A Lovely Tuesday Indeed!

After work, my friend Megan and I met up at Cha'an on 9th St. in the East Village for some tea and dessert. I think I've told Megan about this place for months now, but we had never gone until today. All I can say is "Wow". I have read about how wonderful this place is, and now I can be one of those who rave about it. You walk into the Japanese tea house, go up the stairs, and find yourself in a quaint little room with approximately 10 tables and a little kitchen. The decor is simple yet tasteful, and the music was nice and relaxing as well. 

We started off our evening with tea; I chose Jasmine Pearl and Megan had the Dragon Pearl. The tea came out with cute little cups that fit perfectly in your hands without burning you. I love Jasmine tea, so I had no complaints. We both ordered the Chef's Dessert Assortment which was $16 for a three course dessert plus any tea. The server said that both of our courses would be similar, but were going to be surprises. 

First Course 

I was given a berry ice cream and Megan the Jasmine ice cream (which both came with a sesame brittle crisp...yum!).  

Second Course

In the second round, I was given Black Sesame Creme Brulee and Red Bean filled Mochi with Crushed Toasted Soy Bean (see above photo)....Woowwwzzerrs! Megan also had the Black Sesame Creme Brulee, but received a profiterole-like pastry filled with berry ice cream and a berry drizzle (see above photo). The creme brulee had a perfectly burnt and crunchy top, and the creamy sesame center was to die for! However, my one issue was the dessert being served in square cups, in which our spoons had problems getting the cream from the corners. So what did we do?...we decided to turn our spoons upside down and use the back end to scoop out whatever we could from our cups! We were one step shy of sticking our tongues in those square cups and licking the rest out.

Last Course

We were both given a chocolate cookie and a little loaf of goodness. The loaf was a Financier, which is a French pastry....crunchy on the outside, soft and flavorful in the center. I wanted to savor every bite of this little guy! The cookie looked like it would be hard as biscotti, but to our surprise, it flaked apart and melted in your mouth. Those two pastries were the perfect ending to our dessert bliss. 

You thought our night ended then? No way Jose! We were fiending for some salty goodness and decided to have some Japanese Ramen at Rai Rai Ken. No, this is not the $.25 Ramen you buy at the grocery; rather, it is a Japanese fast food that is a whole meal in a bowl, and it was oh so delicious. Megan had some curry ramen, and I had a cold ramen (not in soup form) that had apples, cucumber, egg, seaweed, sundried tomato, soy/vinegar dressing, and all of those flavors went sooo well together. At under $10 a bowl, I would say it was a delicious and inexpensive meal.