Dum Dum Doughnuts

Doughnuts have become more than the traditional version that is deep-fried and coated in sugar. At Dum Dum doughnuts theirs are baked. The doughnuts are a cross between a doughnut and crossaint.

There are variety of flavours to select. My favourite has to be The Zebra. This is layers of crossaint and chcocolate dough filled with chocolate buttercream, topped with chcocolate ganache.

What I like about the Zebra is the texture but also because it is not too sweet. It is so satisfying when you cut it in half to see the beautiful layers.

(Not Sponsored. Prices and Menu correct at the time of dining)

Dum Dum Doughnuts
Unit 31, Box Park
2-4 Bethnal Green Road
Shoreditch
London
E1 6GY
UK

http://dumdums.co.uk

Milk Train

Choo Choo…! Milk Train arrives in London with their soft serve ice cream. There are three flavours offered – vanilla, matcha (green tea) and hojicha (roasted green tea).

There has been a recent craze for matcha ice cream in London. It’s probably one of the flavour people would likely to choose if it’s not vanilla. But when you visit Milk Train, I would recommend their hojicha soft serve.

It has more flavour than their matcha flavour and definitely Milk Train signature flavour. If you are not too sure about the flavour of hojicha than have a swirl of half vanilla and half hojicha. The vanilla balance out the strong flavour of hojicha. It is definitely my favourite at Milk Train!

All ice cream can be served in a cone or a cup. There are a range of toppings that you can add to the ice cream and each one are 50 pence each. The most novelty topping has to be candy floss. A soft serve ice cream in a cone wrapped with candy floss bring fun to your ice cream.

The candy floss itself is not that sweet. I thought the ice cream cone was the sweetest and probably a touch too sweet.

The cafe is located in Covent Garden. It is small with a few tables for you to sit down and enjoy the dessert, no matter how simple or creative your ice cream.

Milk Train
44 Bedford Street,
WC2E 9HA,
London,
UK

https://www.facebook.com/milktraincafe

Kanada-Ya Green Tea Ice Cream

Kanada-Ya has not only captured people of London for their ramen but also their Matcha (Green Tea) soft serve ice cream, which is only served at their Haymarket branch.

Matcha (Green Tea) is their standard flavour, along with a second flavour that changes daily.  Black sesame was the other flavour on our visit which did not take our fancy, so we opted to just try the matcha flavour.

Kanada-Ya soft serve ice cream was not as creamy as other soft serve ice cream I have tried. It came across to me more watery which you could find it more of a refreshing  soft serve ice cream.

For my review of the ramen at Kanada-Ya click on the link on the following link: https://chechemui.wordpress.com/2015/12/07/kanada-ya-london/

(Not sponsored. Menu and prices correct at the time of dining)

Kanada-Ya (St Giles branch)
64 St Giles High Street,
WC2H 8LE,
London,
UK

Kanada-Ya (Haymarket branch)
3 Panton Street,
London,
SW1Y 4DL,
UK

https://www.kanada-ya.com

Mantovani 1946

Mantovani 1946 is a recently open gelato shop located on Tottenham Court Road. It is a two floors shop with seats available if you want to eat-in.

There is a selection of gelato flavours to choose and the few I sampled were full of flavour. You also have the options in having it served as a cone or cup. In a cup you get to choose the size as well.

I shared a large cup with gelato flavour pistachio and hazelnut. The gelato was creamy and smooth. However, I preferred the flavour of hazelnut over pistachio as in my view other places in London does better flavour pistachio.

However, you probably wouldn’t come here to try the basic flavours. Instead you will want to at least sample Mantovani signature gelato flavour, The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which was the  winner at the 2015 Gelato Festival in Italy. The flavour is made up of pistachio, orange zest, hazelnut and dark chocolate.

The signature flavour does not only comes in the form of gelato but also as a cake. I tried the Kingdom of two Sicilies cake (“Regno delle due Sicilie” cake) which is a mousse cake with a sponge base.

