Kyotofu

Scoboco figures: if people are going to keep opening all these new restaurants that only (or primarily) serve beautiful, creative, lovingly assembled desserts... well, the least we can do is go out and enjoy them every once in awhile. And so Saturday night Bo, Co and I headed to the mod-cozy Kyotofu, and indulged in three remarkably tasty, Asian-inspired treats.

Before I go any further: I'm generally NOT a fan of Asian desserts, like those gummy bean cakes, or those bland almond things, or the grainy not-sweet ice cream. Believe me, Kyotofu is not like that.Take, for example, Bo's Warm Chestnut Mochi Chocolate Cake, a moist, semi-sweet cake with a gooey, nutty center, topped with creamy green-tea ice cream and served with an intense fig "yokan" (like a thick gelatin) on the side. It was absolutely delicious. Or my Ginger Infused Japanese Rice Okayu, a warm rice pudding-esque dish strewn with sour cherries, nicely sweetened with a generous dollop of something called kuromitsu whipped cream, and finished with a crackly, seeded wafer cookie and several pieces of perfectly complementary candied ginger. Totally yummy.

And Co? She had the best dessert at the table, a wonderfully rich and flavorful Toasted Walnut Tahitian Vanilla Parfait, with a hefty topping of maple soy-mascarpone mousse and a sticky caramel apricot sauce. And those three persimmon seeds weren't just toss-asides, for garnish, either, but rather stunningly perfect blasts of sourness. In fact, in each dessert the ingredients and flavors worked together in marvelous ways. These guys are true pros.

Even the pot of roasted green tea I had was exceptional (though it did get increasingly bitter, which, as Debbie pointed out to me later, I could have prevented by asking for more hot water). Make sure you go after 6:00, though. Kyotofu, on Ninth Ave near 48th Street, may be open all afternoon, for tea and cookies and the like, but they only serve the "real" dessert menu at night.