain chips are made with straight-from-the-farm, fresh spinach & kale for pleasant, balanced flavor. Enjoy them right out of the bag or pair them up with warm artichoke dip or your favorite hummus. The spinach and kale we dice and blend into each chip go from farm to chip within a week."

I have tried this flavor before, but, I still wanted to try one more time in case my own personal preferences had changed ... which, well, happens, particularly around snack foods and my desire to eat healthy things.

But I felt basically the same as my prior try: the kale & spinach I did like, and you could almost taste them, but, they still are just tortilla chips, which, just aren't my thing.

Beet & Flax.

"We like the Earthy taste and vibrant color of fresh beet. That's why we bring them in fresh, from the field. Our chips have a mild Beet flavor... for real!"

The beet & flax fared no better, in fact, I think worse.  They were just tortilla chips (square this time! and red!), salty, savory, corn flavored.  The flax added bitterness, and, besides the color, I couldn't tell what the beets added.  I certainly couldn't taste it.

Original Review, June 2014

As you know, I love trying new snack foods, and in particular, chips.

Sometimes I go for classics, like those from Frito Lay,  and sometimes I try out ones that are supposed to be slightly better for you, like the ones from Food Should Taste Good.

As you can probably guess from the name, The Better Chip makes ones in the later category: "Unlike any other chip, The Better Chip puts flavor inside with fresh diced vegetables. Made from 100% natural and non-GMO ingredients."

They aim to make chips that are enjoyable for snacking, yet a bit less guilt inducing. Available in corn, jalapeño, spinach & kale, beet, and chipotle varieties, all made with corn masa, making them more like tortilla chips than classic chips. Since I dislike tortilla chips, this didn't bode well for me.

Red Pepper

The first flavor I tried was red pepper with salsa fresca.

The chips were very spiced, but the flavor reminded me a bit too much of Doritos, which I don't like.  They were almost good, and I went back and tried them many more times, hoping to like them.  A bit more in the salsa direction and less in the Doritos direction, and I would have liked them.  The flavor was so strong that they could act as a standalone chip, your chips and salsa all in one, no dip needed, although I bet they'd be good with some sort of cream cheese dip too.

They were very crispy, and I did like the hearty taste from the whole grain corn masa.

When I went to the web site to pull up the description, I found out that they no longer make the red pepper variety, so, perhaps I'm not alone in not caring for this flavor.

Spinach and Kale.

Corn masa chip, loaded with spinach and kale.

Wow, I really did not like these. I don't tend to like tortilla chips in general, and these were clearly tortilla chips. Except they tasted like spinach and kale. Now, I like spinach and kale, but it just really didn't work here. Just bitter. Meh.

Jalapeño.

And finally, jalapeño.

I *almost* liked these. They had a delightful kick from the jalapeño. They were salty. They were crunchy. But, at the end of the day, they were still tortilla chips, and, I just don't like tortilla chips!

Dinner @ Perbacco

Update Review, May 2020

Back in 2012 (!), I visited Perbacco, a well known Italian restaurant in the Financial District.  It was largely not memorable (besides dessert!), which surprised me, given just how many accolades it has received over the years the pasta.  I was interested in trying their casual, next-door establishment, barbacco sometime, and, well, after 8 years, I finally did.  You can start with my original review though for background.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, barbacco and Perbacco joined forces, to offer a combine menu of dishes from both restaurants, using the Perbacco kitchen and area for pickup.  Since I had to order takeout, I did it in advance on Caviar, but I placed my order when I was only 1 block away.  I wanted my items hot and fresh!  Ordering was easy, and when I walked it, they said they had just gotten it, and dropped my item in the fryer.  "3 minutes", I was told (it was closer to 7, but, that is more what I expected).

I was there on a quest for one thing: fried brussels sprouts.  Oddly specific, I know, but a signature dish of theirs, and regularly on the menu.  And yes, I was craving awesome flavorful fried brussels sprouts, since having those from Pizzeria Delfina earlier in the pandemic days.  Sadly, these did not live up.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of pickup and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes ...

• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]

Seating - Obviously Closed.

As expected, the interior was closed for seating, with the booths roped off along one side, plentiful signs about social distancing all around.

No Entry!

The main restaurant was entirely blocked off, the kitchen in swing way at the end.  It smelt *amazing* when I walked in.

Fried Brussels Sprouts. $7.

"Capers - Anchovy - Red Wine Vinaigrette."

Well … they were … not tasty.  I found nothing redeeming, which pains me to write.  I wanted so badly to like *something* about the dish.

This dish came from the Barbacco menu. It was why I visited after all, having read good things about them, although, perhaps, I should have read more, as a recent Yelper concluded "unfortunately that's where the tasty sensations ended. The sprouts were drenched in vinegar. "

Perbacco had a brown butter brussels sprouts on their menu right before the pandemic, and I should have read the reviews of perhaps. It ... did not go over as well as the barbacco ones usually do it seems.

• "Brown butter Brussels sprouts? Mushy and underwhelming." - Yelper
• "This was our veggie dish and side dish which wasn't the best. It was a bit bitter and not as roasted as I thought, it was more soft than crispy." - Another Yelper

Yeah, all these things. Drowned in vinegar, mushy, bitter ... yup, yup, yup. Just totally completely not what I expected nor wanted.

First, well, I expected crispy. I know I got takeout, but I ate immediately (literally, right outside the door), and they were dropped in the frier when I arrived. They did *not* sit any longer than it took me to walk outside. The large sprouts were not crisp (even though you could see a sear on some) and the leaves were absolutely soggy. It was all just a big, soggy, wet mess. I expected the leaves to be crispy (why remove them otherwise?) and the seared edge to have a bit of crispness.

