Enrique's

This is a taco place near old town Monrovia. It has $1 taco Tuesdays. The tacos are great, but as with cheap great food, the wait can be ridiculous. We were kept waiting quite a while before we were served. The tacos are small so you would have to order 5 to feel full.

For desert, I got the Sopapilla. It is wonderful and very reasonably priced!! There are 4 pieces of light and fluffy squares drizzled in something faintly sweet with a scoop of ice cream. Yum! It beats the churros from Pop Desert and Champagne Bar in Pasadena.

Taipan Bakery

Don't let the lack of long lines fool you. Taipan Bakery on Baldwin Ave is a great little bakery with fresh breads, cakes and pastries. Like most other bakeries, visits are best in the morning than evenings, in which the scant leftovers are all that you can choose from.

Additionally, this bakery is the only one I know of with curry bread.

They also have egg tarts, mini chicken pies and curry pies.

85 Degrees Cafe

The first time I went to the 85 Degrees Cafe, the line went out the door. This time there weren't that many people, and for a good reason too. None of the bread I got was hot! I went at around 2:30pm on a weekday.

I got the Hawaiian Pizza bread. I am typically wary of breads that call itself a pizza but there were several suggestions for it on yelp. Unfortunately, it was not fresh and not even warm at all. It was tough and chewy, not soft like I'd expect. I only took a bite of it; it wasn't very tasty either. I decided to save the rest to be nuked in the microwave at home.

The garlic bread was good even when not warm and fresh. How can bread not be good when it's full of garlic buttery goodness? It had a decent enough texture as well, slightly crunchy, but not hard and stale.

The coconut cream bread was the best out of the three I chose. It definitely does not need to be warmed up to be enjoyed. The bread was wonderfully soft like a sponge and the coconut cream was not too sweet. However, it would have been nice if they put more coconut flakes or coconut milk. The cream kind of just tasted like whipped cream otherwise.

There were advertisements for their iced sea salt coffee, so I ordered a medium of that. It's decent enough for a typical non-coffee drinker. Reviews on yelp had been good for the sea salt coffee. It's a bit bitter for me. Added a pack of brown sugar.

My major complaint was that you have to wait for the drinks to be made. They call out your number, but they don't call it very loud. You have to stand right next to the counter, staring into where they display the cakes and sweets, where a lot of other people are standing around (some waiting for drinks, some just staring at the sweets). So, someone had called out some numbers and a guy had asked me what numbers they had just called and I repeated "122, 123". And he asks me "they said 123?" and I said "yes". Well, then he asks the guy at the counter again the number. I hate it when people do that, makes you feel all self-conscious, like your answer isn't good enough for some reason. And on top of that the girl he was with pointed to the label stuck on the cup which also had the number. It's like how many sources do they need to check their numbers.

The cakes look pretty good as well. Coffee creme brulee anyone?

The Chocolate Marble cake isn't very tasty by the way.

A curious thing is how come the branch in Taipei has bread and pastries that are always piping hot and the crowds don't act quite as crazy as those in the US?

I have also realized that there really isn't a wide selection of breads. It's just garlic bread, multi-grain bread, that black squid inked break, the blueberry cream one, coconut cream, some Danish, Pizza, pork sung, some French cheese bread, hot dog, and that is it! That is what they have one one wall and they have the exact same thing spread out on 2 other sides! Why is there such a freaking long line on the weekends? How is this place different from Cloverleaf or JJ Bakery?? Is it because they don't have the traditional red bean paste bread! They also don't have curry bread, one of my favorites from other bakeries.

Extraordinary Desserts

To top off the evening, we headed towards Little Italy for dessert at Extraordinary Desserts. The place was mad packed, even at 11pm! We had to wait about 10 minutes to get seated.



While waiting, we browsed through some of their products and fine decor.


the white pyramids are macaroons;
and the bottom is the Macadamia Nut Pie


wonder what kind of magic the tea does


big Buddha head statue

They sell an assortment of exotic teas, some claiming to be "magic", books, lotions, bags, and other non-dessert products. That's the way to make big money in a successful business.

We finally got seated and ordered. I got the Macadamia Nut Pie and my buddy got the Gianduia.


Gianduia - chocolate cake with rasberry filling and
chocolate cream between the layers, encrusted with nuts,
with rasberry sauce on the side


Macadamia Nut Pie with whipped cream

The desserts looked gorgeous. As you can see, my pie was topped with yellow flower petals and sat on top of some caramel sauce. It was warm and tasted heavenly with the whipped cream, even though I'm not much of a cream type of person. My buddy enjoyed his Gianduia, but I felt it was too sweet for my taste. To each his own.

We shared a pot of green sencha tea. The water was piping hot; the taste unexpectedly bitter, even for me. If not for the bitterness, it essentially is would have no flavor, rather disappointing to the traditional Japanese sencha, not at all what I had expected.

There is also a non-dessert menu with paninis and the ilk for those who are afraid of sweet overload.

In all honesty, I'm not sure if this place is really my cup of tea, but everyone should go to Extraordinary Desserts at least once to experience the exciting atmosphere of energetically happy late night-diners and just to say you've tried something extra-ordinary...and that includes the price!