Magnolia Bakery 1240 Avenue of the Americas

 I love cake, and especially cupcakes. Recently cupcakes have been huge lately with new cupcake places popping up everywhere. Magnolia Bakery was one of the first. I've had Magnolia cupcakes several times already but I've never done a post on them before. I was in desperate need of some sugar while shopping around 5th avenue yesterday and I was going to walk to the Sprinkles cupcake store on Lexington and 59th but then I remembered there was a Magnolia Bakery close to where I was. They didn't offer that many varieties so I just ordered the plain vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting. Though it was buttercream frosting I felt there was too much icing. It was too sweet and starchy. The cake part of the cupcake also was somewhat dry. Magnolia cupcakes do not live to its hype.

Vanilla Cupcake with Vanilla Buttercream and Sprinkles

Vivi Bubble Tea

Ten Ren has long been my favorite bubble tea place in the city but not anymore. Vivi Bubble Tea is now my favorite bubble tea place. The line for bubble tea stretched well into the street and I had to wait quite a long time before I was served granted it was a beautiful Sunday and there were many tourists in the Chinatown area. Vivi Bubble Tea offers more varieties of bubble tea than Ten Ren and also offers snacks like crispy chicken, similar to Quickly. I ordered the Green Milk Tea with bubbles though I was tempted by Red Moo Milk which is milk tea with red bean and tapioca bubbles. The bubbles were very chewy and the green milk tea actually tasted like green tea. I forgot to take a picture of my bubble tea...whoops

Vivi Bubble Tea 49 Bayard Street

Wall collage featuring the workers there and snacks

Shanghai Cafe 100 Mott Street

Okay I know that I have not been keeping up with my blog posts so now I'm going into blogging overload and doing two posts, one right after the other! I got my wisdom teeth removed recently so I haven't been able to eat hard foods but I could eat soup dumplings. On Father's Day my friend and I met up at Shanghai Cafe. I actually mistakenly thought we were meeting up at another restaurant also called Shanghai Cafe and it was quite hilarious when I called my friend and told her I was there already and she said she was there too.
Shanghai Cafe offers cheap Chinese food. It is a casual dining area.  I have had really good soup dumplings before and I wondered if this place would match up to my expectations. My friend was certain that this place would be better. I ordered the pork and crab soup dumplings and was pleasantly surprised when they arrived at our table within a few minutes after we ordered. Soup dumplings can be tricky to eat. Either you can poke a hole through the skin with your chopstick and suck the juice out or you can just shove the whole dumpling into your mouth, which can be quite messy. Sadly, the dumplings did not meet my expectations. I found the soup dumplings to be lacking in juices from the crab and pork meat. Joe's Shanghai dumplings are plumper and contain more soup. Also from what I recall, the meat is more tender. Joe's Shanghai is still the best in my opinion.

Close up of crab and pork dumpling

Doughnut Plant

After we had lunch in Korean town I had a craving for dessert. What's a better way to satisfy your sweet tooth and stay on budget than having a donut? Doughnut plant offers many varieties of donuts. Inside the shop there is an abundance of things resembling donuts. The chairs and tables are round and circular like donuts. The walls are adorned with donut shaped pillows. I had a hard time deciding between the creme brulee and the oatmeal cake donut. I felt that oatmeal cake was more unique so I got that and an iced coffee to go with a super sweet snack. The bitterness of the coffee is a good way to dilute the sweetness of the donut. The top of the donut was sprinkled with oats and glazed over. The inside of the donut contained bits of dried fruit. I felt the donut was too heavy for my liking and it was too over the top for me. It was a good donut, but I should have tried the creme brulee, something simpler. I definitely will be going back here to try the other varieties.

220 West 23rd Street

Oatmeal Cake Donut