Next, the flavor. Wow. Um. Yeah. So much vinegar. It was overwhelming, and had *no* balance. There was no touch of sweetness, nothing, in fact, it was extremely bitter. Just punch in the face of strong, strong vinegar. Oh, and intense saltiness. Now, I do love salty, and am in the "chef's palette" realm of diners, but this was a bit much. I think it mostly came from capers (although I didn't find any in here, no bits, nothing, no clear caper taste) and anchovy (no real pieces of anchovy unfortunately, but, there was definitely some paste at least in there). I adore anchovy (another reason I wanted this dish!) and had hoped for more anchovy, but I certainly didn't want more salt. Salt and vinegar, which is a great concept (and popular variety of potato chip after all!), but wow, both were just too much.

So there it was. A big box of mushy, wet, brussels sprouts with a flavor I couldn't get paste a single bite of without kinda gagging and downing some water. I just ... don't understand. They were also presumably awful for me, as they were fried and oily, before being soaked in vinaigrette. I don't really understand if something just went wrong, if they just really didn't work having been in a takeout box for a moment, or if I just didn't understand the dish. I couldn't eat them.

The positive thing I can say? The portion was generous, quite reasonable for the $7 price, easily 2x more than Delfina's version, that was $10. That said, I'd rather get less, pay more, and enjoy the dish, clearly.

I didn't throw out the rest, but instead brought them home, to attempt to do ... something later.  I used some that night, tossing them in a saute pan with a bunch of raw veggies (ranging from green beans to kale to cabbage to radish greens and more), and simmering with water to cook the other veggies and coax the oil and vinegar out of the sprouts, to disperse amongst the rest of the items, and perhaps mellow out a bit.  And in this form, I wasn't going for crispy, so the texture was ok.  I added a touch of sweet soy, and chopped nuts, and ... it kinda worked.

Another batch I threw on my indoor grill, which was successful in again coaxing some of the vinegar and oil out, got them more crispy, and I threw them onto a salad.  So, salvaged, sorta, but not in any dramatically good way.  I just couldn't stand throwing out food ...

Original Review, May 2015

Ah, Monday nights.  So many of my favorite places are closed.  The rest are often working without their executive chefs, and without fresh products.  Such a bad night for dining out.  But ... I had a friend  who I hadn't seen in over a year who wanted to have dinner, so I tried to find a suitable place.  Italian seemed like a good pick, particularly somewhere known for pasta, since that doesn't require fresh ingredients nearly as much.

We headed to Perbacco, a mid-range italian place, which I hadn't yet been to, although I've seen the chef at a cooking demo recently, and have read decent things about.

I was surprised by how large the restaurant was, with a bunch of different seating options.  Two stories,  open and airy, with some booths, round tables, and several private rooms.  The crowd was mostly older, nicely dressed.

Service was good.  Water glasses refilled, share plates and utensils replenished between courses, good level of detail provided when we asked about dishes, wine recommendations given and a small taste provided before committing.  The only issue we had was at the end it was a little hard to find someone to ask where our leftovers had gone to.

The menu included many starters, pastas that could be sized as appetizers or entrées, main dishes, and of course, desserts.  I'd read the best things about the pastas and desserts, so we decided to stick with those, particularly as the noteworthy appetizers and mains were seafood based, and ... it was Monday.  I basically wanted to try all of the pastas, so I appreciated the two size options, as it meant we could order just a bunch of the smaller ones, rather than a single entree sized one.

The pastas arrived crazy fast.  They were clearly all made with fresh, handmade pasta, but across the board I felt that they were overcooked.  None could have been described as al dente.  Perhaps that was the intended style?  The sauces also weren't particularly great.  And they arrived rather lukewarm.  They weren't bad exactly, certainly edible, but were disappointing, and I wouldn't order any of them again.  The dessert however was delicious.  Value was good, the serving sizes generous for very moderate prices.

I don't really have any reason to go back, but if someone wanted to go, I wouldn't say no.  I'm a little interested in their casual sister restaurant next door, Barbacco.  (What is with all these italian places having casual sisters next door anyway?)

Breadsticks with salsa verde.

Immediately upon sitting, we were presented with some breadsticks and salsa verde.  Neither the breadsticks nor the sauce looked that great, and I mostly tried them just to be able to make a note of it here.  But ... they were surprisingly tasty!

The breadsticks were super thin, crisp, crunchy, buttery, with a slight saltiness.  I really didn't expect to like these, but I'd happily nibble on them as a snack anytime.  Apparently they were created by accident when the chef was playing with a new pasta machine.  Everyone loved them, and they have been served since 2007.  As of 2011, they were making 2,300 of these bread sticks a day!

The breadsticks however were overshadowed by the salsa verde!  It was fantastic.  Very flavorful, made with parsley, bread crumbs, lemon zest, and olive oil.  The breadsticks weren't the best dipping device for it however, as it was a little hard to scoop up much of it.  The bread that would come later worked better.

I really enjoyed this on several levels: it was nice to be given a munchie before ordering, it was far more unique than standard bread and butter, and it was tasty!

Roll. 

Speaking of standard bread and butter, we did receive that as well, after ordering.

This was a huge let down from the breadsticks.  The roll was served cold.  It had a decent chew, but was very generic.  The butter was creamy and actually really good.  No salt provided.

Pappardelle: wide pasta ribbons / slow cooked short rib ragu / roasted cipolline / grated horseradish.  $13 small/$18 large.    

The pappardelle was a really nice form factor, large pasta ribbons.  Clearly fresh pasta, and cooked fairly well, but a little overdone, as it wasn't al dente and didn't have much chew to it.

The short rib in the ragu was really tender, flavorful, and there was a generous amount.  I'm not usually a huge fan of short rib, and liked this much more than I expected.  The sauce was pretty rich, and had a real "meaty" flavor to it, but I didn't really like it much.  The horseradish didn't come through much in many of the bites I had, but occasionally would come through on the finish, where it was really delicious.  The sauce needed more kick overall.

I have a thing for cipolline onions, particularly roasted ones, and found them very tasty.  There were a few small, whole roasted onions in here.

