Asian Sweets

After viewing the brief dessert menu at your favorite Asian restaurant, you might think that Asian people just don’t have a sweet tooth. Don’t be fooled! Visit any Chinatown bakery, and you’ll find enough tarts, cakes, candies, pastries, and sweet paste-filled buns to put your dentist’s six kids through college. The difference is that most Asians prefer leaving the tour de force desserts for snack time or special occasions … not after a full meal, but when they’re really hungry for them.

"According to Asian Cuisine’s balancing principles, it’s best to enjoy light, mildly sweet desserts after a satisfying meal. A simple bowl of chilled seasonal fruits, like lychees or fresh tropical fruits, make refreshing finales. Dessert soups, based on tapioca pearls or sweetened nut pastes, often flavored with coconut milk, are served either chilled or warm.
But if you crave a more decadent treat, visit a dim sum teahouse with friends. There you can indulge yourselves, and sample a wide selection of delicious Asian sweets, including bakery specialties, tarts, sweet rice puddings and jiggly almond, coconut, or fruit jellies."

Appetizers
Coconut Flan
Five-Spice Pineapple Banana Split

Soup
Sweetened Tapioca with Coconut Cream

Entrees
Asian Pear Crumble
Fried Lychee Bars

Dessert
Fortune Cookies

Tapioca

Chinese Five-Spice Powder

Chinese Wire Strainer