Asian desserts are ‘adult acquired taste’

PITTSBURGH — My Japanese grandmother lived on the opposite coast when I was little. I only met her a couple times, but she would annually send a box of homemade Japanese treats, including red bean-stuffed buns.

As a kid growing up in a New York suburb, these were not exactly something I yearned for. I probably — no, definitely — would have been happier if she sent us Twinkies and Hostess Cakes.

Apparently now, though, Japanese red bean is having a moment, along with other Asian desserts.

A twentysomething acquaintance said he enjoyed Asian desserts because they don’t “feel like they’re immediately going to give you cavities.” Though he admitted that red bean was an “adult acquired taste, like coffee.”

On social media you can see an eye-popping array of Eastern desserts, including mochi in all the colors of the rainbow, the cutest little animal-shaped dessert buns and yes, red bean-filled taiyaki.

‘A hot concept’

As an adult, I would occasionally enjoy going to Chinese bakeries — the kind where you pick a trayful of sweet and savory treats with tongs — that you find in Chinatowns. But now they’re in the most unlikely places, including Memphis, where I recently lived. It most decidedly does not have a Chinatown.

Indeed, trend trackers Carbonate Insights has proclaimed, “Asian dessert cafés are one of the hottest concepts of 2025.”

It cites as evidence South Korean chain Paris Baguette, with locations in more than 20 U.S. states; Taiwan-based 85°C Bakery Cafe, in 10 states; and French-Asian bakery Tous les Jours, with over 100 locations in the U.S. — including Shadyside.

The gateway drug is bubble tea, which incited interest in other Asian desserts and snacks. Social media multiplied the curiosity among millennials and Gen Z.

Another draw was that many dessert cafes are open late. (Thank you! What’s up with coffee shops and cafes closing in late afternoon?) These dessert cafes offer nonalcohol-based but high-design social hangouts.

On a recent evening midweek, the photo-ready interiors of New York-based chain Mango Mango and Japanese chain Kyo Matcha, only a few yards from each other on Forbes Avenue in Squirrel Hill, were buzzing with a young crowd. Both opened within the last year.

Substance over style

But as we welcome these sleek newcomers, we shouldn’t forget the previous generation that paved the way.

Sumi Chun, who emigrated from Seoul, Korea, runs Sumi’s Cakery in the Strip District with her husband, Jun. (Previously, the shop was in Squirrel Hill.) She touts her strawberry layer cake, green tea cake and mocha cake. She had no professional cooking experience when she started her business — she taught Korean dance in her home country — but perhaps fittingly for such social media-ready edibles, she learned how to bake from the internet.

“Almost every bakery has a strawberry cake,” she said. “Mine is special.”

It is ultralight, she said, because she uses whipped cream as a topping instead of butter cream.

Pink Box Bakery, in Squirrel Hill, opened around the same time as Sumi’s Cakery — in the 2010s. It is currently run by Hong Yang, a Taiwanese immigrant who took it over from his wife’s siblings. It has hints of an old-style bakery, with trays to stack up your treats. It carries a wide variety of sweet and savory buns (including red bean), taro bread and some intriguing-looking, colorful mochi cakes.

Like Chun, Yang takes pride in making everything in-house and using the best ingredients, preferring substance over style. Most of his pastries are traditional Taiwanese offerings, he said.

Perhaps the Instagram-ready newbies and the traditionalists could learn a thing or two from each other.