Corner Bakery Cafe

Corner Bakery Cafe is a chain of fast casual "bakeries", the sort of place that you are pretty sure doesn't actually bake anything there (or, if they do, it is from frozen).  As a "Bakery Cafe", they serve breakfast dishes, sandwiches/soups/salads, and a handful of baked goods.  They don't serve things like, well, loaves of bread.  So like Panera, but, even less legit bakery.

Storefront.

 I've walked by the San Francisco location most weekends (yes, it is kinda on a corner).  I've never given it a second look.  I don't really do sandwiches/soups/salads, and, I doubted the baked goods would be very good.  But, when I was browsing around reading up on birthday freebies, I saw that they give a baked good for your birthday.  And, a bonus one for signing up for the birthday club in the first place.

I couldn't pass up the chance to try two free baked goods, even if I had no expectation of them being good.

Setting

Ordering Line.

Corner Bakery Cafe is a casual place, where you order at a register up front, near display cases filled with the baked goods.  Food is prepared in a kitchen out of sight, and brought out when ready.

I visited about 5 times before writing this review, first to scope it out, twice to successfully get my treats, and 2 other times to fail to get what I wanted as they were sold out.  It was never busy.  Every.  Yet the restaurant has a very long hallway in the middle where you are supposed to queue up.  If there was ever a queue.

Barista Station.

Espresso drinks come from a welcoming looking barista station, but one that lacks an actual quality espresso machine.   You still order all drinks at the main cashier however.

Coffee.

Self serve drip coffee and standard condiments make up a side bar.

Cold Drinks.

Opposite the coffee station is the cold drinks (soda, tea, lemonade), also self-serve, and the rest of the condiments are here as well.

Seating Area.

Seating is a mix of standard height tables for 4, and higher tables for 2.  Seat yourself.  I think they bus the tables, but, on all visits, again never busy, tables always had dirty dishes on them.

Bakery Sweets

The only part of the menu at Corner Bakery that I cared about was the baked goods.  Partially because I'm a baked goods lover, but also, because my freebies were only good for them.

Cookies. $2.19.

First up for baked goods is large size cookies, all of which looked crispy style and not very good, but then again, I don't like cookies.  They had a good selection though, chocolate chip, monster, oatmeal raisin, sugar, and even english toffee.

Cinnamon Creme Cake. $2.19.

The coffee cake, er, cinnamon creme cake, is available whole or by the slice. It did not look very moist, and certainly did not have enough streusel for me.

Hand Pies: Blueberry, Twisted Lemon. $2.79.

The hand pies looked like fancy Pop-Tarts to me, and looked decent, probably the best looking offering.  I was sad that both involved lemon though (the blueberry one was topped with lemon glaze), and the "Twisted Lemon" clearly involved lemon ... somewhere.

Again, only 1-2 of each item was set out.  Still, I tried one.

Blueberry Hand Pie with Lemon Glaze. $2.79. (2017)

The "Hand Pie" was actually substantially larger than Pop-Tarts, which I realized when it was handed over to me, and the pastry bag weighed far more than I was expecting.  "Oooph!", I though.  It was easily the size, and weight, of 3-4 Pop-Tarts.  The 520 calories (!), 31 grams of sugar, and 23 grams of fat suddenly made more sense (compared to compared to 200 calories, 16 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of fat in a frosted blueberry Pop-Tarts).

It was ... ok.  The pastry wasn't flaky though, it was kinda soft.  It wasn't layered.  Not really pie crust or what I expected.

The lemon glaze was substantial, very sweet, and lemon-y.

At room temperature, as served, the hand pie was just ok.  I brought my second half home and warmed it up in the toaster oven, pretending it was a Pop-Tarts after all, and that was much better.  It crisped up, and I liked the warm pastry.  Still, quality fresh pastry it was not.

Blueberry Hand Pie: Inside.

Here you can see a cross-section of the hand pie.

The filling is a blueberry compote, with little berries in it, and lots of goo.  It was very sweet.  It reminded me of the blueberry topping at IHOP - not a bad thing exactly, but not exactly high quality.

If I had my hand pie warm, with ice cream or whipped cream, the sweet filling would have worked.  But just with the pastry and also sweet glaze, it was too much sweet on sweet for me.  And I like sweets.  But more than two bites without something to cut it was too much.

Rugalach: Cinnamon Pecan and Apricot Walnut. $1.49.

Corner Bakery makes two varieties of rugalach, apricot walnut or cinnamon pecan.

These seem to be one of the most popular items, not only was there a pile of them in the display case, they are also the only item I read consistent good reviews for.

Even though I'm not a rugalach aficionado, it seemed like worth a try, even though the cheapest of all the baked goods, and thus, the lowest value for my freebie.

Cinnamon Pecan Rugalach. $1.49.

Given that I prefer pecans, and don't really care for apricot, it was an easy choice to go for the cinnamon pecan.

