I know you’ve been to a Chinese restaurant and just as soon as you kick back and start wondering what’s for dessert, you’re handed a single fortune cookie along with the check. I know you’ve gobbled up a fantastic sushi spread at your local Japanese joint only to be offered the choice between green tea or mochi ice cream, either of which you could pick up at your local Asian market for less than the price of edamame. I know you’ve had some late night pho and been ushered out the door with nothing but a few sliced oranges. I know the closest you’ll get to sweet during your usual pad-thai runs are under the “curry” section of the menu. And I know you’re tired of it.

Bakery and dessert café in Hannam-dong, Seoul.

It’s easy to write off Asian desserts as a lost cause, or as non-existant, but a stroll down any street of LA’s Chinatown, Koreatown, Thai Town, or Little Tokyo will reveal a world of bakeries and sweet shops that tout the contrary. So what’s an angelino to do? My advice is to take some time to nibble and sample and pepper the poor salesclerk with any and all questions, because any effort you put into understanding the strange but mostly delicious world of Asian sweets will open you up to a world of new and exotic after-dinner options. Whether it’s spewing powder everywhere as you bite into mochi (soft candy from pounded rice) in Little Tokyo, eyeing the beautiful songphyun (rice cakes with chestnuts) during Koreatown’s annual Chusok festival, on the quest for the perfect botan rice candy (chewy caramel-like candy that dissolves in your mouth) in Chinatown, or asking for advice on recipes for yemas (egg candies) in Historic Filipino Town, there’s a lot of variety to be found.

Cherry flower cake: green tea biscuit, cherry flower cream, and soybean sablee.

For residents of a city so chock full of French-style bakeries and bistros, it can be hard to digest the sensibilities of Asian jellies and cake-y bread-ish-things if you’re expecting something with yeast or frosting. Do not despair! You’ve got to remember that in Asia, desserts don’t really belong as part of the meal but rather serve as between-meal snacks and as specialties for holidays and occasions. And while their American counterparts usually involve a baked pastry portion, Asian desserts are almost always fruit or fruit-flavoured. Vegetarians and vegans rejoice, an overwhelming majority of all asian jellied desserts are made with seaweed agar rather than animal-based gelatin. Once you get over the strange, usually squishy and muted pastel look of Asian desserts you might feel up to trying a few. Surprise! Asian sweets aren’t actually all that sweet. Sure, there’s the occasionally Japanese gummy candy in colours so vibrant they’ll turn your tongue purple, but for the most part Asian desserts are more subtle, more naturally flavoured varieties of the word. Expect rose-flavoured layers, broths flavoured with dates, coconut milk galore, and a whole new way to look at rice.

Tapioca pearls in coconut milk with peach, lemon juice, and jellied berry heart.

While you will find a number of custards, such as Sri Lankan vattalappam, you’re quite unlikely to find anything dairy-based on an Asian menu, as a large percentage of the population is lactose intolerant. Hence the abundance of fresh fruit, which is an expensive commodity in many countries. That is not to say Asian desserts lack creaminess. Perhaps the creamiest of all is the Vietnamese che dau trang, a pudding rich and soft, eggless and dairy-free. Japanese an pan (stuffed bread) has a variety of textures ranging from grainy to dripping, while melon buns are both pillowy soft and honeybee sticky. Korean baesook (stewed pear with peppercorn) packs a crunchy punch against spoon soft balls of mild fruit. Filipino specialty ginataang pinipig (green pinipig with coconut cream) is anything but solid, and Indian kheer is better than yoghurt. So next time you grow tired of Mars bars and ice cream, consider taking a stroll into one of LA’s many Asian bakeries.

An pan: sweet sponge bun filled with azuki red bean paste.

Where to look in Los Angeles:

Ho Won Dang in Koreatown

Phoneix Bakery in Elysian Park

Kiki Bakery in Alhambra

Queen’s Bakery in Chinatown

Yamazakipan in Little Tokyo

All pictures published under the Creative Commons license.