Spot Dessert Bar - KTown Adventures

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This past weekend, I went with the Big Red Marching Band to NYC for the football game against Columbia and Sy Katz' Parade, which included marching on 5th Avenue in celebration of Cornell's 150th birthday. Aside from the band stuff, our manager was generous enough to give us around 2 hours of free time after dinner to explore the city ourselves. Guess which rebellious sax end up going dessert-hunting with the clarinets? This hardcore foodie right here. 

Since we had limited time, we ran/walked-like-a-New Yorker to the closest opened dessert place - Spot Dessert Bar's branch in Korean Town. Located on the 2nd floor of a busy food court, the place was filled with people on a breezy Saturday night. 

Part of the Display 

 The cooler had a display of Asian-fusioned (would that be the appropriate word? Correct me if I'm wrong) desserts, including taro cake slices with a mini macaron shell on top, green tea éclairs, etc. Aside from the appealing displays, the Signature Dessert Tapas s are the must-trys. 

With a group of approximately 6 people, I had the chance to try (or watch other people try) 4 out of the 8 signature ones. Unfortunately some of them were not the first choice since the cashier said 4 out of the 8 signature tapas are unavailable, which also happened to be 4 of our top choices (Matcha Azuki, Banocoffee, etc...seriously). Maybe something they can try next time is to state the availability beforehand to avoid disappointment from their long-travelled costumers? Just a thought. 

The Signature: Green Tea Chocolate Lava Cake 

Foodie trips with a Food Science major almost always involves a fun "dissection" of the dish. Ethyn and I both thought the cake had a matcha-infused appearance but lacked majorly on the green tea flavour on the inside. Though beautifully plated, the dish is basically green tea ice cream and chocolate lava cake with minimal green tea taste. Though a little disappointed, this was the least sweet dish out of all the ones we've tried, a favourite dessert for those who can't tolerate over-sweetness, I guess. 

Matcha (Green Tea) Soufflé

It is this dish that made me realize the importance of a good matcha powder.

Before this recipe, I've made my matcha-infused baked goods with random brands I found on internet - not authentic for sure, but I bought it because it was cheap. 

As obvious as it sounds , but please don't be cheap when it comes to stuff like this! 

The powder I've used for this one is a $5.99 (50g) pack I bought from a Japanese supermarket in San Francisco during Christmas. The powder is from a family tea garden in the Kagoshima area, and the flavour can be tasted with just a little bit in amounts. (Back when I used the cheap matcha powders I use to think that lots of powder is needed for flavouring!)

Now enough blabbing....