I did not like it.  On top was plenty of pearl sugar.  That was fine.  But the pastry itself was dried out and tasted stale.  The filling had a couple tiny bits of chopped pecan, and yes, some cinnamon, but barely any flavor, no moisture, and, ugh, currants (better than raisins, but expected, and not welcome).

I didn't even want a second bite of this two bite item.

Cinnamon Roll. $2.99.

Ok, I lied.  Actually, the best looking thing was the cinnamon rolls.  But they were not eligible for either the new member reward, nor the birthday reward.  The $2.99 price was $0.20 more than the others, so I guess that is why?

If I were actually *purchasing* an item, this is what I would have tried.

Fudge Brownie, Maple Pecan Bar.

The maple pecan bar did catch my eye, as I love pecan pie, but closer inspection revealed that it looked like mostly shortbread, not much gooey filling.  I still tried it.

I found it strange that on all visits they only ever had 1-2 of each bar item on display.  It made the case look empty, and made me wonder if they really sell that few?  Are they frozen in back and they just defrost a few when needed?

Maple Pecan Bar. $3.49. (May 2019)

I finally got the most expensive baked good from Corner Bakery Cafe: the pecan bar.

The size of the pecan bar was striking.  I like big desserts, but this ... too much for one person in one sitting.  Which is saying something for me.

Partially, it is also too much due to the sweetness.  Like a good pecan pie, this bar was all about the sweet content, here made more interesting than just corn syrup, with a touch of maple (although I can't say I really tasted maple).  Gooey, and very very sweet.  The base is just a shortbread style, but it was soft and supported the filling.  I prefer pies over bars, so I wished for pastry, but, the shortbread was fine.  On top, tons of crushed pecans, which leads to a different eating experience than a pecan pie which normally has a least halves of pecans.  It made it much less about the pecans, more about the overall sweet and the base.

Overall, it was better than the other items I tried at Corner Bakery, but not special enough to be worth seeking out.  I greatly preferred it in a smaller chunk, warmed with vanilla ice cream to cut the sweetness, or room temp dunked into whipped cream (again to cut the sweetness).

This is their most decadent item, clocking in at 690 calories.  It could easily be made 25% smaller and would be far more appropriately sized.

Lemon Bar, Cream Cheese Brownie. $2.79.

The other two bars were a lemon bar and cream cheese brownie, again, very sparsely populated.  Again, not very good looking.

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SweetHoney Dessert, Cupertino

I've never been to Hong Kong*.  I certainly was not exposed to Hong Kong style desserts growing up.  But I've become rather fascinated by them as an adult, mostly as I've discovered how much I really love ingredients like taro, durian, coconut milk, toddy palm, pandan, and so on.  And, because I just love desserts, and love trying new things.

I was recently staying in the Cupertino area, and was hosting a series of dessert outings with co-workers.  I wanted to share interesting things with them, and started with Somi Somi for taiyaki cones and exposed them to the joys of ube soft serve (zomg, yes).  I tried to get them to try items from 85* Bakery Cafe that same night, but alas, while I have an infinite dessert stomach, it turns out, they did not.  So two days later, I dragged them back to the same area of Cupertino, to seek out more interesting, unique desserts at SweetHoney.  Or at least, interesting to me.  Only two others decided to join.

*besides the airport

Setting

SweetHoney Dessert is a chain, but our visit was the to the Cupertino location.

Curb Appeal?

Our destination was located in one of the strip malls that they call a "Village".  It was right next to an even trendier liquid nitrogen ice cream shop, which I nearly took people to instead.

SweetHoney is a chain, with 600+ stores, mostly in China, Southeast Asia and Australia.  It is casual, but does have full table service.

Menu.

The most memorable thing about the place, is ... the menu.  I had looked it up online before of course, when I was doing my research, and I warned my guests it would be overwhelming, but ... I think no real warning prepares you for the book, literally, that is the menu.

Pages, and pages, and pages of desserts, broken down by categories, all nicely illustrated, which helped since many items were unfamiliar to the group.

But even with the warning, and even with the illustrations, somewhere around page 15, they just gave up, and told me to order.  I didn't object to having the choice to order everything I wanted to try (or, ok, a small selection of things I wanted to try, with a menu this large, you could return many, many times, and barely make a dent).

Seating.

Seating is all inside, in a fairly non-interesting setting.  It was clean, it was comfortable, but had very little personality.

Food

Service was fast and friendly, and we were given complimentary tea as we sat down.

Desserts for 3 People. Yes, Really.

My group was only 3 people.  I knew each dessert could easily serve 1-2 people.  It would have made sense to order 2, or maybe 3, items.  And yet ... I ordered 5.

