Hello and welcome back to Five Things I Ate! This week, Little Treats restore my Will to Live. Read past posts here, and please follow my Instagram, @fivethingsiate.
Oolong milk tea with boba at Xing Fu Tan
133 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003
Boba is the quintessential Little Treat (sidenote: I need that plushie and my birthday is coming up 🥺). And as we know, any time I am in more than three conference calls in a day or I am forced to socialize with more than two people I immediately need to reward myself with a Little Treat to retain morale and my will to live. Thankfully, my friend was ready and waiting for a spontaneous boba run. Even though there’s about 500 boba places in the city, a lot of them are very bad. Xing Fun Tan is very good. This is the platonic ideal milk tea with boba for me, super creamy and refreshing but also with very strong tea flavor and chewy fresh boba they make right in front of you. You can’t even adjust the sweetness level on the milk tea which is bold. I won’t dare say it’s Not Too Sweet, but it is nicely very sweet. And of course getting boba with a friend includes the best Little Treat of all, which is quality time with a friend.
Hong Kong Style Milk Tea at FIFTYLAN Koreatown
875 6th Ave, New York, NY 10001
Ugh I am sad to say this was a Little Treat fail! There is nothing worse than a Little Treat that is not what you were hoping it was because then it becomes a Little Bad and actively makes your day worse. I had high hopes for this boba shop because it had good ratings but the Hong Kong Style Milk Tea was simply too sweet, even at 50% sugar 😞. It did taste strong but tbh I couldn’t even finish it. This was a disappointment. Maybe I’ll go back to try their regular milk tea flavor but probably not. Does anyone know if you can get authentic HK style milk tea anywhere in New York? Please let me know!
Matcha Kasutera at K. Minamoto
Locations, or you can order online.
This is where we unlock the elite tier of Little Treats: Fancy Little Treats. I wasn’t aware of the existence of K. Minamoto until I stumbled upon it at the mall, and now I will never be the same. Japanese culinary artists really are great at making Fancy Little Treats. I swear, I spent the whole time in the store with stars in my eyes. I guess technically this isn’t a Little Treat because it’s a whole damn cake, but each slice is a perfect portion for your daily allotment of Little Treat. I am always on the hunt for the perfect Not Too Sweet Asian sponge cake, and this one really delivers. I guess castella cake is a special type of sponge cake, apparently made with honey. This one is flavored with matcha and it is so fluffy and light it melts on the tongue. It’s one of my baking goals in life to be able to recreate cake like this, but seeing as I have yet to wash the dishes that have piled up in the sink, it’s way more enjoyable to buy it instead.
Matcha senbei at K. Minamoto
This one is a surprise hit Little Treat. Well, not so much of a surprise because it already has Fancy (✅) and matcha (✅) going for it, but it was unexpectedly shaped like a Ruffles (™) chip with very defined ridges! So I was a little skeptical of this as a sandwich cookie shape, but it turned out to be really good and innovative, because unlike a Ruffles chip, it didn’t shatter at the bite. So I ended up feeling like I ate multiple cookies in one due to the crunch factor. The flavor was also a 10/10, Not Too Sweet with just the right amount of cream filling.
Usagi san at K. Minamoto
Here's a very cute reference photo.
Of course, I had to save the best for last. If you have anything negative to say about usagi san, I 🚫 don’t 🚫 want 🚫 to 🚫 hear 🚫 it. This is a “Bunny-shaped cake filled with a lightly sweetened white bean paste and Yuzu citrus” and it is so cute I haven’t been able to bring myself to eat it. Does that defeat the purpose of a Little Treat? Not at all. My psychological needs are met.
Hope you give yourself a Little Treat,
Soph
P.S. Next week is my BIRTHDAY! I love birthdays normally but this year I am tired?? So I am taking the day off and trying to collect all the birthday freebies.. if you have a favorite place in NYC that gives out bday freebies please reply to this email!!!