Metro Hong Kong Dessert

You would probably suspect that Metro Hong Kong Dessert, is, well, a dessert cafe, likely an asian one.  Which is ... sorta accurate.  They *do* have desserts.  But they actually have a full savory menu, including standard Chinese stir fry dishes, noodles, fried rice, steamed rice rolls, baked, fried, and steamed dim sum, porridge, bbq, plus, um sandwiches (literally, an American club sandwich?) and french fries, and more.  The sweet side of things is equally extensive, with milk or fruit tea and boba drinks, smoothies, mochi, egg waffles, and sooo many puddings, stews, taro ball/glutinous rice/glass jelly based desserts, and more.

Given my love for desserts, puddings, and taro, of course I was drawn in.  The restaurant is in San Francisco's chinatown and had very little curb appeal.  It didn't even seem particularly, um, clean.

Encounter #1, February 2021

For Chinese New Year, the downtown association was trying to help revitalize Chinatown given the aftermath of the pandemic, and they arranged a crawl to several different restaurants and shops.  You got a passport that you then redeemed for tastings at the different stops.  One of my stops was Metro Hong Kong Dessert, and I was so excited for, well, fun dessert.

Chicken Wing.

The first item in my goodie bag though?  A bbq chicken wing.  Doh.  I hate chicken!

I still tried it, and the bbq flavor was actually really quite good.  But it was still a wing, and still very much not my thing.

Normally part of the BBQ chicken wings and thigh 7 piece combo for $15.95.

Mango Sago Soup (Sample-ish).

Next up though I did have a dessert item, the mango sago soup.  Served in a small portion, not their normal serving.

It was very good, but very sweet.  Basically, well, mango puree, soft pliable small sago, a few small pieces of mango.  Sweet and a tiny bit tart.

I liked it.  3.5/5.

Encounter #2, September 2025

Several years later, I encountered Metro Hong Kong Dessert again.

Assorted Goodies.

I attended a small gathering where we had baked goods from Eastern Bakery, and desserts and boba drinks from Metro Hong Kong Dessert.  I tried several items, skipping the boba drinks, and instead focusing on the "real" desserts.  Here you can see the full portion sizes.

I didn't get to try the mango pudding (front cups), but tried both of the sago soups (bigger round bowls), one was coconut juice sago, the other mango coconut juice sago.  Both were good - definitely sweet but not cloying, lots of coconut flavor, soft, not stuck together, little sago.  Not much sago, mostly just soup, and not quite what I was looking for, as I wanted more goodies, or at least, more sago to make them more like a pudding (but, to be fair, these were on the menu as soups, and they had other pudding options).  Both were very large portions, hence why myself and others split them, and the $6.95 each price seemed fine, although there wasn't much to them really.  I still did quite enjoy.  3.5/5.

Grass Jelly Taro Balls. $7.95.

For my main event, I went with an item from the Taiwanese dessert section of the menu, the glass jelly taro balls.  It had far more than just glass jelly and taro balls, as you can see here.

The base was the grass jelly.  Big hunks, pretty standard grass jelly, dark black.  You can't see it here, but there was a significant amount of it at the base.  It was good, refreshing, and not something I have often so I liked it.  Then there were black large size tapioca balls that frankly weren't very good - they were stuck together, not particularly soft.  I assume the same as used in their drinks, and I'm glad I opted to skip the drinks.  The red bean was fairly standard too, mostly whole little beans, not mashed, quite savory.

And then we get to the fun stuff.  Hunks of taro, soft but not total mush.  Taro balls and sweet potato balls that were both fairly soft and pliable, both savory too. Again, all fairly standard for this style of dessert, not particularly remarkable, but not things I have all that often.

The base broth was very plain.  I expected it to be sweetened, but it didn't seem to be, besides from the brown sugar syrup like boba pearls come in, but mostly, it was just a dark low flavor soup.  The net result is that this actually ate really quite savory, very little sweetness.  I liked the different textures, and the adventure of eating it, but didn't find the actual taste all that compelling.  I added some of the (very!) sweet mango and coconut sago soups to it, and enjoyed it considerably more that way.  Is that just my American palate so used to very sweet desserts?

Anyway, fun, and loaded with mix-ins, but not something I'd get again.  3/5.