What can I say, I'm a dessert girl, and even narrowing it down this much was extremely hard.
We skipped the "Sweet Ball" series, featuring freshly made glutinous rice balls, not because we didn't want any, but because we had only 3 people, and ordering 5(!) desserts for 3 of us was already ridiculous.  Same with the "Tofu Pudding' series, again, I'd gladly try these, but alas, we had to limit our selections.  And same with the "Chinese Style Mixed", which had a slew of items I've never had before, but would love to try (walnut, almond, sesame soups!).  We also skipped the more boring drinks, and fruit platter sections.

But we ordered something from every other section of the menu: a sago, a frost, a stew, and of course, multiple items with durian.  We had two warm dishes, a chilled dish, and icy dish, and a room temperature dish.  Lots of variety.  And yet we still covered only a fraction of the menu!

It was fun to try this variety of items, but I don't think we were particularly impressed with anything.

Bowls & Spoons.

After we finally ordered, we were quickly brought little bowls and individual spoons, since we were sharing everything.

Our desserts started arriving 2 minutes later, really considerably faster than I expected.  I didn't even have time to settle in or use the bathroom!

Stewed Series: BLUEBERRY DUN LAI. $5.95.

From the "Stewed" section, we went for dun lai, skipping over the more adventurous swallow nest and stewed hashima or snow fungus items.

Dun Lai is a new item for me, and I selected this after reading reviews where people describe it as like crème brûlée, something I obviously love, but, lighter, fluffier.  It sounded fascinating, and, I do love puddings in general.

We had the choice of almond, red bean, or blueberry for this, and I opted for blueberry, mostly because the fruit sounded like a good compliment with custard.

I ... didn't like it.  At all.  I was surprised when it arrived warm, not a bad thing, just, not what I was expecting.  That wasn't the problem though.

It had a film on top, which actually I liked for giving it a bit of texture, but was rather off-putting at first.  Still not really the problem.  It was lighter, fluffier than a crème brûlée I guess ... but it was also very eggy, and reminded me more of a quiche than anything else.  And that was my issue.  I don't like eggy desserts, I don't like quiche.  And this ... just strange lighter, slightly sweet quiche.  Not my thing at all.

The blueberry on top was some stewed goo, not offensive, but it didn't add anything.

One diner liked it because it wasn't too sweet, and he appreciated a not sweet dessert, but I kinda hated this, and tried several bites, trying to like it, but alas, definitely not for me.  My least favorite.

Snow Frost: DURIAN & THAI BLACK GLUTINOUS RICE. $7.25.

I knew that I wanted durian items, and I knew that I wanted to try a frost item, and I do love black glutinous rice, so, I decided to combine those 3 wishes into one dish, and opted for this.  Frosts come in *many* other forms, and durian shows up in a slew of items, so I certainly had many options, but this seemed like a great way to cross off 3 of my wishes at once.

It was a mixed success.

First, the frost.  I really, really loved the frost.  It was a fascinating icy substance, sorta like ice cream, sorta like shaved ice, but, somewhere in-between, if that makes sense.  Creamier than shaved ice, frostier than ice cream.  It was sweet vanilla flavored, slightly coconut-y, and melted into a really delicious cream.  I could gladly just eat a bowl of that frost.  I now see why so much of the menu centers around it, and I think some of the other creations that use it would be fabulous.  The frost was hands down my favorite thing we tried.

Now, for the rest of the dish.

The black glutinous rice wasn't very good.  I love sticky rice, and prefer black sticky rice.  But this ... was just flat.  It wasn't that it was mushy, nor was it over cooked, or anything particularly strikingly bad, but, it was just very blah.  I think likely not very fresh, and, not very glutinous, really.  Even mixing it with lots of frost didn't lift it up in any way.

Then, the durian.  A very generous big scoop of durian.  It had funk, it smelt bad, it was stringy and strange.  It was, well, durian.  The others were not fans.  And to be honest ... I didn't love it in this dish either.  I think durian goes great in a shake (like I had from Bambu, in nearby Sunnyvale), and I liked it in the other dish we got with durian, but here ... it just didn't go great with the frost, and the rice was so blah it didn't work with that either.

So a very mixed bag.  Two pretty blah components, but also, my favorite component of the day.  The presentation with the scoops of rice and durian was nice, and I'd gladly try another type of frost, maybe with mango or toddy palm?

Sago Series: MANGO POMELO SAGO GRASS JELLY (Add Toddy Palm). $6.25.

This one came from the intersection of the "Sago Series" and the "Grass Jelly" series, a slightly cold dish, more like room temperature, really.

The sago series is the most extensive section of the menu, which is saying something, given just how many dishes are on this menu.  There are ... so, so, so many options for sago, starting with a slew of simple fruit forms (mango sago, watermelon sago, papaya sago, toddy palm sago, etc, etc), or basic soup forms (sesame soup & sago, walnut soup & sago, almond soup & sago, etc, etc), and then from there, the options just explode.  Same with the grass jelly series, so, so many options.