Topped with shaved parmesan, which went well with the ragu.

I can't help but compare this to the pappardelle I had a Cotogna recently, which was far better executed, the pasta cooked perfectly, and the ragu more enjoyable.  It also reminded me of another dish I had a Cotogna subsequently, with a tomato and horseradish sauce, that again, I enjoyed much more.

This was my and one other diner's second favorite dish of the evening, and the least favorite of the other.  I wouldn't order it again, as I'd rather try something else.  For $13 however, this was a generous serve of fresh pasta.  I'm curious how much larger the bigger size was!

Agnolotti dal plin filled with roasted vitellone and savoy cabbage / sugo d’arrosto.  $13 small/$18 large.

This is probably their most famous dish.  Everyone raves about it.  Been on the menu for ages.  It was just recently on list of top San Francisco eats.

Unfortunately, it arrived barely warm.  I wonder if it would have been better warmer?

The pasta was again nice, clearly fresh, but again, slightly overcooked, not having the chew to it I was looking for.  The filling was a ground veal (and cabbage?) that was fairly flavorful.

Included in the sauce was some cooked cabbage chunks, which looked a lot like the agnolotti themselves, and I didn't originally realize were there.  They added a slight freshness and crunch to the dish.

The sauce was really, really boring.  It didn't taste like anything at all, just a little salty.

Topped with grated parmesan, which didn't really seem to add anything to the dish.

This was my and one other diner's second to last pick of the night, but the favorite of one other.  I would not order again.  I think it was overall better than the version we had at Cotogna, but only slightly, as I didn't like either one.  Another very generous serve for $13!

Raviora: pasta filled with ricotta di pecora and mint / spring pea passato / mint butter.  $12 small/$17 large.

This was the best executed pasta of the night.  Again, clearly fresh and this time, it had a slight chew to it.

However, I really, really did not like the filling.  It had a strange mouthfeel to it, and was kinda bad tasting ricotta.  Generic grocery store ricotta tastes better than this.

The spring peas came in two forms: full snap peas and some shelled peas.  They were really delicious, full of flavor and freshness.  Cooked perfectly, the snap pea was crisp and the shelled peas not mushy at all.

There were also whole mint leaves, which were really refreshing and combined nicely with the peas and grated parmesan cheese on top.

The sauce looked more flavorful than it was, I didn't really think it had much going on.

This was almost a good dish, and I really enjoyed the freshness and flavors of the peas and mint, but the filling was just awful.  Least favorite dish for two of us, although second favorite for another.  I would not order again.  And yet again, this seemed like a really good value for only $12.

Rabatòn: herb and spinach ricotta gnocchi / local green asparagus / ricotta salata.  $12 small/$17 large.

Now this was a fresh, seasonal dish!  Ordered because we knew that local asparagus season is winding down.

The gnocchi were fairly forgettable.  They were fluffy, clearly just boiled and not pan finished (how I prefer my gnocchi).  I didn't really taste any herbs or spinach in them as advertised, although they were green, so it must have been there.

The asparagus came as some cooked chunks of spear and as the sauce.  The cooked chunks were nicely done, still a little crunchy.  The sauce was also quite good.  The consistency was a little too thick, but it was really light tasting, refreshing, and full of delicious asparagus flavor.  You certainly had to like asparagus to like this dish.

Topped with ricotta salata, which added a good saltiness that paired well with the asparagus.

Favorite dish for two of us, but third favorite for the other.  I still wouldn't order it again though.

Sformatino: caramelized milk chocolate mousse  dark chocolate glaze / cocoa-almond streusel / crema inglese.  $9.

This was a decent chocolate mousse dessert.

The base was a thin chocolate cake layer.  Earlier that day I'd had a dessert that was a much thicker moist chocolate cake topped with chocolate mousse, and I felt it was more successful than this one, as this cake layer was too thin to really be noticeable.

The mousse was a good, creamy, chocolate mousse, but not particularly noteworthy.  Again the mousse I'd had earlier in the day had a more intense chocolate flavor that I enjoyed more.

The dark chocolate glaze was a really nice touch.  It was fairly thick, bitter, and added a lot more chocolate intensity to the dish.

The cocoa-almond streusel on top and on the plate wasn't particularly noteworthy, just a basic chocolate crumble.

The crema inglese was sweet and good, but there wasn't nearly enough of it.

Overall, not a bad dessert, but not particularly memorable.  Decent size and quality for $9.  I wouldn't order again.

Douglas fir panna cotta / pine nut crumble / mugolio.  $9.

This dessert didn't sound that great, but I do enjoy a good creamy pudding dessert, like a panna cotta.  I'd also read great reviews of this, but then again, I've kinda learned not to trust the Yelpers.  But most of the other desserts on the menu were all chocolate, and I was trying to limit my caffeine intake, and the other diners weren't interested in the other dessert that sounded good to me (a semifreddo with meringue, my other dessert obsession!).  So, we tried this one.

It was awesome.  The panna cotta had a fantastic wiggle to it!  The consistency was perfect, very creamy.  The flavor was really hard to describe, certainly not what I'd think douglas fir would taste like.  I never once thought I was eating a christmas tree :)  It was more citrusy, but subtle, and fairly sweet.  Really delicious.

The pine nut crumble on top was made up primarily of pine nuts.  It tasted strongly of pine nut.  I don't really like pine nuts, so I didn't like this component at all, but I did understand how the flavor would work well against the other sweet components.

The huckleberry sauce was too much, there were tons of huckleberries, and the flavor of this was intense and easily overwhelmed the dish.  We left some of it behind.  It was good, and paired decently well with the pine nut and the panna cotta, but there was just way too much on the plate.

The other syrup on the plate was made form mugolio, a pine cone syrup.  I didn't really pick up on this much at all.

