On Tuesday night, I went to Kyotofu with Kim for an evening dessert tasting invitation by one of the co-owners, Nicole Bermensolo. Those of you who have read my daytime dessert flight at Kyotofu a month or so ago, the menu is slightly different during the evenings.
I just love how they used the candles to dimly light the room.
Here’s part of the evening menu…
The first dessert of the evening, the Signature Sweet Tofu.
This tofu reminds me of my childhood. Let me explain this. Every Saturday morning, when I was eight years old, my parents always go to Flushing for the weekly trip to buy produce there and they always buy a quart of steaming hot dofu fa and share amongst all of us.
This dessert is basically the same concept except that the soy milk used is of an exceptionally better quality and it’s served cold. This smooth, silky dessert was slightly sweetened with a “black sugar” sauce, which tastes like the Asian brown sugar in a syrup form.
Next up, the Warm Raspberry Mochi Chocolate Cake.
Close up of the Mochi Chocolate Cake
It was warm enough to melt the green tea-anko cream…
Innards
Yeah, I’m a bit photo-obsessed with this cake. This was good. This is an upside down chocolate soufflé topped with a green tea-anko cream. (To those of you who don’t know what anko is, it’s a red bean paste.), which is creamy, gooey texture with an earthy, slightly bitter and grassy taste due to the bean paste and the green tea. It’s lovely how the contrast of tastes and textures of this cake harmonious clash together.
The Black Sesame Tofu…
This tofu is slightly different from the signature, since it’s more nuttier, a slight grittier texture due to the toasted black sesame seeds that are ground together. It’s interesting that as you work your way down the glass, the nutty flavor gets more concentrated. The hoji-cha tea syrup enhance the sweetness of the tofu and the tuile is the perfect, crisp contrast to the silkiness of the tofu.
The tasting plate and Okara cookies…
Okara cookies
We started with the Ginger Infused Japanese Rice Okayu first.
This is basically a Japanese version of a rice pudding. It’s creamy, decadent and what’s nice about this pudding is the use of dried tart cherries to impart a sour-tart flavor, and the candied ginger delivering a spicy kick.
Next up, the Mini Miso Choco Cake.
Innards
Usually this is provided during the lunch menu, but it was offered to us. This cake, has a salty bite in the beginning from the miso, then comes the wave of chocolate hitting the tongue with a pleasant toasty, nutty flavor of the sesame seeds. I really love this cake since it’s also quite fudge-y.
And last but not at all least, the Toasted Walnut Tahitian Vanilla Parfait.
Innards
This parfait is wonderfully light, creamy and it has great vanilla flavor. The strange thing that Kim had done was that she took a small portion of the mini miso choco cake and a bite of the vanilla parfait and ate it together. The photo below explains what she thought and felt when she ate them…
She’s uh…having a foodgasm…and actually physically doing that reaction. When she passed through that phase, she encouraged me to do so, which I have. This led me to this physical expression.
I’m floored how good those two were together. The light, creaminess of the parfait meets the intense, nutty, chocolatey cake leads to one intensely, insanely good combination that left me speechless and in awe.
Address:
Kyotofu
705 Ninth Avenue
New York, NY
oooooooh, no fair is all I have to say! How I’m envying all those dishes! But I’m happy that you had a chance to taste all those desserts – that’s crazy!
ps
your photo skills are getting better with every post! :)
What? You were invited by one of the co-owners? How cool. I’ve wanted to go for the longest time, but it looks so pricey.
Kathy: Thanks! In regards about my photo skills are getting better. :)
Jessica: I was invited after I paid for my lunch/dessert flight when I was there a couple of weeks ago. Nicole who did serve me, inquired about the fact if I worked for the press or not but; I told her I write a food blog. After I paid my check, she told me that she was one of the owners of Kyotofu then offered me this tasting, which I’m still thanking her and her other co-owner Mike for. I’m still shocked that it was offered and happened.
You can do it during the daytime. I strongly suggest the sweet sampler ($8) which does have that miso choco cake that I’m totally enamored with, along with a bunch of other stuff.
The beautiful play of light alone is filling food for the soul.
oh, wow, those look so cool (and really tasty!) I’ve never had tofu-based sweets before. One more reason for paying a visit to New York I suppose *sigh*
chin: It’s definitely gorgeous lighting. I don’t know filling my stomach though….
Alexa: Those are edible works of art! You’ll never realize that their made of tofu or soy milk (unless you’re eating the tofu itself), since it tastes soo good.
The photos of you and Kim are so cute. :D
I’d love to try that parfait! Arrgh!
It’s Good Friday afternoon here
We’ve just eaten smoked cod with a white sauce, mashed potatoes. peas and carrots from the garden
Can you find that in NYC?
Happy Easter!
pcm
Robyn: Thanks! :)
That parfait was dreamy, creamy deliciousness!
Peter: Hmmm…I need to get back with you on that. It calls for some research. But I would like to know, do you know the name of the “white sauce?”
Wow! It was quite an experience just looking at it. I envy you. We go to Japanese restaurants but I never see that many great desserts on a single place. I bookmark the address for my next trip to New York.
Talking about the Mini Miso Choco Cake, it must be heavenly. A Spanish restaurant in my neighborhood serves something similar. It is a chocolate molten cake with fleur de sel and olive oil. My husband said one time after eating one that he could die at that moment and be happy. He was right. Pure pleasure!
Kim: Wow. Chocolate molten cake, fleur de sel and olive oil?! It sounds YUMMY! Reminds me in an odd way of olive oil gelato I’ve had a couple of months ago.
If I ever get to New York I’m going to have to try miso choco cake… I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that attempted in Japan. It seems like it could work… salty-sweet is the new old thing, after all. I live in the land of salt-covered chocolate caramels.
Kuromitsu (black sugar sauce) is made from kokutou, which is made differently than brown sugar but still has a molasses-like quality that you’d find in the American version. Kutomitsu sometimes features added honey. I love that flavor. It’ll make a small appearance on my blog tomorrow, too.
Jason: You got to try the miso choco cake! I LOVE that little decadent thing…even though it’s made with tofu, it’s still pretty darn good.
Anyways, thanks for letting me know what’s kuromitsu. I wouldn’t have known. I’ll be reading your blog about it! :)