One of the most popular dishes on the menu is the mango pomelo sago, which we almost got, and then I saw the version that also had grass jelly, and opted for that, so we could try not only the signature mango pomelo sago, but also add in the fun of grass jelly.  And ... I added toddy palm, because I wanted toddy palm in something, but was trying to limit to 5 desserts (which was still too many for 3 of us!), so instead of adding a 6th item just to get toddy palm, I added it here.

This ... wasn't quite what I expected either. 

To start, I expected it to be more sago forward.  There wasn't much sago here at all.  We all remarked on this fact.  The sago that was there was fine, well cooked, soft, not stuck together, small balls, but, you had to fish for it.

We also expected, and wanted, more mango.  We only found a few small cubes.  The mango that was there was quite good, soft, sweet, perfectly ripe.  But we wanted more.

I didn't mind that there was just a little bit of pomelo, providing a hint of acid, and not much more.  I'm not a big fan of citrus, so this was fine with me.

The grass jelly was fairly standard, not much to say about that, except that, unlike everything else, there was tons of it.

The toddy palm I added in was also fairly standard, and I enjoyed the texture the pieces added, plus, they were quite fun to fish out, given the larger size.

 And finally, the broth in which we were fishing.  This is I think where I was not excited.  It felt very plain to me.  I thought it would taste like mango, or coconut (was it coconut milk based?), but it was just ... kinda there.  It was orange, and it was slightly milky, but it didn't have much going on.

This dish was the sweetest one we had, but it still wasn't overly sweet at all, which again, one diner liked.

The other two ranked this dish in their top two, but for me it was pretty meh - every component was fine, and it was fun to fish things out, but I grew sick of it after a few bites, and didn't find myself really caring to go back for another bite.  4th pick and I wouldn't get it again.  Next time, I'd try the tofu pudding or one of the asian soups.

That said, I took the leftovers, and mixed it with the leftovers from the durian and black sticky rice frost, and really, really loved it the next day.  The flavors all combined together nicely, and the rice soaked in the pudding base was considerably more interesting than the original form.  The mango and durian even complimented each other nicely.

BAKED MASH TARO SAGO PUDDING. $5.95.

We had a one minute (literally) break, before more items arrived.

From the "Baked" series, I did consider the baked mashed durian sago pudding, but I knew my dining companions were not excited about more durian, and I did actually want a taro dish myself, so, this was a pretty easy pick.  I also knew this wasn't going to be a pudding in the sense that my companions may have thought it would be, as in, not jelly-like.

It arrived very hot, and took some time to cool down so we could eat it.  This was fine, as we had a pile of other items to keep digging into.

Baked Mash Taro Sago Pudding: Side Profile.

The top layer was a warm custard, thicker and more cake-like than a crème brûlée, with a lovely golden top.  The texture and consistency was good, and it wasn't too eggy for me, but it certainly did head in that direction.  Not the most exciting component, but it is what lay beneath it that I cared about: the taro!

Yup, just a bunch of warm, mashed sweet taro under the custard-cake top, with a tiny bit of sago in there too.  I love taro, so this was quite pleasing, but I can't say it was particularly special.

We all liked this dish.  My third pick overall, and I gladly saved the extra for breakfast the next morning (its ... totally breakfast food, right?)

Durian Special: DURIAN PANCAKE (2PCS). $7.45.

And then, at last minute when ordering, I threw on another durian item.  I knew we had too many desserts already, but ... I really wanted just one more durian dish (it didn't matter that one of the other guests said he wasn't having any of the durian dishes, and the other had never had durian).

From the "Durian Special" lineup, I could have opted for durian pudding, or durian mochi, both of which sounded good, but, the durian pancake I knew was likely right up my alley.  They also make this in a mango form.

I knew exactly what to expect with this one.  Not a pancake in the fluffy breakfast carb sense.  No, this was more like a thin crepe, wrapping a mound of whipped cream, with fresh durian inside.  Oh yes.  In my head, I was thinking it would be like the glorious durian (or mango) cheese buns I had in Toronto of all places, from an Austrian bakery, Guschlbauer (seriously, go there!).  And it was, actually, quite similar in some ways.

This item came last, significantly after our other items, and at first, I thought they had forgotten it.  It was clear it was freshly assembled, and came cold, chilled.  The dish came with three small forks, and a knife, so we could cut them up.

Durian Pancake: Inside.

Here you can see inside the pancake.

Yes, nothing fancy here, just thick whipped cream and durian.  The cream was thicker than your standard whipped cream, sweet, and a wonderful texture.  I do love whipped cream.

The cream went sooo well with the durian, complimenting the funk perfectly, balancing it out.  The durian was the same fresh durian we had in the other dish, just, better balanced out here.  And yes, there was plenty of durian, they certainly did not skimp on the durian.

The pancake wrapper was green (pandan? food coloring?), but didn't have a particular flavor.  It was  a good texture, not gummy, not chewy, pliable but not wimpy, it served it purpose of wrapping the fillings well, but not letting them fall out too easily.