This was certainly my favorite dessert and the highlight of the meal for me.  I'd order it again, but I'd really like to have it without the pine nut.  Perfect execution on the panna cotta.

Mignardises: hazelnut chocolate, almond honey torrone.

These arrived with the bill, on a plate that was clearly fresh out of the dishwasher.  By which I mean, it was hot.  Which ... caused the chocolates to melt onto it.  When I picked up a chocolate, 30% of it was left behind on the plate, and another 10% of it melted all over my fingers.  Whoops.  This was just a generic creamy hazelnut chocolate.  Not noteworthy.

The almond honey torrone was a piece of sweet nougat with almond slivers.  It would have paired well with tea, but like the chocolate, wasn't really memorable.

Chanoma Cafe, Sydney

Update Review, 2019 Visit

It had been years since I went to Chanoma Cafe in Sydney, as we weren't particularly impressed on our original visit.  There are too many good places to go in town to waste time repeating somewhere lackluster.  Yet ... I walk by all the time, it is always swarming with people, and, well, they have good flavors of soft serve.  Eventually I decided I needed to try the soft serve again at least.

I had major decision paralysis when I visited.  The lack of coherent menu certainly added to this, as did the fact that I had literally just arrived from >24 hours in transit.  I was ridiculously jetlagged, craving strange things, and very, very grumpy.  I decided that was all a good excuse to go have ice cream, caffeinated ice cream no less.

The menu showed parfaits and sundaes, but I had a very hard time figuring out what the differences were.  I asked the person taking orders, and he said if I was alone and had no one to share with (I was), the parfait was too big, I should get sundae.  But, you can't customize sundaes at all.  It was all very confusing.

In the end, I either wound up with a "Deluxe Bowl" with extra toppings, or perhaps a modified sundae.  I'm not sure,  I also think he incorrectly rang me up, as I saw him put in "Extra mochi", which I didn't have, but I was too tired to really press more.

I don't really think I'll go back, unless I really, really want some matcha soft serve ...

Matcha & Black Sesame Soft Serve / Lychee Jelly / Red Bean / Anmitsu / Whipped Cream / Waffle Bowl.

Chanoma has two flavors of matcha soft serve, one called "matcha" and one called "matcha latte", the later described as more creamy, which sounded better to me, and the former, more pure.

I asked to try the matcha latte first, and it was good, indeed a fairly creamy ice cream, mild matcha flavor, sweet.  I was going to get it.  I didn't want just matcha though, so I wanted to mix with black sesame.  Alas, the black sesame machine had matcha (not matcha latte) and there did not seem to be a way to get two separate flavors, not side by side, not layered.  Thus, regular matcha and black sesame it was.

Both flavors were very intense.  The matcha was certainly less creamy than the matcha latte, but it was also a stronger matcha flavor.  I don't think I'd want a whole cup/cone of this alone, but, mixed with black sesame , it was good.  The black sesame I liked a bit more, it had a lovely nutty flavor to it, but it too was not very creamy, almost icy.  They win points for strong flavors, but lose them for the texture.

My sundae came with red bean and anmitsu, the former a scoop hiding on the other side, the later a skewer with two white and one green balls.  The red bean was fine, fairly classic sweetened red bean mush/mash.  A generous scoop.  Served warm.  The anmitsu I didn't care for, they were just flavorless soft balls, a bit too gummy.

To this I added jellies, coconut is what I ordered, but they only had lychee.  I'm not sure why I wanted these, but I wanted more fun elements.  The lychee jelly was sweet, slimy, fine, but, it turns out, not what I want on ice cream really.  Best left for inside bubble teas.

I also added whipped cream on top, which was just standard canned whipped cream, but it really went well to balance the stronger flavors of matcha and black sesame, so I'm glad I added it.

The waffle bowl was one of my favorite components, crispy sweet waffle bowl at start, but it softened quickly as the ice cream melted in.  I strangely liked it that way.

Overall though, this was fairly lackluster.  Nothing particularly great about it, toppings that I didn't end up actually excited for, and a ~$10 price tag?

Original Review, April 2015

When I was in Sydney, I was on a quest to try different foods from what I'm accustomed.  Sydney is full of Asian influence, and thus most of the places I choose to visit were Thai, or Vietnamese like Ms. G's, or uh, bubble tea.  On a slightly different asian front, I read about Chanoma Cafe,  a Japanese cafe, and self-proclaimed "Japanese Matcha Master".

As you'd expect given that tagline, their main item is obviously matcha, available in just about every form imaginable: regular matcha hot tea, or with steamed milk as a latte or cappucino, or iced as tea, or iced lattes.  Or, more interesting, it can be served as a float with matcha ice cream swirled into it, or even as a float garnished with mochi balls.  Or ... as a blended frappe, with Oreo if you want, topped with whipped cream of course, and mochi balls.  The menu is all pictorial, and there were some fairly crazy looking creations 

Chanoma Cafe also offers an fairly extensive non-matcha drink menu, including black sesame lattes, red bean lattes, and all sorts of floats.  Ojan ordered a yuzu lemonade, which was totally delicious.  It was sweet, flavorful, and really quite tasty.  By far the best thing we had!

The next biggest section of the menu is Japadogs, aka, Japanese style hotdogs, with totally ridiculous toppings, served with fries (wasabi or seaweed coated).  Ojan and another friend went for lunch, and ordered hot dogs before I arrived.  They both really enjoyed the toppings, but said that the hot dogs themselves were really, really low quality and they didn't like them.  And the hot dog buns were somewhat stale and chewy, hard to bite through, and there was too much bun to go with the dog.  Doh, sounds like I didn't miss much.

Storefront.

Chanoma Cafa is located inside the Regent Place dining area, alongside several other casual establishments.  It isn't a food court exactly, as each facility has its own contained doors.

You order at the register, and are given a buzzer to bring back to your table, and then pick the food up inside.  In my case, my buzzer went off literally within a minute, which seemed a bit ridiculous.  Why give me the buzzer in the first place?

