A serene afternoon tea of modern Chinese desserts.
Our experience
High tea is not a NYC forte — after quite a number of high tea experiences in NYC, we have yet to come across a venue that offers the lavish dessert spreads seen in Asia and Australia, or the cultivated creativity of desserts seen in London. And for the longest time, afternoon tea in NYC has largely been English-centric in style, with the rare exception of Cha-An’s Japanese high tea or the subtly Asian-French offerings of Prince Tea House. Last year though, NYC saw the opening of an afternoon tea spot focusing on Thai desserts, and then another on modern Chinese desserts. We review the latter here today.
If you weren’t looking for it specifically, it would be very easy to completely walk by Duo Cafe. But don’t! Inside, it’s a minimalistically-styled place, with simple wooden furnishings and tall leafy plant towards the back. Afternoon tea here is priced at $39 a set (plus tax/tip), and is served on a wooden tray with different compartments and plates. A selection of teas are offered, of which we selected a Chinese white tea. We recommend ordering the set as teas are priced at almost $20 a pot otherwise. The afternoon tea itself includes a small dish of traditional Chinese almond biscuits and confectionery (dried winter melon, roselle, plum, etc); a duo of wonderfully bruleed, honeyed sweet potato (our favourite dessert at Duo); and a pair of tangerines. We also added two cakes ($18 each) to our afternoon tea experience. The “Osmanthus Basque Cheesecake” had a more subtle flavour profile, whereas the “Oolong Basque Cheescake” featured stronger tea tones. Characteristic of Asian desserts, neither were saccharine sweet. 🙂 We also tried the matcha cookie as well, which was baked in a chunky style.
Our verdict
Duo Cafe’s afternoon tea dessert offerings reminded us a little of Ando Patisserie, another modern Chinese patisserie that opened last year in NYC. They are priced similarly, and feature desserts with a similar flavour profile. While neither are as creative or innovative as the modern Chinese patisseries that we have seen in Asia, they are both nonetheless welcome for introducing to NYC, a wider spectrum of flavours than rather ubiquitous green tea/red bean/black sesame flavours that have predominated NYC’s Asian dessert scene for a long time.
Dessert adventure checklist
- ☑ Dessert destination: Duo Cafe, 223 E 5th St, East Village, Manhattan.
- ☑ Budget: $$-$$$.
- ☑ Sweet irresistibles: High Tea.
- ☑ Must-eat: Modern Chinese desserts.
- ☑ The short and sweet story: A serene afternoon tea of modern Chinese desserts.