I really enjoyed this item, my favorite overall dish, and second favorite bite (to the frost).  The others said they would have loved it with anything but durian inside, and I'm positive they would have loved the mango version.  Oops.  The plus side?  I got to take the extra whole one home!

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Turn Dough - Chimney Cakes, Donut Ice Cream Cones, Venice

Turn Dough, in Venice, CA, taught me that sometimes it is ok to just walk down the street, take a gamble, and get a great reward.

I had a fabulous dessert, featuring one of my top passions (soft serve ice cream), served in a unique (and delicious!) way, without ... research and planning ahead.  And yes, this was novel to me.

But let me back up.

Captivating Sign.

I'll admit it.  I was walking down the boardwalk, and I was drawn in by the sign.  Not drawn in by the prominent word on the sign "milkshakes", but, by the images of the crazy cone creations.

I rarely wind up somewhere on a whim, without pre-meditated decision and thorough research, but ... it happened here, at Turn Dough ... the home of chimney cones, filled with soft serve ice cream, drizzled and topped with elaborate things.  Yes, these had Instagram written all over them, which, is often not a good sign for actual taste.  And why would I expect a random place in the long line up of shops serving ice cream stuffed into baked goods to be good?  Seriously, donut ice cream sandwiches and soft serve with churros sticking out were both on the same block, and nearly every third shop had some kind of ice cream ...

I dunno.  I was drawn in, what can I say?  A quick Yelp search showed four stars, so, at least no immediate red flags.

Storefront.

Perhaps a red flag would be that no one, literally no one, else was there.  No one else even seemed to look over, and the area was quite busy, 1:45pm on a sunny Friday.

The storefront is along the boardwalk, with menu boards showing their signature chimney cake ice cream creations (most, with pictures!), along with options to build your own, plus the beverage line up.

You order at one end, and it comes out at the other.

There were a few standing tables as well.   I had the place to myself, which was actually quite nice.

The signature creation lineup did look pretty amazing, full of really fun components, but nearly every one had just one element to it that I wasn't excited for, so I choose to build my own (although I really did almost get the signature tiramisu one, which came with amaretto mascarpone inside, plus nutella dipped lady fingers as garnish, and espresso and cocoa powders sprinkled over it!).

The build-your-own system is listed out, step by step:

Step 1: Spreads. Your choice of nutella, dulce de leche, crunchy peanut butter, or cookie butter (+$1).  I didn't know it at the time, but, these get slathered *inside* the chimney cake.

Step 2, the base ice cream, vanilla bean or vegan coconut (+$1).  They used to have chocolate, but, the market demanded a non-dairy option.

After that, toppings: walnuts, almonds, graham cracker crumble, rainbow sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, gummy bears, cap'n crunch, or fruity pebbles.

And finally, sauces: chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, sea salt caramel sauce, raspberry sauce, mint chocolate sauce, white chocolate sauce.

All are $8.90, for signature creations or create-your-own, and come in a chimney cake.  There is no option to just get a cup or regular cone of ice cream, no option to get no toppings, no alternate sizes.  I did find the inability to just get ice cream a bit odd, but I guess there are so many other places to go if you just want simple ice cream?  Nor could you just get a chimney cake, slathered with a spread (although I guess you could say "hold the ice cream"?)

Extras of nutella shell or fresh fruit are listed on the menu for additional $1, but I also found out that any signature components of other creations (e.g. matcha kit kats, matcha pandas, toasted marshmallows, Toffifays, Oreos, Ferrero Rocher, brownies, nutella dipped ladyfingers, lemon curd, etc, etc) are also available to add on for $1.

Wipes?

Once you order, you are given a number (which, was amusing, given that I was the only one in sight), and, two wet wipes.  "You'll need these", the server said with a smile, and, well, she was very, very right.

I needed more than two, and I certainly needed more than two napkins, which she provided alongside my treat.  Protip: GET EXTRA.

Custom Creation: Cookie Butter / Sliced Almonds / Mint Chocolate Sauce / White Chocolate Sauce / Raffaello. $8.90 + $1 + $1.

For my creation, I decided to create my own, inspired randomly by the Coconut Raffaello.  For some reason, I decided I really wanted a raffaello, and this seemed like a great time to get one.  The raffaello version normally comes with no spread nor sauce, and is covered with coconut and sliced almonds (plus the rafaello as garnish), but I wanted spread and sauce, and didn't want coconut, so, I say "inspired by", as, really, the only things I kept were the nuts and rafaello.  It came with two chocolates, one perched on either side.

For my spread, I went for cookie butter.  I almost got the dulce de leche, but decided last minute to go for cookie butter, as I wasn't sure the dulce de leche would go well with my sauces, and I knew I wanted those.  I kinda wanted all of sauces, honestly, but I also knew they wouldn't combine great, so I went with my first choice (mint chocolate!) and added the white chocolate as it seemed like it would compliment it better than the salted caramel that I also wanted.  My ice cream choice was the vanilla, I had no interest in trying the vegan coconut one.  I kept the sliced almonds from the raffaello signature one, as I had my own sprinkles with me, and nothing else appealed.  And of course, added on the raffaello.