The people working seemed fairly traditional Japanese, for example, handing everything over with two hands.

"Outdoor Seating"

There is seating inside, but also "outside" the shop too, basically, in the hallway of the mall.  Each little shop seems to have their own small seating area out here, and patrons were generally respectful of consuming only goods purchased at the proper establishment.

Seating was not very comfortable, just hard stools and wooden tables.  It is here that I found Ojan and our other friend, finishing off their Japadogs.

I joined them after the Japadogs, because I had my sights set on something else: dessert of course, and not just any dessert: soft serve ice cream.  You know I eat a lot of ice cream, but soft serve in particular I adore.  They serve only one flavor, you guessed it, matcha.  Available simply in a cone, or in totally ridiculous creations as parfaits, loaded up with red bean, mochi, fruit, whipped cream, pocky, waffle sticks ... the list goes on and on.

Matcha Anmitsu. $6.50. Plus whipped cream. $0.50.

As I said, I was there for the ice cream.  I decided not to just get a simple soft serve, and was really tempted by the aforementioned crazy parfaits, but I wasn't actually interested in having pocky, waffle sticks, or cornflakes in my sundae.  But I wanted whipped cream, and the other ice cream based choice, anmitsu, did not come with whipped cream.

I was stumped only momentarily, and came up with an easy solution?  Order the ammitsu, but with whipped cream!  Now I could have exactly what I wanted, and the person taking my order didn't bat an eye when I asked to add whip.

There were a slew of components to the creation, that you can't quite see in the photo above, because they are hidden beneath.

On the bottom was cubes of jelly.  They were absolutely flavorless.  A decent texture, and maybe I'd want them in bubble tea, but they made no sense in my ice cream.  Just sweet, sugar and agar, nothing else.  Least interesting component, by far.

On the side was a scoop of sweet red bean paste.  I really like red bean, but didn't like this.  I did like the mushy part, and the sweetness level was just right, not too sweet, just enough to be pleasant.  But then there were whole beans, which is good, except that they seemed almost raw and uncooked.  I like a crunchy element to my desserts, but ... I don't think this was intentional crunch.

The main attraction, the matcha soft serve ice cream, had a strong matcha flavor, clearly made with a serious amount of matcha.  It wasn't very sweet, actually, more bitter than sweet.  But it wasn't creamy at all, and even as it melted it didn't get creamy, and just stayed unpleasantly icy.  For the star ingredient, it was really disappointing.  The flavor was there, but the consistency was just all wrong.

Drizzled over the ice cream was an optional brown sugar syrup, which I opted for.  Since the ice cream was so bitter, it was a pleasant contrast.

On the side was a stick of shiratama, 3 little balls.  The mochi were soft, but not really flavorful.  I could see how these would be nice dunked in a hot matcha though.

And finally, my edition, the whipped cream.  It was sweetened, fluffy, basic whipped cream, but they did provide way too much.  I guess I got my $0.50 worth, but I think I had more whipped cream than any other component, and the balance was all off.  This is my fault for adding it though.

Overall, there were a bunch of ingredients here that I was interested in, but they just didn't execute it well.  I like matcha flavor, but the ice cream was too icy.  I like red bean, but there were too many undercooked beans.  I like mochi, but these were flavorless.  Sadness, as there was a lot of potential.

$7 was pricy for a small dessert.

85°C Bakery Cafe, United States

85°C is a Taiwanese based chain of asian bakery cafes, with 1,000+ locations worldwide, including a slew of locations around the Los Angeles area (the first US location opened in Irvine).  Sadly, there are none in San Francisco.  It is a fairly impressive company, founded only in 2003, first US location in 2008, and now seemingly everywhere around there.

This is no American style bakery and cafe though, they feature predominantly Japanese and Taiwanese items, and everything is shockingly inexpensive.  The focus is on quality, freshness, and affordability.  Nearly every time I visit LA, I seem to wind up walking by one, and in Sydney, I pass by at least one daily. 

Original Review, Pasadena Location, May 2018

I've previously looked in, drooled, but needed to move on to my other plans.  On my recent visit to Pasadena however, I sought out 85°C explicitly, so I could finally try the goodies that so often beckoned to me.

ZOMG, #allTheBakedGoods

It was just one visit, by myself, so I had to narrow down my choices, which was ridiculously difficult.  I wanted it all.

I loved what I did select though, and will return again in a heartbeat.

If only they'd open one in San Francisco ...

Setting

This particular visit was to the location in Old Town Pasadena, but they have locations throughout the Los Angeles region, Texas, and, worldwide obviously.

Corner Location.

I don't know if intentional or not, but I swear every location I have seen is located on a corner.  Maximum windows, double store front, why not?

The locations are also all huge.  And, if you go in the afternoon or evening, always quite busy.

Front Seating.

A small seating section is adjacent to the cake display cases, with very basic metal chairs/tables, but most seating is in back.

Back Seating.

A spacious area with a long communal table and fancier tables fills the other side adjacent to the drink area.

That said, most people seem to be getting big boxes of goodies to go, and it was relatively empty when I visited (granted, it was 9am on a Saturday!)  Every other time I've ever walked by one, it has been packed.

Drinks

Along with the bakery, the other section of the establishment is drinks, ranging from milk teas and slushes to hot and iced espressos and teas.  In Taiwan, apearantly this is what they are known for, where Taiwanese style bakeries are far more common, and the coffee sets them apart.  In the US ... things are reversed.

Coffee is actually where the name 85°C comes from:

"We believe that coffee holds its flavor best at a steady temperature of 85 degrees Celsius. To us, the name 85°C symbolizes our devotion to provide coffee of the highest quality. We hope to give our customers the best drink possible."

They take the coffee in particular seriously, offering no drip coffee, only espresso based beverages.

Drink Prep Area

Drinks are made in side portion of the space, ordered when you pay for baked goods, but made to order, so your number gets called out when ready and you fetch from the counter.

