Tina Cake Desserts has taken over from the spot that used to house Banh Mi Yeh Linh (which was very short lived). It’s still Vietnamese but instead, TCD specializes in Vietnamese desserts. Apparently, the owners are from North Vietnam.
Their hours are ridiculous (open till midnight every day)!
The decor has remained the same except for a few small changes. Lemon water is self serve. Service is friendly and the dessert comes out quickly.
The menu is a variety of cold and hot dessert soups (aka. che), cakes, fresh fruit smoothies and ice cream shakes. If you’re lost, they have a most popular list.
All their drink options are behind the counter.
Closeup of the options.
Was hoping to try the passionfruit yogurt cake but they didn’t have it. They also expanded their menu as they also offer food.
If you wander a bit further into the back, you’ll see their display cases.
Always seems to have something different.
Trip #1
We dropped in on a Tuesday evening (around 9:30pm).
Su kem ($1.50)
This is their original cream puff. The filling tasted subtly of cream cheese. Light and clearly homemade but the texture of the cream puff itself could have been better.
Che buoi ($5.00)
Vietnamese pomelo sweet soup dessert. We love pomelo so decided to give this dessert a try. The pomelo pieces themselves weren’t sweet and there’s also some sort of rice/mung bean mixed in, all over a thickened coconut milk sauce.
The dessert over all is sweet; don’t think we’d be able to eat one solo. Interesting to try.
Che nep cam dac biet ($8.00)
Special black stick rice yogurt. There’s also sliced banana, mango, jackfruit, avocado (first time I’ve ever seen avocado in a dessert), assorted jellies (one was coffee flavoured, the rest we have no idea), yogurt (a tastier, thick version similar to Greek yogurt) and a flan on top for good measure. The black sticky rice was excellent and had great chewy texture. Everything in this dessert somehow worked well together. The yogurt was delicious; I’d eat this on the regular.
Trip #2
Second time around, we came after dinner on a Tuesday evening (around 8:15pm).
Mango avocado ($6.00)
This is one of their fresh fruit slush options. My favourite combo; of course, I had to get one here to try. You can literally see them cutting up fresh avocado and mango (right up by the counter).
Not too sweet; a bit more mango comes through than avo. One of the better versions I’ve found in the city.
Che dau xanh xoi ($7.00)
Mung bean coated sticky rice sweet soup dessert. Not sure where the “soup” comes into play here. Green sticky rice (we’re guessing it’s infused with pandan extract), mung bean paste, coconut milk and fresh coconut flakes.
Sticky rice has a good glutinous bite to it but is a tad dry on it’s own. Really liked the freshly grated coconut flakes on top. It’s a bit heavy so I’d recommend sharing.
Trip #3
Avocado ($6.00)
Decided to try just avocado this time around. I’m not sure why but their fruit smoothies always taste better half way. It’s too cold and icy at the beginning. But once it melts, it’s so much better.
Che khuc bach ($6.00)
Almond panna cotta lychee dessert. A couple strawberries, lychee, almonds and three types of panna cotta. There was a vanilla, chocolate (reminded us of neapolitan chocolate flavour) and matcha (best of the three).
Trip #4
Thach la nep nhan flan ($5.50)
Pandan jelly filled with flan. Flan was delicious. Not too sweet but sitting in coconut milk.
Pandan jelly was thick and the flavour is subtle (as pandan usually is). Worth a try.
Tofu thach rau cau cot dua ($7.00)
Tofu pudding with mixed jelly in coconut milk. J added brown sugar pearl ($0.50 extra). Had a bite of his dessert.
The tofu pudding was a touch plain but had a mix of texture from all the jellies.
Trip #5
Pudding thap cam ($9.00)
Pudding with mixed jelly & fruit in coconut milk. The pudding is pretty subtle in flavour but we detected some vanilla notes. Interesting that they shaped it into what looked like a corn on the cob.
It came with the usual mix of jellies and a couple bites of sliced banana, strawberries, kiwi, dragonfruit, watermelon and mango.
Probably won’t get this again but it was worth a try.
Che khoai mon ($6.50)
Taro mochi sweet soup in coconut milk. This came out piping hot. You get three plump mochi balls filled with real taro.
Every time we visit, we explore and try something new.
Haven’t found this offered anywhere else in the city. Will continue to come back to TCD for more speciality Vietnamese desserts.
Tina Cake Desserts
https://www.facebook.com/888Kingsway/
#128, 888 Kingsway
Vancouver, BC
(604) 551-4187
CHERRY BOB-OMBS 