It was quickly assembled and handed over, and I was a bit surprised to see that while it was a cone, the cone was in a cup, which turned out to be extremely practical, and this wouldn't have worked at all without it.  It also came with a tiny wooden spork, that I hated ... I know plastics are not good for environment, but, the mouthfeel of the wooden thing was not pleasant, and it was too tiny to get a real good bite of ice cream, but, again, while I thought this was going to be a lickable cone creation, it, wasn't.

So, starting with the ice cream.  It was very good soft serve, above average, creamy, and, it reminded me a lot of Japanese soft serve, very, very milk forward, not a classic American style vanilla bean.  I really liked it, and it was quite refreshing (an odd word choice, I know, but really, it was!), particularly when combined with the chimney cone (more on that soon!).  It melted quite nicely, which, matters to me.

My sauces were fine, pretty average mint chocolate sauce and white chocolate sauce, thin style, drizzled over it, not particularly good nor bad, likely just purchased.  The sauces did add some flavor, but I suspect simple salted caramel would have been a nicer choice.  The sliced almonds added crunch, and I'm glad I had them for texture.  I added my own sprinkles too.  I plucked the raffaello off and ate them at the end, a delightful, creamy, sweet post-treat treat.

Honestly, I would have been pretty happy with just this soft serve, in a normal cone, with these (or other), toppings.  But, there was much more to it.

My creation wound up pretty expensive, $10.90, since I had two upgrades, and just the base is usually $8.90.  I can't say it was necessarily worth $10.90, but, it really was an excellent creation, and I'd get another.

Cookie Butter & Chimney Cone.

So, the chimney cake.  This was another dessert itself!  And, I'll admit ... this was my first time ever having a chimney cake, although I've seen them before (never stuffed with ice cream though).

If you aren't familiar, these are an Eastern European pastry, known by many names in their respective countries of origin, made by wrapping dough around a dowel, buttering it, and dipping in something (traditionally cinnamon sugar), and then baking, and then re-dipping in cinnamon sugar.  They come out crispy and slightly caramelized on the outside, yet soft and fluffy inside, and the dough has a croissant-like buttery flaky quality to it.  Many places I've seen them before make them to order, but Turn Dough did not, although it did seem quite fresh.

This thing was delicious.  Like a hybrid churro croissant donut ... sorta.  A bit hard to describe, but, crispy and soft, fluffy and flaky, sweet and buttery ... just all at once.  I also liked the experience of eating it, just ripping a little off, as it pulled off the cylinder shape, was really quite fun.  Of course, this is also why one requires the wet wipes ... my fingers quickly got quite sticky with cinnamon sugar and melty ice cream, but I kinda didn't care.

The spread you pick comes as a lining inside the cone, and mine was very generously slathered in cookie butter.  The cookie butter was quite tasty, but, I found that it did somewhat over power my experience - there was quite a bit of it, and it was very rich, thus taking over many bites entirely.  It needed the ice cream to temper it.  In the future, I'd pick a different spread, most likely the dulce de leche.

Much like the ice cream, I actually would have been pretty pleased with just the fresh chimney cake on its own, no ice cream, spreads, or toppings required.  But the combination of the refreshing, cool, creamy ice cream and the flaky pastry really was fabulous.  I liked to alternate bites too, ripping off a chunk of cone, and then taking a spoonful of ice cream.  So very good.

Melty Mess.

As I neared the end of my cone, I quickly realized why it came in a cup and not just a cone, as the ice cream had melted out all over the place.  I can only imagine how much more messy I'd be without the cup.  The chimney cake doesn't really form a full structural cone.

One thing I liked is how the eating experience changed as you progressed through it - first, it started as mostly just an ice cream sundae, spoonfuls of ice cream with toppings, then you get into ripping off some cone, and then near the end the ice cream had really soaked into the cone, which was totally different too.  And at the very end?  Of course I just drank up all the melty ice cream in the cup.

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Bubble Nini Tea, Sydney

Update Review, October 2019, Darling Square Location

Darling Square seems to have just sprung up since my last visit to Sydney.  

Sure, there were signs that this area was about to turn into a destination for the past year, but it was during my trip in October that I found myself in the area nearly every day, because I kept seeking it out.  Well done, city planners.  The selection is well curated.

I was quite pleased to find that Bubble Nini Tea had opened a shop in the Maker's Dozen inside The Exchange, just a 15 minute walk from my hotel, and quasi on the way home from my office.  I loved my experience at the Chippendale location, but, that was a bit far away for a random night.

Flowers!

The space inside The Exchange that Bubble Nini occupies is tiny, like all of the storefronts.  No dedicated seating, and no real sense of "space", but Bubble Nini did their best to incorporate the elements of the other shop here, notably, the flowers.  Right at the entrance is a beautiful display.

