Ho Ho Mei Pineapple Bun

The logo says it all, I think

Yes, I am back! More on where I've been later. Let's just get to the reviews, shall we?

The Attraction

Several years back, I was visiting the in-laws in Taiwan when we happened upon a stall in a Taipei night market with a long line for it. I had no idea what the people were on the queue for, but I was intrigued. With so many stalls in so many night markets, for Taiwanese people to line up and wait for something, it had to be something special, so without even knowing what it was, we jump into the line. (Spoiler alert!) Little did I know that decision would result in me discovering one of my favorite night market items.

The Review:
Taiwan is really well known for it's night markets. With so much variety and at such inexpensive pricing, it's really tough not to love it. From sweet to savory treats to a variety of fruits, soups and sometimes even clothing, night markets have something for everyone. Personally, they had me once I knew they had a variety of food vendors, many of which serve Taiwanese comfort foods that you cannot get anywhere else.

Now, I can't say for sure that the Pineapple bun originated in Taiwan, but I will say that Ho Ho Mei has just about perfected it.

I have loved pineapple buns or bolo baos from since when my Mom would get me some from Chinatown here in New York. Their sweet crunchy topping on a soft fluffy bun proved to be a simple, yet tasty combo to me. Since then, I've had many pineapple buns (not actually pineapple flavored, just named that based on the pineapple-like texture of the sweet topping) in my day, but what is it about Ho Ho Mei's version of bolo baos that made people line up and convert me to a lifelong fan?

I look like a regular pineapple bun...

To start, the bun itself is fresh. Seemingly made the same day. In most cases, bakeries in NY are also fresh and made the same day, but somehow Ho Ho Mei's bun seem softer and fluffier. That was a distinct difference when I took my first bite. It felt like it was melting in my mouth. How often have you had a pastry do that?

The crunchy sweet topping is standard faire, good, but indistinguishable from other pineapple buns I've had, but when it's placed on top of such a stellar bun, it seems to enhance the overall experience. Speaking of enhancements...

...until you look under my pineapple hood

Although Ho Ho Mei offers the plain bolo bao, their real bread and butter (bad pun) is when they place a cold, big pat of butter into the warm pineapple bun. The contrast between the warm, soft bun against the cold, hard butter creates a strangely satisfying eating experience. The butter adds both a flavor as well as a textural dimension to this already enjoyable snack. It works and it works big.


The Sweet:
What isn't great about this bun? Soft, not too sweet, the contrast between warm bun and cold butter works unexpectedly well.

The Bitter:
Only available in Taiwan!

Conclusion:
I know what you might be thinking; what stops me from just buying a pineapple bun and placing a big pat of cold butter in between it on my own? Well, it just so happens that there is a place here locally in NY that offer a warm pineapple bun with a cold pat of butter in between. After coming back from Taiwan, I was really missing this snack, so I tracked down a place that seemingly had a similar product. I was excited to try it and had high hopes, but it was very ordinary. So ordinary that I had to face the truth; there are magic in those Ho Ho Mei pineapple buns.

Video of the Week

I thought I would get bored, but I watched the whole thing

People have been asking me what I've been doing since I've been gone so long. (No one has asked me that.) Well, some of that time was spent watching videos like these that you don't learn much from, yet are still entertaining. Who knew something so simply could be so fun? Leave it to the Japanese to find strange and interesting ideas.

La Cure Gourmande Madelines

I look like a delicious yellow submarine

The Attraction

Who doesn't love a good Madeline? Let's try one at the "local" bakery 

The Review:
I'm usually reluctant to review snacks that are so "local". Local may not be quite the right word as there are several La Cure Gourmande stories internationally in places like Asia, Europe and the UAE, but local in the sense that there is only one store currently in the US, but I figure with so many readers internationally, it would be OK.

Madelines are delicious. In case you never had one, they are these French sponge cakes. Well, just go here to find out more. To oversimplify, they are sort of like a less coarse cornbread, but lighter or like a small pound cake. Well, anyway, there's a place not too far from where I work (La Cure Gourmande) that offers a wide-variety of Madelines, from caramel, to pistachio with apricot filling, to chocolate, but for the sake of this review, I'm focusing on the original...even though those others sound tasty as well.