The surprise about the cake is when we got to the centre we found a flow of dark chocolate sauce. The cake is fairly sweet and goes well with a cup of coffee or tea to blanace the sweetness out.

(Not sponsored. Menu correct at the time of dining)

Mantovani 1946
187 Tottenham Court Raod,
London,
W1T 7PQ,
UK

http://www.mantovaniicecreamfranchise.com

Pan de Vie

Green tea fans will need to keep reading because a new bakery, Pan de Vie has opened in Covent Garden. You will find matcha (green tea) bread, matcha cakes and matcha cookies.

The bakery is spread over two floors with some bar seats upstairs that looks out to the narrow street of New Row. Downstairs is a small seating area for you to indulge in one of Pan de Vie beautiful cake.

It is green tea madness at Pan de Vie. There are a variety of green tea choices that you will be spoilt for choice. I found it difficult to choose one, especially for some one like me who wanted to have a bite of every thing on the counter.

The Matcha & Lychee Mousse cake was the one that attracted me the most at my first visit. It brings two popular Asian flavours, green tea and lychee together. The cake has different layers consisting of green tea mousse, green tea sponge and lychee jelly. The layering reminded me of Kueh Lapis (of course it is not exactly the same!) which is a type of layer cake found in Singapore and Indonesia.

For those with a sweet tooth, the Matcha tart has a sticky and sweet centre. Out of all the green tea pastry we tried this was the sweetest. I didn’t find it sweet with the first bite but after a few more bites the sweetness become more obvious.

I was impress with the Matcha muffin, as you can taste the flavour of green tea and that is what I call a proper green tea muffin! The muffin was soft and the sweetness was just right.

Matcha is usually considered with Japanese cuisines but Pan de Vie is opened by Hong Kong entrepreneurs, which bring Asian influenced. As well as matcha being a theme at the bakery, black sesame seem to be another theme flavour at Pan de Vie.

The Black sesame mousse cake was a dessert heaven which was soft, light and fluffy. It was not sweet at all and has a light subtle flavour of black sesame. Don’t let all the green tea take the limelight from this black sesame mousse cake. It has definitely won me over by that first bite.

The Matcha & Sesame Mousse Cake has a mixture of texture to it. A soft matcha mousse dome top, with a hard and crispy black sesame cracker base.

Although there is various matcha flavour cakes, Pan de Vie has a selection of other flavours if you have not yet warm to the flavour of green tea. I have not yet had the opportunity to try the other cakes, but they all look attractive.

I would not consider the cakes at Pan de Vie to be cheap to eat, as takeaway will cost £4.20 and eat in £5. But then Yauatcha’s cakes are just expensive for takeaway.

Pan de Vie also has a small selection flavour of macarons which look nicely baked. But I have not yet had the opportunity to try out the texture and flavour. However, with all the flavour available, I did not see green tea or black sesame.

Japanese cheesecake are also available and are served in mini size as well in 5inch. They come in original or green tea flavour.

I tried the original flavour Japanese cheesecake and although they were nice, the texture does not compare with many of the popular Japanese brands found in Asia.

In Hong Kong, there is a current high wave with Japanese cheesecake and Japanese cream cheese pie. I wonder if we might be able to see them available in London soon. Although London’s palette has widen, will there be a market for it the UK?

Being a bakery there has to be breads and Pan de Vie offer a range of different bread. Some green tea and a large variety of non-green tea. The different flavour of bread reminded me of the modern Hong Kong bakery which take influence from Japan.

Pan de Vie also serves cold and hot drinks including Matcha latte and my favourite Yuza tea. If you want the full green tea package then you can enjoy a Matcha cake with a Matcha latte. You will be feeling green by the end of it.

(This was not sponsored. Menu and prices are correct at the time of dining)

Pan de Vie
5 New Row,
Covent Garden,
London,
WC2N 4LH

http://www.pandevie.com