Ordering Area.

And then, this is the rest of the space.  Seriously, tiny.

This is the ordering station: just a little table, with menus on it, and a tablet set up.  A staff member wandered out to take orders when people showed up.

October 2019 Menu.

The menu has been updated to follow the latest trends, notably with a new "Pink Salt Cheese Milk Foam" series and some new additions to the Blended range featuring yogurt.  It was the yogurt drinks I zoomed in on, 3 options, two which sounded just like fruity smoothies (berry or mango/passionfruit), and the final, what I was there for: purple rice.   Yup, even Bubble Nini got into the cheese foam and yogurt rice drink crazes.

I was very curious to see how they'd do it.

Purple Rice Blended with Yogurt ($7.50)
+ Taro Pearls + Pink Salt Cheese Milk Foam. (+ $1 each).

"Purple Rice + Honey + Fresh Yogurt"

There was only one drink with rice, and interestingly, in a menu full of cute named products, it was also one of only a few with normal, descriptive names.  "Purple rice blended with yogurt".  Of course, I wanted more than just rice and yogurt, and I decided to really mix it up, instead of adding fresh taro, as I had at Koomi and The Moment (reviews coming soon!), I added taro pearls, because Bubble Nini is known for the fresh, handmade, flavored pearls.  Quality pearls, and unique flavor, so even though I've been anti-pearls lately, I wanted to give them a try.

I also asked for the foam, and, much like at The Moment, was met with a bit of "uh ....", notably, concern over it not fitting, unless I got a large.  So, a large it was. 

My drink took a few minutes, and was handed over.  It came in a standard milk tea tall plastic cup, no cute bottle like The Moment or Bengong Black.  Slightly disappointing to not add to my bottle collection, but I cared about the taste more than anything.

I'll start at the top: the pink salt cheese milk foam.  The foam was *excellent*.  It was salty, it was savory, the first to really taste like cheese actually.  It was fluffy yet dense.  The best foam I had in Sydney.  I'm very glad I added it.

The body of the drink was quite different from the others I had throughout the week, in that it was much better blended.  I guess, it *was* called "rice blended with yogurt", and it lived up to that name.  Much of the purple rice was pulverized and mixed in, which resulted in tiny bits of texture, but not the chew that I had come to love in the other drinks.  There was some near the bottom, but mostly, it was blended, more smoothie-like, just, a rice smoothie.

The yogurt was a runnier style, more like classic yogurt, and everything was sweetened with honey, which added a pleasant, not fake, sweetness, but a sweetness nonetheless.  I wasn't really wanting something so sweet, and wished I had asked to have that reduced.

It also seemed to be blended with something frozen.  Maybe the rice was frozen, like in a smoothie prep?  Or there was ice, but it didn't seem watered down.  It was definitely far colder, and ice-y like, which was really different from the others.

Really, this was a purple rice smoothie, whereas the others were sticky rice with creamy thick yogurt on top.  Just, a different thing really.  I wouldn't get this again, but I can't fault Bubble Nini for it, this is just not my style of drink.

I'll go back to their quality taro drink though, and add foam to that ...

Taro Boba.

On the bottom of the cup was the taro boba.  I didn't taste taro, and yes, the pearls were soft, not stuck together, and likely a nice quality, I didn't like them.  They were a pretty purple color.  I guess I really just am over boba entirely.  Sadly, it was hard to avoid them, since I wanted the rice chunks too. I wish I hadn't added these.

Original Review, March 2019, Chippendale location

Bubble Nini Tea is ... a bubble tea shop.  And a flower shop.  A combination bubble tea flower shop.  For realz.

This is the kind of thing made for Instagram, but, it turns out, also makes quality beverages.  Let me introduce you to Bubble Nini Tea, in Chippendale, in Sydney.  Perhaps the highest quality bubble tea I've ever had.

A Delightful Experience.

My experience at Bubble Nini Tea was delightful, all around.  And I use that word intentionally.  It wasn't just a good beverage, but, the feeling I had both being there, in the lovely flower shop, and once I left, from consuming quality goods, was ... well, delight.

I learned that this is what milk tea made without crap can be like.  It can be ... fresh tasting.  Not unhealthy.  Sydney has a slew of bubble tea shops, ranging from chains with non-dairy creamer and powders and hard boba and too sweet jellies, to places that pride themselves on the quality of the tea, steeping it in small batches, to those that distinguish themselves by innovating on the toppings/additions (cheese foam is now fairly standard, but some places offer ... flavored cheese foam! Or, bruleed tops!  And more recently, purple rice or yogurt bases).

But how many use fresh milk?  That cuts the selection down quickly.  Real taro, rather than powder.  Now the pickings are slim.  And, handmade pearls, in a variety of flavors?

Pretty sure Bubble Nini Tea is the only one that meets this profile.