Cornbread anyone? 

What's neat about the way La Cure Gourmande presents their Madelines is that they are in these glass partitioned bins (see here), which makes them so accessible and tempting to grab a basket-full of each flavor. It also makes them seem not that expensive, when in actuality, they were $1.50 a piece. One won't break the bank, but 5 of these will get you a lunch somewhere. OK, so I may have grabbed a basket-full myself, but that's not the point.

The signature "Madeline" shell shape

When you first open the wrapper on one of these Madelines, you can smell some of that sweetness and butter richness inviting you to take a bite. In my hand, they feel spongy and moist. All good things. I flip the cookie over to see the signature shell shape these are know for. All systems go, only thing left to do is take a bite. I indulge and the bite is soft, just like a piece of cake. The flavor is much the same as the smell; sweet and buttery, but within reason. I can see why Madelines are so popular now.


The Sweet:
Moist, flavorful and light.

The Bitter:
They are Madelines! It's hard to mess this up. Even when it's not great, it's usually still pretty good.

I told you I look like cornbread

Conclusion:
Even though I said I'm focusing in on the original Madeline from La Cure Gourmande, the real draw there are the various flavor variations of their Madelines. Their interpretation of the Madeline is true to form, so as that for a base to draw from, I can only imagine the other flavors they offer will be tasty as well.  With that in mind, be sure to either avoid picking up a basket, as it will quickly get filled or just embrace your inner-foodie and ask if they have shopping carts, cause a basket ain't going to do it.

Video of the Week

I can barely ride a bicycle straight, forget a unicycle in the sky!

This is more like a magic trick. After watching these guys juggle, ride a unicycle and just hang from an old smoke stack, I bet I can make you hands sweat. I'm not sure why these guys would do this. I have yet to be this bored in my life.



Insomnia Cookies Oatmeal Raisin / Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup

The things I must do for this blog

The Attraction

I've been hearing a lot about these cookies, so when I was finally within striking distance to try some, it was time to see if it lived up to all the hype.

The Review:
One of the many wonderful things of living in NYC is having access to all these varieties of food at a given time. Due to the large population here, it always makes us an attractive area for new and upcoming food-related companies to consider opening a new location at. This is also the case with Insomnia Cookies.

Although they have a bunch of locations here, I came across one within walking distance from my office. First I heard about how their company came to be and then I ran into a very excited women going down the elevator to pickup a order she placed. After that run-in, I thought to myself, "Can it really be that good?"

Come to daddy

When I walked into the very small storefront and placed my order after peering at the menu, the woman taking my order opened a warming drawer at the front counter and pulled my requested cookies out. Whoa...that's a nice touch. Previous to that, I had only been to a place that would warm up cookies for you, after they had been out for a bit.

I decided to go with my favorite cookie, an oatmeal raisin cookie and a "deluxe" cookie; the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup cookie, as the second course. I really planned to only get one, but I love peanut butter, so I couldn't resist. What made this cookie a "deluxe" was the size. It's about double the size of their standard cookie (also about double the cost), but both sat nice and warm in my hand as I took them back to my office to have a "private moment" with.

Mmbrrmr

I take the oatmeal raisin cookie out first and I could already tell it was going to be good; in addition to being warm, it was nice and soft. I've never really been a fan of crispy cookies, so they really had my attention now. I take a bite and it's reminds me of the type of cookie that has a homemade recipe, but executed by professionals. It's a good cookie with just the right ratio of plump raisins to cookie dough. What I love about oatmeal raisin cookies is it's simplicity. There's no flash, no fancy ingredients to take your eyes or taste buds off of. It's just you and the cookie. It doesn't overwhelm you with sweetness and doesn't take you on a flavor roller coaster. Which interestingly, is a direct contrast to my second cookie course.

Looks like a delicious chocolate growth

As simple as the oatmeal raisin cookie was, the peanut butter cup cookie was like it's bigger, brasher bolder, meth-addicted cousin. It's physically larger then the standard size cookie and it has a larger grouping of it's ingredients, in this case, peanut butter cup, in it. All of which, I assume, made it a "deluxe" cookie on Insomnias's menu. I break off a piece of the cookie and I was greeted with smooth peanut butter flavor incorporated into the dough. That on it's own was very good. Where it goes off the rails in a meth-filled frenzy is when you get to the pb cup portion.

