Dessert Republic Cafe — Restaurant in San Mateo

I went three times this past week because they have such a vast selection of goodies! I've become a regular here. First of all, their awesome decor clearly took a lot of heart and soul because it works to help reminisce the good old days from growing up in Hong Kong. This is the real deal. Check out their wall paintings, their explanation signs, the amount of details that go into even using the same serving bowls as the ones within the paintings, and that giant red post office can outside! I was ecstatic when I found this gem even just based on the decor alone.

Onto the food: the $2.99 egg puffs are out of this world. I am guessing they put into the recipe some mochi, because it tastes much more complex than just regular batter (plus it usually is the item that takes the longest to come out).

The crepes are awesome, I've tried the nutella ones, the banana crepe, and the ones stuffed with ice cream are the best.

There was this one dessert where they cut up a banana and fried it like spring rolls, with scoops of ice cream in the middle, and that was really good.

I've tried their sesame tangyuan balls, which are pretty standard, but when dunked in almond milk, just made them much better.

The Pink Lady was strawberry flavored ice on the bottom with cut strawberries, watermelon balls, and strawberry ice cream on the top so the ice cream deliciously melted onto the slightly out-of-seasoned strawberries, which made them good.

I also tried their lunch menu once during the weekends when they are open for lunch. I tried their porkchop rice dish and also their fried chicken wings with instant noodles. Why they don't open during the weekdays is a mystery to me because they offer such a variety of items that it would be great to be able to try more of their savory dishes.

They have a button system where you have to press for service, water, etc., which is efficient in my opinion. There's a membership card you can ask them to give you that provides 10% each time you dine. Cash only. If only they are open for lunch...

Desserts that don't look desserts?! This place has that and a bunch of other goodies.

Located in an alley right next to a parking garage, Dessert Republic serves up meals, desserts, snacks, and drinks well into the night (it's open till 1am on the weekends). I didn't come here for their meals, I came here with friends on Saturday night craving some desserts. It wasn't too busy and we were seated right away. We ordered drinks, their tiramisu plant pot, cheesecake that looked like ramen, and tai-chi sesame paste. All their desserts looked too good to eat.

Tiramisu pot: It really does look like a potted plant. It comes complete with pop rocks! Despite it looking really earthy, this was my favorite. The dirt was most likely crushed cookies/oreos and it was yummy :) The tiramisu tasted pretty good too.

Cheesecake Ramen: It's served in a cute ramen bowl and it looks like one of those display ramen you see at japanese restaurants. I could not believe it was a cheesecake. My friends and I were pretty amused at the details. It really does look like ramen but everything was a dessert. The cheesecake had a fake egg on top and when we went to break the yolk.. there was actual yellow liquid running! That was probably the best part of the night, did not expect that to happen. The cheesecake itself was okay, not bad but not great either. The shrimp tempura was interesting, it was crispy and sweet. Most of the toppings were different jellies. Pretty fun to eat.

Tai-chi sesame paste: I really enjoy black sesame so I really liked this dessert. The white is the almond paste and the black is the sesame. It looks too pretty to mix, but mixing it results in a good flavor combination. It was more like a hot thick soup to drink, great for when you're feeling cold.

The drinks we got weren't bad either. I thought everything was pretty solid and I would come back again. It was fun place to chill and hangout...

I wanted to find a dessert spot to wash away the underwhelming Italian I had this evening, and I wanted to find a great place especially because I was with the one and only Melinda! And while she (claims she) would have been content with choosing a few of 31 flavors, I wanted to find something less ordinary. Dessert Republic was a good choice.

Located along "Main Street" in San Mateo (it's in quotes because it's more of a wide alley turned into a pedestrian mall, of sorts; it's no modern street) on the edge of downtown, Dessert Republic is a Hong Kong style bistro that serves entrees and desserts. Sit at a table, read over the menu, and press the "order" button on the remote bell at your table. Someone will scurry over to take your order. We choose a crepe and something with sesame and sweet tofu, and as luck would have it we swapped our desserts one-third of the way in to them. I rather like sesame seed paste and the dish was just the right size and mix of calming flavors. The restaurant interior is done up as a narrow alley in Hong Kong, with shops (frescos) along one side. You can order food as well (we didn't), and an assortment of drinks or other desserts. Not your traditional chocolate cake or peach cobbler desserts but a great way to finish of eating...