This area has a classic joint bubble tea and espresso bar setup, which I’ll admit looked pretty crazy to see side-by-side.

Again, if I wanted more, there were many great things here (included taro based lattes and frozen smoothies), but, I skipped it.  This time.   I was also drawn in by the ones topped with sea salt cream ... again, next time.

Self-Serve

One full side of the very large space is filled with self-service items, mostly breads, pastries, sponge cakes, and tarts that you must grab with tongs and place on a tray, plus some packaged items like cookies.

These items are all mixed throughout the displays, with the exception of a few chilled items, so I'll do my best to break down the categories and still provide photos.

85°C make it a point that items are all baked on-site.  Not frozen and reheated, baked fresh.  And not just daily.  They claim to produce 50 varieties of pastries baked fresh ... hourly.

I do believe it, actually.  While I was there, I saw a constant stream of fresh items being brought out.  All of my selections were indeed warm, even though not kept under heat lamps.  And they clearly rotate through many items, you might not always be able to find something you had last time.

Cashier.

You take your tray of goodies up to a cashier in the front (e.g. the long line), where you can also order cakes and drinks.

My Goodies: Squid Ink Bacon, Marble Taro, Taro Puff.

I settled, finally, on one savory item (to have alongside lunch later), and two sweet taro items.  I was so drawn in by the taro!

My items were each placed into individual plastic bags, since I was getting them togo.

Packaged Chilled Items

Chilled Packaged Items.

The first display case of self-serve items I believe is chilled, packaged items.  Here you could find a fairly random assortment of things, "shells" filled with taro or custard, "coconut snow cubes", cheesecake bites, cream puffs, red bean panna cotta cups, and a packaged "honey cake".

Basically, it seemed to be all the things that could be packaged up individually for easy self-service, but required refrigeration?

Half Moon Cakes.

On top of this area was large half moon cakes, almond or pork sun (labelled backwards, lol).  These are vanilla sponge cake with cream, and toppings I think just on the outside edges.

Sponge Cakes

Next, moving into the main self-serve section is tons and tons of trays of goodies, starting mostly with sponge cakes.

Tarts, Sponge Cakes, Danishes.

This section had 3 types of rolled sponge cake (coconut custard, chocolate cream, matcha red bean), and egg custard tarts on the top row, and assorted pastries on the bottom (coconut twist, taro danish, spinach kale danish, ham & cheese.

No real rhyme or reason to this lineup the best I could tell, sponge cakes, tarts, and both sweet and savory danishes all together?

On top was package nougat candy, pineapple cakes, and a really fascinating "sun pastry" that I impulse grabbed, but did put back.  It was like a soft pastry-cookie, and strangely flat like a pancake?  I read later that this is a traditional Taiwanese item, filled with a chewy sweet filling.  I wish I"d kept it!

I came *so* close to grabbing the taro danish too.  Flaky pastry.  Taro.  Yes!  But I moved on.

Tarts, Danishes.

This section continued with different tarts (Mixed Berry, Hokkaido Cheese, Coconut Raisin), and one more danish style (Apple Almond).

The offerings on top, packaged up, were cookies (chocolate chip, white chocolate macadamia, fudge nut brownie), and mini lemon cakes.  I'm curious who visits and gets cookies here, given the other selections!

Breads

85* makes 4 main styles of breads: Taiwanese style, Japanese style, European style, Toast style (e.g. loaves), plus some danishes and other pastries.

The bread menu is further broken up into 7 categories: Puff Pastry. Savory Bread. Sweet Bread. Toast. Danish. Multigrain. Yudane. I wanted nearly everything.

Since I was just getting treats for one day (and actually, only planning for breakfast and maybe something to have alongside lunch … ) I had to limit my selections, particularly as things are HUGE. I picked a savory, a sweet, and a puff pastry.

Toast

The "Toast" category is certainly the most boring, just loaves of bread (white, multigrain, milk).

European Style

European Style & Yudane.

The second least exciting section of the bread menu for me, European breads, although if I really just wanted some hearty bread, the berry multigrain looked appealing.

This area featured large loaves of plain, walnut raisin, and berry multigrain on the top row, walnut sesame on the second.

The second row was still bread forward, but more interesting options, like cream cheese stuffed chocolate or cranberry bread, known as Yudane.

"Yudane" was a concept I wasn't familiar with, but seemed to just be cream cheese stuffed buns?  I'd gladly try one (probably the chocolate cream cheese?), but, with one day of snacks only, this category also was low priority for me.

On the bottom, a few more savory breads, garlic cheese and salted butter.

Danish

Danishes and other pastries.

The final category I didn't get anything from was danishes, although this was a hard call, and they seemed scattered across most of the display cases.

I love my pastries, and this one had a slew of heavy hitters: the "Boroh", with or without cream filling, seen on the top row here, alongside Portuguese style egg tarts .

The second row had puff pastry items, considered a separate menu category than the danishes a distinction I didn't quite understand.  Here there was a "Jumbo" guava cheese strudel, potato cheese turnover, and chocolate croissant.  I laughed that the strudel was the only item named "jumbo" and was less ridiculously oversized than many other things.

The bottom was more puff pastry based items, another "Jumbo" strudel (coconut), their play on a kouign amann, and cinnamon twists.

Puff Pastry

The puff pastry category was too hard to look past.  Some were more standard (like the cinnamon twists and turnovers), and those pearl sugar topped strudels (guava cheese, coconut), but then there were puffs filled with great sounding options (milk butter? taro!).

Taro Puff Pastry. $2.15.

 "This puff pastry is light, flaky, and layered with delicious taro filling inside."

I went for the taro puff pastry as the last item I picked up. I was planning to get just one taro item, and I had sooo many choices (the aforementioned danish, several different sweet breads, cakes, and more), but … it was an impulse move, I’ll admit it.

