Everyone who isn’t living under a rock has heard of this Raindrop Cake… right?
Crafted out of agar and the purest spring water, the completely transparent sphere closely resembles a droplet of water (or you know… a breast implant). The Japanese desserts’ real name, however, is Mizu Shingen Mochi, and it started going viral as a result of several over-shared, America-based Facebook videos.
Since everybody seemed to be going crazy over the dessert, I thought I had to try it for myself and see if it lived up to the hype.
One place known to serve the Raindrop Cake is Soo Bing Bing, a small and secluded dessert shop on the third floor of Westgate that also serves other sweet items like Bingsu.
I ordered the very reasonably priced Original ($4) and Matcha ($4.80) Raindrop Cake, and watched as it was scooped from plastic-bowl moulds and plated delicately alongside Roasted Soybean, Black Sugar Syrup and Matcha Syrup respectively.
I was quite pleased to see it really did resemble a water droplet, and the people at Soo Bing Bing really hit the nail on the head with their agar-water ratio to achieve a perfect transparency. Visually, it was all quite simple and pretty.
When I bit (well I wouldn’t really call it a bite) into the Raindrop Cake, it instantly disintegrated in my mouth with a very, very subtle sweetness. The agar had the texture of those Sachiko-brand jelly drinks that I used to have as a child, although I don’t know how close Soo Bing Bing’s Mochi is to the authentic, intended consistency of the Japanese dessert.
It was somewhat refreshing, but even eaten with the Soybean Powder and Syrup, the whole dessert really didn’t amount to much. Sorry to be a wet blanket, but for something so highly hailed on the Internet, I left quite dissatisfied.
My take on the hype? You probably would and should try it once, but it’s unlikely there’d be second helpings. Maybe try Soo Bing Bing’s better Bingsu offerings instead.
Expected Damage: $4 – $5
