Chikalicious
East Village
203 E. 10th St.
New York, NY 10003
Yelp
Sweets Raku has to be the best stand alone dessert restaurant. It’s been hard to find anything like it, let alone anything as delicious. ChickaLicious comes close. Both places craft beautiful desserts with multiple components, layering and contrasting flavors and textures. It makes a slice of cake or a scoop of ice cream look like a sad dessert.
Toasted Oolong Ice Cream mango and banana salad
For $16, you get a starter, a choice of dessert, and selection of petit fours. Our starter was a simple but tasty scoop of oolong tea ice cream. The tropical fruits added a dimension of fruity flavor.
Vanilla-Honey Parfait strawberry gazpacho, lace crisp, balsamico agar agar
I was sad to hear they ran out of their signature “fromage blanc island.” We settled for their parfait. It was an elevated take on “strawberries ‘n cream.” The vanilla and honey infused custard was perfectly complemented by the cool strawberry sauce. The agar cubes of balsamic vinegar were surprisingly enjoyable with its sweet sourness.
Pineapple Brûlée rosemary wafer, crème fraîche, rosemary sorbet
The pineapple had a nice caramelization. The rosemary wafer it sat atop and rosemary sorbet were interesting complements. The herbal flavor was very subtle.
Petit Fours
While the skill level and overall quality of the desserts here is not nearly as elevated or delicious as Sweets Raku, they do a nice job delivering satisfying desserts for the sweet tooths in us all. The place is more simple and you can’t help but love the little old Japanese lady (chef/owner) working the open kitchen. We didn’t get seats at the bar, but we still enjoyed her creations nonetheless. The Japanese influence was apparent as not one dessert felt over sweetened. If I were in the area I would certainly hit this place up. I’m very curious to know what their cheesecake dessert tastes like too.
10 – You NEED to eat here
9 – Awesome
8 – Very good
7 – Good
6 – OK
5 – Average
4 – Not bad
3 – Not good
2 – Terrible
1 – Do NOT eat here
Overworked. Underfed. 