And it was the best move, it turns out.

It was fantastic!

Incredible, really. Still hot. Basically kinda like a sweet buttery croisstant, very, very generously stuffed with taro. The bread was not quite as flaky as a European style croissant, but, a bit flaky still. I loved it. Warm, soft, sweet.

Taro Puff Pastry: Inside.

And inside? Yes, that taro filling I was after.

So generously stuffed, a lovely taro mash. Sweetened, but not too much. Amazing real taro flavor. Loved it.

The creamy taro filling and the puff pastry were magic together. I’d have one of these for breakfast, or a afernoon treat, anyday. At 480 calories, it wasn't light, but also was not worse than a scone or any other breakfast pastry from a bakery or chain, and it only had 6 grams of sugar (unlike what you see at Starbucks, Panera, etc), although 22 grams of fat.

Truly incredible, and I’d get another in a heartbeat.

Sweet Bread

And then we get to the sweet breads.  From this category ... I'll be honest.   I wanted it all.

The standard items of glazed cinnamon rolls, fascinating twists, and fruity breads were easy enough to look past.  But other options include a HUGE brioche loaf that everyone adores. "Berrytales" and "Mangotales" that are also signature items, stuffed with fruit and cream cheese.

Chocolate fans have sooo man options, from simple chocolate buns, to a huge chocolate chip "bowl", to a chocolate cookie bread with a cookie crumble topping, to cream cheese stuffed chocolate buns. Coffee lovers? Yup, they have coffee breads, coffee breads filled with milk butter, and mocha bread.

Want creamy pudding filling?  Many options there too. "Milk Pudding" filled, "Premium Milk", "raisin milk butter", and more. You could go for red bean filled, a fascinating looking sugared cream cheese brioche, or, my other strong choice ... the taro swirl.

Picking one was nearly impossible, but, I did it.

Sweet Breads.

The top row here was all large sweet breads, some of their most popular items: the brioche, mocha bread, and marble taro.  My understanding is that the brioche and marble taro are literally brought out every 2-5 minutes, as they disappear that fast, and they often keep some near the register just in case the racks are empty. Or something like that.  Both high on my list, as simple as the brioche looked, and sounded.

The next row, more sweet options, starting with two coffee breads - one filled with milk butter and topped with chocolate chips, the other filled with red bean and mochi, and a chocolate cookie bread covered in oreo crumbs.

And finally, the bottom row, another chocolate option (a small chocolate yudane bun), the premium milk, and a coconut twist.

The "Premium Milk" was very high on my list, a soft sweet milk bread, filled with white chocolate.  But I couldn't move past the marble taro.

Marble Taro.  $2.40.

“Our top seller Marble Taro is a sweet bread made with mixed grains and filled with signature taro filling.”

Yes, I went for another taro option, the huge, huge, huge Marble Taro.  It was a beast!  But it promised taro in the bread, and taro inside, AND is the top seller?  Also, it was a beautiful purple color.

I had to get it, even though it was insanely large. Much heavier (physically too!), than the puff, 640 calories, far more sugar (33 grams), but hey, less fat (only 16 grams since not puff pastry I guess). I had read many testimonies that it keeps fine for a day, and you can heat it up later successfully.  So I had plans for this.

But of course I had to try it fresh! It too was hot.

The bread was entirely different from the taro puff pastry. A sweet bread, slightly taro flavored, more hearty, since it uses mixed grains (rye flakes, rolled oats, rolled wheat, flax seeds, millet seeds, sesame seeds, and whole wheat flour), in addition to the regular flour and cake flour base, yet still very soft and fluffy.

It was fine, but wasn't that taro-forward, at least in the bread ...

Marble Taro: Inside.

From the cross section you can see better why it wasn't very taro-y in the bread itself, there really was just a marbling on the outside, the bread was the plain multigrain.  But inside the taro delivered, plenty of the taro mash.  Creamy, smooth, but with bits of real taro, great flavor.  Given the huge size of the bread, sooo much taro filling.  I love that filling.

A very different item from the taro puff though, and it was good.  It really is just a question of what you are in the mood for, a flakier puff pastry, or a more bread-like item.  I really liked the filling again, but I'd like to try the taro danish and swirl before I'd go back to this.

Sweet and Savory Breads.

The top row here was savory, with a s spicy sausage bread, and the space for more cheese dogs, but that section was empty (no fear, the other one had plenty),.

Row two started savory with garlic cheese bread and ham and cheese, but moved sweet with the berrytale.

The bottom was all sweet, with the raisin milk butter, taro swirl, and mangotale.

I had read so many things about the taro swirl, it looked like puff pastry (but isn't made from it), topped with powdered sugar, and filled with the taro.  But since I picked the taro puff already, I didn’t want both.  Doubling up on taro was fine, but I wanted to try to do more diverse bread type. I think it would have been similar, just more flaky

The taro swirl really is next on my "To Try" list.

Savory Bread

The savory line up at 85* is fascinating, in the way that Asian bakeries are.  Bacon, hot dogs, sausages, corn, squid ink, pork floss, galore. Lots of mayo and cheese.

Savories.

The back side of the chilled section had some savories, including the super random ham, tuna, & corn sandwich, even more egg tarts, an espresso bun, and a bacon & cheese roll.

I wanted bacon, so this was on my list of savories to try, but not high enough.

Puff Pastry & Savories.

More savories were mixed into the next section.

The top row here was a milk pudding filled roll and the taro puff pastry I adored.

Below that, a pork sung bun, a milk butter puff pastry (what is milk butter anyway?), and ... the cheese dog!

On the bottom, more savories: cheese bread (cream cheese stuffed and cheese topped, a crazy sounding combo to me), Hawaiian chicken (with tomato sauce? A la pizza?), and a butterhorn.

I was drawn in many directions.  I wanted the cheesy dog.  I wanted the pork floss.  But there were many more savories that also called out.