Setting

Bubble Nini Tea is located a block off of Central Park, in the new development near the uni in Chippendale. 

Storefront.

From the sidewalk, there isn't much to see, just a fairly standard storefront, no outside seating even.

Ordering Counter.

Once you step inside, it still doesn't look like much, at first glance.  An ordering counter with laminated menus sitting on it, and some flowers.  A small work area is behind the counter.

Its a small place, with a homey feels.

Seating.

But the moment you breath in, you realize you aren't in a normal small bubble tea shop.  You are also .. in a flower shop.  The aroma is strong.

There is very little seating, just a counter along the one window, with stools.  I think it could seat 4-5 people total.  And, as I said, no outdoor seating.  Not really a place to stick around, which is fine, as the park is just a block away.

Flowers.

The other half of the interior is filled with the flower arrangements.  Actually, this  may have been more than half the total floor space.  It seemed like a bit of an odd setup, really.

But it made for a very tranquil, nice smelling, experience.

Drinks

Bubble Nini Tea offers only drinks, no snacks or munchies.

Menu.

The menu is broken down into 5 categories: Bubble Nini Hand Made Pearls, Pure Tea, Fresh Fruit Infused, Blended Range, and Ice Cream Floats.  Each category had fewer and fewer options.

Each drink had a cute name ("It takes two to mango" might have been my favorite), and was designed with additions and bases.  It didn't seem like modifications were really a thing, no, pick your tea, pick your add ins, look at our huge list of toppings.

The menu had a few things that made me laugh though, besides the names.

At the bottom, the featured "Instagram Favourites".  Not the ones that taste the best, or they recommend, but, the Instagram sensations.  This did worry me slightly.

The guide at the bottom also designated which were H (Hot), which were C (Cold), and which were Crown (Popular).  Ok, fine, except that ... the only ones that had a crown were the first section "Bubble Nini Hand Made Pearls", and ... every single one in that section had a crown.  Does this mean the only popular drinks are the first section, so don't bother reading the rest of the menu?  And what about the fact that one of the featured Instagram Favourites came from another section, thus, no crown?  Its a fav, but not popular?

Anyway, my selection was easy, only one featured taro, both fresh taro AND hand made taro pearls, and that is certainly what I was going for, their take on a taro milk.  If I wanted something lighter, or more refreshing, one of the sparkling options with jellies, or the very Instagram worthy "Honey, I'm Home" with chia seeds and alvo vera and mint suspended in a beautiful butterfly pea flower tea would have been my picks.

Requisite Flower Shot.

Before I left the shop, I of course felt compelled to take my photo of the fairly beautiful beverage, in front of a wall of flowers.  I wasn't going to but ... I mean, really.

I still wasn't expecting much from the bubble tea, very worried that people were just into the Instagram nature of the shop.

And then I took a sip.

Well huh.  It was good.  Very good.  And, so very different.

A Taro-bly Bad Name. Medium. $6.50. +Coconut Jellies $0.50.

"Fresh Taro + Full Cream Milk + Taro Pearls."

-Taro Pearls, +Sakura Pearls, +Coconut Jellies.

As I mentioned, Bubble Nini Tea does not use taro powder, so it wasn't the purple color you find elsewhere.  The real taro paste, smeared along the edges, even looked slightly unattractive, ugly brown mush, right?

But I didn't care how it looked.  I wanted to taste taro.  And I did.  The taro paste was quite strong, and I loved the earthy nature.  Since there is not added sweetners and junk, it wasn't too sweet at all.  I truly got to enjoy the taro taste.

The milk, quality Australian full cream milk (which, I swear, tastes sooo much better than American milk, just like the eggs ...), was rich and a nice creamy backdrop.  

There is no ice added, which meant it was not as cold as I actually would have preferred, as it was 90 degrees out, and I was looking for a cold beverage.  But it also means it didn't get watered down.

They were out of taro pearls, which come standard, so I asked for sakura pearls instead.  The pearls were unlike any others I've ever had.  I thought I didn't really like pearls, and have been opting for jellies and puddings instead elsewhere, but these proved that fresh made pearls can be amazing.  They were soft, pliable, and had a lovely floral flavor.  I also had a stray mango pearl in my cup (bonus! I almost picked mango!), and it too was an amazing texture.

I also added coconut jellies, because I was worried I'd not like the pearls per usual and want some texture.  I'm still glad I added them, as they gave another thing to slurp up and enjoy.  Unlike most places, they didn't seem totally soaked in sweet, and complimented the drink, rather than making it too sweet.

The most amazing part of this drink, besides finally getting to taste real taro, and finally enjoying pearls, is that it didn't leave me feeling gross.  So often I gulp down a bubble tea and then ... feel the effects of all the powders, high sugar content, the non-dairy powdered milk.  This just left me feeling satisfied and good.  A wondrous thing!

I really enjoyed this, perhaps more than any other taro milk in my life, and I'd gladly get another (and, would love to try some other options too ...)

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