UPDATED OCTOBER 2017
Now that summer (and its best friend, humidity) is officially here, I’m all about these Asian desserts – shaved snows, mochi ice cream, bubble teas – for cold comfort. As much as I would like to book a ticket to Taiwan, Korean, Malaysia, or the Philippines this weekend for shaved ice, this spots will have to do.
SEE ALSO: 10 Must-Try Frozen Treats To Try This Summer in Austin
Here’s a look at the 19 Asian desserts you need to indulge in this summer. Dessert crawl, anyone?
Table of Contents
HALO HALO
Be More Pacific just transitioned from food truck to brick and mortar in North Austin. I’m warning you their Halo Halo is ginormous with Amy’s Ice Cream ube ice cream, shaved ice, fruit, jellies, flan, and evaporated milk.
Be More Pacific, 7858 Shoal Creek Blvd Ste. C, Austin, TX, bemorepacifickitchenandbar.com
LIGHTBULB BUBBLE TEA
Here’s a genius idea: lightbulb bubble tea.
Mango 8, 705 W 24th St Ste.A, Austin, TX 78705
EGG CREAM BUNS
I grew up eating egg cream buns when I was little and the ones at Bao’d Up taste just as authentic. The egg cream is sweet and creamy inside a soft, pillow homemade bun.
Bao’d Up, 1911 Aldrich St, Austin, TX 78723, baodup.com
SEE ALSO: Get Ready To Stuff Your Face With All The Steamed Buns At Bao’d Up
JAPANESE MOCHI ICE CREAM
Every time I go to Whole Foods, I always grab one or two mochi ice creams. Pick from green tea, mango, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and sesame (my fav).
Whole Foods, North Lamar + Domain locations
BEST BUBBLE MILK TEA IN AUSTIN
There are a couple of bubble tea shops in Austin (I’ve tried them all) and the best one IMO is Kung Fu Tea. The oolong with half sugar is my go-to order and it’s always perfect 👌🏻.
801 W 24th St + 9070 Research Blvd #102, kungfutea.com
MANGO SHAVED ICE
Snow Monster features several different snow snow flavors like green tea, strawberry, passion fruit, taro and mango with your choice of toppings (fresh fruit, jellies, boba, egg pudding, and ice cream).
Snow Monster, 11220 N Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78753, snowmonsteroc.com
GREEN TEA PARFAIT
Perfect ending to a light meal. Green tea panna cotta with green tea ice cream, red bean, and two pocky sticks.
Kome, 4917 Airport Blvd, Austin, TX 78751, kome-austin.com
THAI TEA AFFOGATO
Condensed milk ice cream, black tea tapioca, and macadamia crumble. DIY Thai tea pour over and you got yourself a Thai tea affogato!
Sway, 1417 S 1st St, Austin, TX 78704, swayaustin.com
KOREAN PATPINGSU
Cool off with Tour Les Jour’s patpingsu with green tea shaved ice, topped with green tea ice cream, adzuki beans, cereal, condensed milk, and mochi.
Tour Les Jour, 6808 N Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78752, tljus.com
JAPANESE WASABI SOFT SERVE
Slurp down a bowl of ramen noodles and finish your meal with one of Daruma’s monthly rotating soft-serve ice creams. They’ve featured wasabi, garlic, plum & Shiso, and yuzu on the menu.
Daruma Ramen, 612 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701, darumaramen.com
Photo Credit: @andybar23
HALO HALO
This Filipino dessert combines layers of tropical fruit, chickpeas, and red mung beans topped with shaved ice, condensed milk, evaporated milk and a scoop or two of Filipino-made ice cream. Ice cream flavors include mango, coconut, jackfruit and purple yam (pictured). “Halo halo” means “mix-mix,” so mix everything up and eat it together!
Filipino Mart, 615 W Slaughter Ln, Austin, TX 78748
VIETNAMESE CHÈ
Start with a ball of crushed ice topped with different combinations of coconut, pandan jelly, longan, basil seed, red white, white bean, mung bean, taro, colored tapioca, boba, and grass jelly.
Bambu Desserts & Drinks, 10901 N Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78753, drinkbambu.com
VIETNAMESE TAPIOCA DESSERT
Build your own bowl of pho at PhoNatic and be sure to order one of their iced desserts. I like the tapioca, agar jelly with crushed ice, and coconut milk. Pro tip: Let the iced dessert sit for 10 minutes before enjoying to let the ice melt.
PhoNatic, multiple locations, pho-natic.com
TAIWANESE SHAVED ICE
Crushed ice with with 4 toppings (fresh fruit, almond jelly, red beans, mung beans, grass jelly, or boba) with a drizzle of brown sugar syrup and sweet cream.
Coco’s Cafe, 1910 Guadalupe St, Austin, TX 78705, cocos-cafe.com
JAPANESE GREEN TEA TIRAMISU
The classic Italian tiramisu with a Japanese twist!
Soto Restaurant, 11066 Pecan Park Blvd, Cedar Park, TX 78613, sotoaustin.com
Photo Credit: @dereknsandra
FRUITY BUBBLE TEA
Counts as a dessert right? Try the cream tea with tapioca, almond cream tea, Thai tea with tapioca, fresh watermelon juice, and the crazy drink (wintermelon juice with all sinkers)
Teapoica Lounge, 1700 W Parmer Ln #210 Austin, TX, teapiocalounge.com
GREEN TEA CREAM PUFFS
Freshly baked cream puffs filled with your choice of ice cream. Green tea was my favorite! Choose from original (the “perfect” classic French puff pastry shell) or a cookie top (original shell with a crispy and butter sugar cookie crust on top).
Cream Whiskers, 2222 Rio Grande St b120
Photo credit: Kristine Silverstein
ASIAN MOVIE NIGHT
Housemade popcorn ice cream with fish sauce caramel and rice puffs. It’s soo good!
Peached Tortilla, 5520 Burnet Rd #100, Austin, TX 78756, thepeachedtortilla.com
SEE ALSO: 21 Reasons Why Peached Tortilla’s Brick & Mortar is Austin’s Best New Restaurant
YUZUPIOCA
Japanese citrus tapioca, strawberry, basil, and pink peppercorn crumble
Ramen Tatsu-Ya, 1234 S Lamar Blvd & 8557 Research Blvd, ramen-tatsuya.com