Assorted Sweet and Savory Breads.

The top row was non-savory: chocolate croissants, MORE egg tarts, and mango bread.

Next, a huge chocolate chip 'bowl', alongside the start of the squid ink line-up, with corn, chicken, and cheese. Then, a giant whole wheat roll topped with mushroom and cheese.

On bottom, more squid ink, a version with cheese and bacon, one just called a "calmari stick", and, a sugar and cream cheese topped round brioche.

Squid ink was the fascinating, so I picked one of these to be my savory choice, passing up the hotdogs.

Squid Ink Bacon.  $1.80.

Once I decided to go for squid ink, I still had a slew of options. A cheesy “calamari stick”, one topped with corn and chicken, and, one with bacon. Well, that choice was easy. If there is bacon, pick bacon.

This I planned for later on, as part of my lunch. Cheesy, meaty, savory, seemed appropriate alongside some salad right?

But it was hot, so I needed to try it fresh too!

The bread was much different from the others, chewy, not as fluffy as I associate with Asian bakeries, yet still quite soft.  It had a complex flavor, but didn't actually taste particularly squid-y.  The ink certainly colored it, but, the fishy flavor was quite mild.

The bacon and cheese though were quite detectable. On top was two lines of melted cheese (Swiss), plus breadcrumbs, which both gave it some nice visual appeal.

Squid Ink Bacon: Inside.

Inside was like a filled croissant, like a standard ham and cheese croissant, with melted Swiss cheese and chunks of bacon.  When I heated it up later, the cheese melted nicely.

The Swiss was a great match for the bacon, very flavorful.  The bacon pieces were a flabby style though, not quite my thing.

I describe this as interesting, and much better than a ham and cheese croissant, but, not particularly awesome.  Next time? CHEESY DOG!

Displayed Cakes

Most of the cakes are separate from the other baked goods, not self-serve.  They clearly don't trust us to serve these beauties ourselves.  Or maybe because they require refrigeration?

Instead, you order at the cashier, and on every transaction, without fail, they ask, "And would you like any cakes or drinks?"

"Cakes" is not quite accurate to describe this area, as it contains far more than just cakes, but that is what they call it.  Broken into full size cakes, medium sized bars cakes, slices, rolls, cups, and more.  All are very complex, not just sheet cakes, mostly all layer cakes, and all beautifully decorated.

And yes, taro options here too.  So many options.

Cakes.

The top row was 8" full size cakes: Taro Snow, Royal Chocolate Strawberry, Mango Creme Brulee, Black Forest, Fruit Cheesecake,  and something chocolately and square Deluxe Chocolate Mousse.

Next individual slices: Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake, Taro Snow, Classic Tiramisu, Deluxe Chocolate Mousse, Deluxe Strawberry, Cream Cheesecake.

Below that, bar shaped cakes, called "Full Month Cakes", which looked to serve 4-5 people: Fruit Topped Cream Cheesecake, Black Forest, Chocolate Cookie Crumble, a randomly packaged honey cake, and more slices (Mount Formage, Red Velvet).

These names don't really do the items justice.  The item called "Mango Creme Brulee" is actually "Vanilla sponge cake layered with vanilla brulee and mango mousse. Decorated with fresh mango, strawberries, chocolate, and mango cream."

So many great things.

Taro Snow.  I resisted the urge to *also* get cakes, but that was at the top of the list.

More Cakes.

That was only half the cakes.

The next section again had whole cakes on top: Deluxe Chocolate Mousse, Deluxe Strawberry, Mango Creme Brulee, Sea Salt Coffee Brulee, Red Velvet, Strawberry Chocolate Mousse.

Next, cups and slices.  Mango Panna Cotta Cup, slicesof Strawberry Chocolate Mousse, Sea Salt Coffee Brulee, Red Velvet, Black Forest, Mango Creme Brulee.

The bottom row had individuals: Chocolate Delight, Mango Delight, Coffee Cream Brulee Cup, Fruit Jelly Cup, White Chocolate Strawberry Cup, and a Fresh Fruit Tart.

Update Review, Cupertino Location, July 2019 Visit

Oh 85* Bakery Cafe, I just can't quit you.

It doesn't matter that I never really like your goodies (particularly now that I have comparison points, like Bao Bao Bakery in Boston), and that you are way more expensive than makes sense.  I'm like a moth, you are my light.  I just keep trying.

This recent adventure into an 85* Bakery Cafe was post incredible ube soft serve, in a taro filled taiyaki cone, at Somi Somi, a few doors down.  I had taro on my mind, and I knew one place could make my taro dreams come true.

And, yes, I had many taro options.  Taro danishes, buns, and breads galore.  I settled on two, one of which I had before and knew was great, and one new one.

Marble Taro. $3.

"Our top seller Marble Taro is a sweet bread made with mixed grains and filled with signature taro filling."

The marble taro was quite good, as before.

A huge bread, yet easily devoured.  Slight sweet base, with a hint of a hearty mixed grains, with a lovely purple swirl on it.  Inside was sweetened taro paste, fairly standard, but, good.

Overall, a nice item, although simple.  If you just wanted a slightly sweet bread with some taro in it, this was it. 

Even better warm, with a little whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.  I can imagine maybe even slicing and buttering for breakfast?  But I loved it warmed as a dessert.

Taro Puff Pastry. $2.50.

"This puff pastry is light, flaky, and layered with delicious taro filling inside."

For my more decadent item, I went for the taro puff pastry.

It was less successful.  The base of this was a puff pastry, as named, but it wasn't particularly good puff pastry.  Not very buttery, and not flaky in a croissant-like way.  Just, well, kinda generic puff pastry.  I think I somehow expected it to still be more like a traditional Asian bun, even though it said it was just puff pastry (it did *look* more interesting than a puff pastry, after all!).

Inside was taro filling, the same as the marble taro, and I did again like the taro filling, but, this was not the item for me.