Day 217

Banh Cuoi Dau Xanh (Mung Bean Cake): Today marks the last of my purchases from Lee's Bakery on Buford Highway. I found some great new items there earlier in the week, and I hope my readers have enjoyed the Vietnamese theme for the last few days. Everything I've eaten has been interesting, to say the least, and I definitely plan on going back to Lee's soon for more discoveries.

After I finished dinner tonight, I unwrapped this pre-packaged mung bean cake for a bit of dessert. Even though Lee's stocked plenty of Vietnamese pastries, not all of them were made in house. According to the sticker on the back of the wrapper, this one was made by a bakery called Hong Phat (yes, seriously) in Lawrenceville, and I'm guessing they supply a lot of Asian markets in the area.

Based on the ingredients (mung bean, flour, water, sugar, corn oil, egg), I knew this "cake" would be somewhat sweet, but past that, I wasn't sure what to expect. Oh, and durian was also one of the ingredients, which scared me a little. Would the whole thing be ruined by the inclusion of the notoriously stinky durian? Let's find out.

The cake was about the size of a hockey puck, and when I unwrapped it, I was surprised to see that the design on top was actually printed on the cake with red dye. Interesting. It felt heavy and dense, so I was curious to find out what the texture was like. I bit into it, and the outer yellow layer reminded me of undercooked pastry dough. The interior was filled with what I assumed to be mung bean paste, and it had a slightly grainy texture. The whole concoction was mildly sweet, but due to it's density, I could only eat about half of it. As for the durian, I didn't detect any durian taste or smell, so they must have used very little of it (which is probably good). Overall, I liked this one, but for me, it would be better as a snack than dessert.

If you like Asian food at all, I highly recommend Vietnamese cuisine. The flavors aren't heavy like you might be used to with run-of-the-mill Chinese/Japanese food, and even the more jaded eaters I know have always found something good.