Desserts: The best part of a meal?
 

I have travelled quite a bit in Asia and I now look forward to eating dessert more than any other part of the meal.

From the Tim Tam cake in Australia, to the likes of Cendol and Bubur Cha Cha in Malaysia, to sakuramochi and taiyaki in Japan, and to the expensive Bird's Nest Soup in China, I just love them all. http://backpackerlee.wordpress.com/2...just-desserts/

I think what makes dessert so interesting in Asia is the sweetness of it all. OK, in Europe and America desserts are sweet too, but we are more used to have sweet things in our diets anyway, whereas in Asia, things can be a lot of more savoury and veg based, thus the dessert is considered a sweet treat!

Are there any particular desserts that you look forward to, in any part of the world?

Yes, the dessert is the Jewel of the Crown of a meal.

Be it Sticky Rice with Mango, Creme Brulee, Tiramisu, Gulaab Jamun, Pavlova, Baklava or anything else that's sweet and rounds up a nice meal with impressions that last, all over the world

Desserts: The best part of a meal?
 

I love desserts and finding the local bakery for cookies (biscuits) and delicious treats adds great memories around the world. I often choose the restaurant based in dessert menu. I created a Pinterest board for my dessert addiction and just returned from Paris and London where I have favorites such as red velvet cupcakes at Hummingbird Bakery, Chocolate truffles at Paul A Young as well as the many vendors in Selfridges and Harrod's food halls (hard to pick just one!). Paris is about the macarons from Laduree, Pierre Hermes and Gerard Mulot and pain du chocolat every day (I did a behind the scenes tour of Macarons, chocolate, baguettes and croissants!). in South Africa I had crunchies on safari which were lovely, memories of panna cotta around the world from Santiago to Australia - and lots of chocolate desserts (all philatravelgirl.com blog research of course)

Good choices. I just searched for Gulab Jamun, as it was something I hadn't heard of before. Looks delicious! :p

Green Tea Ice Cream, Red Beans & Shaved Ice - at Paris Baguette in New York (Korean bakery in Flushing, 2 blocks from the Sheraton LGA/newly opened Hyatt Place nearby) - Asian dessert in the Americas, just need to find out where they are hiding in plain sights & enjoy :D

http://s3-media2.fl.yelpcdn.com/bpho...t1IKkgEg/l.jpg

Künefe (Turkey)...actually, nearly every Turkish pastry I've tried belongs on the list, nuegado (El Salvador), gajar halwa (India), marzipan, churros, and most anything from Japanese convenience stores.

Then there's Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby (don't care for the name, but can't resist the ice cream), Chinese McDonald's taro pies, khao neeo mamuang (Thailand), aneka kue in Indonesia, and Reese's Pieces.

This list can go on for a long time.

Not fond of sugar and almost never do desserts at home - but when travelling - it seems to be all I eat! Some countries have better desserts than others though, but this is all a matter of taste and preference... Absolutely love the desserts in: Japan, Philippines, Spain, Singapore/Malaysia, Turkey! :D:D

We should hang out one day, I'm from Flushing :D :p

And I've been wanting to try that out for a while now.

I am largely disappointed by desserts when I travel - some (especially, for example, Indian) are far too sweet. Some the textures are unpleasant (this applies to a lot in the Caribbean and even in the US / Canada) and some are far too heavily pastry based (parts of Europe). My taste for sweet things is largely UK and French based - give me a good crème brulee, a fantastic chocolate cake, a delicious sorbet, and I am happy. Although I will also pass on some of the puds my Brit friends love - crumbles, pies and heavy steamed pudding - euck!

Turkish and Cypriot pastries are my downfall. I live within a 5-minute walk of a bakery (they are everywhere in Cyprus) and can get baklava and other sweet treats quite easily. Yummmm!

I recently discovered something called kazantipi which is like a custard. It is to die for.

I used to visit Mexican bakeries in CA in search of desserts. I found them to be a lot less sweet and more to my taste. I also used to stop by a Chinese bakery in Fremont at lunchtime for these cone-shaped cakes that tasted a lot like angel food cake. Alas, when I unwrapped the last one, there was mold under the paper and it put me off that place for good.

I have been a fan of pain du chocolat in my Paris hotel - I guess I just like my sweets in the morning. I was overwhelmed with the cakes in Vienna - way too sweet and the Dulce De Leche everything in BsAs - way way way too sweet.

Dessert is the best part of the meal for me... EXCEPT in Asia. Desserts here, especially Chinese, I don't like at all. I don't even regard them as desserts but weird dry sweets masquerading as desserts.

Don't get me wrong - I love Asian food! But they don't do desserts...

Final thought: never buy anything from a Hong Kong bakery. Smells lovely from outside, the produce is invariably dry, tasteless stodge...

"best" "more than any other part of the meal" - ALL the time at ALL types of restaurants?

yes i love junk food outside US. and im not biggest fan of traditional european desserts.

A second for sticky rice with mango.. also good is sticky toffee pudding and vanilla ice cream in London

If you all want to start a Flushing meet-up, count me in!

I hear that. I was in Lefkoşa for a few days, and ate künefe at least once a day.

Also, when you search kazantipi (when spelled thus), you find a rather heartwarming collection of photos...