The chunks are so big and poorly distributed that it completely wipes out the the smoothness of the peanut butter in the cookie dough and you are greeted with a raunchy intermission act between the first and second half of Shrek. It's like eating a peanut butter cookie and then picking up a peanut butter cup and then taking a bite; sounds good on paper, but the reality isn't nearly as subtle as one might think. I wish Insomnia made a plain peanut butter cookie, but be it as it may, they don't and if their oatmeal raisin cookie was Ohio, this peanut butter cup cookie was Las Vegas.

I had to take this quick before gravity
broke this cookie....again

The Sweet:
These are delivered deliciously warm from a "warming counter".

The Bitter:
Their deluxe cookies are decadent to the max.

Conclusion:
Now, decadence isn't necessarily a bad thing, but for me, I think what a makes a snack great is the ability to ride that fine line between being satisfying, yet leaving you wanting for more. If you like to leave your snack exchange without feeling like you overdid it, I would try to limit your selection to something in the standard cookie category. Having that deluxe cookie, as much as I enjoyed the peanut butter portion, it left that, I-think-I-had-too-many-Krispy-Kremes-feeling (somewhere between piggish and insulin shotville).

Keep it to the standard and you will be rewarded with a cookie that brings the great homemade fresh out of the oven feel without the mess.

Video of the Week 

They are back! (Sorta)

I'm a little late to the game, but I recently discovered this new track by Johnny Gill. As cool as Johnny is, the real draw is the reunion of New Edition with him on this single after no new material by them since 2004. If you are a fan of NE like I am, this is great news. The song is old school awesome and they still have their dance moves. Somehow I don't look as good them when I do the steps in the shower.

Bouchon TKO

"Who you calling whoopie pie?"

The Attraction

Someone recently told me that the TKO cookie at Bouchon (a bakery chain) was their favorite cookie. I wasn't really that interested...until I figured out what TKO stood for. When I did....I had to try it!

The Review:
I've been going to Bouchon on and off for years. I've tried various items there, but never this particular cookie. It just didn't jump out and grab me like some of the other treats on the menu. Then one day someone said, "Oh the TKO? It's like their version of an Oreo."

In fact, TKO actually stands for "Thomas Keller Oreo". OK count me in.

I quickly go down to Bouchon and pick one up. Now that I look at it, it makes sense....yes, an Oreo, of course. How could I have not seen it?

I take my "TKO" back to my desk and admire it for a few seconds. A gourmet version of an Oreo. How can they improve upon an Oreo?

I pickup the sizable cookie (it's about the circumference of the top a pint glass) and take bite. The first thing I notice is how the cookie shell is softer or rather, not as crisp as an actual Oreo. As I continue my bite and capture some of that cream center in my mouth, I also can taste that the cream isn't as sweet, but also not as rigid and processed tasting.

This is tricky to describe; the shell isn't as crisp because it's actually fresher. The cookie took on some of the moisture from the cream, which although not as sweet, is a good thing.

Essentially, it taste like a giant homemade Oreo with less sugar in the cream.

This didn't last too long on my desk

The Sweet:
Ironically, it's not as sweet as a regular Oreo and fresher tasting,

The Bitter:
You miss that contrast of the crisp cookie shell against the cream center.

Conclusion:
On it's own, the TKO is a great cookie. Theoretically it's everything I would want in a cookie;
Yes, it's a fresher. Yes it's made with a recipe created by a super well recognized and acclaimed chef. Yes, the cream is not as sweet, yet if we were to do a head to head comparison against an Oreo, despite all those things, there's something about an Oreo that still rings true. Perhaps it's the sweeter cream that reminds me of my childhood or the crisp, firm crack of the cookie shell that yields against the center filling or even the texture on the cookie itself that let's you know it's an Oreo.

There's no mistaking that the TKO is a great cookie, but there's also no mistaking it for an Oreo.

Video of the Week 
People often ask me what I do on the weekends when I'm not reviewing snacks for SneakASnack. Well, wonder no more. Below is a video of what I did this past weekend.

That's me! (the guy on the outside of the glass, maybe)