Spot Dessert Bar (My rating: 3.5/5)

I visited one of the two Spot dessert bars recently and I have to say that although the desserts tasted great, they were overrated. My friends and I ordered 3 dishes which included the Chocolate Green Tea Lava Cake, the Yuzu Eskimo, and the Kabocha Brulee Cake.

What led me here? I saw a post on facebook of a potted plant that was a dessert and noticed it was from Spot. Yet, when I visited they mentioned that there are two Spot dessert bars in NYC and this one didn't have that on the menu. How disappointing! The one I visited was on the third floor of an international food emporium, called "Food Gallery 32", and located at 11 W 32nd St, New York, NY 10011. The other Spot bar is located on 13 St Marks Pl New York, NY 10003. I think the two was a good 20 minute walk from each other.

I was eager to try the Green Tea Lava Cake but I believe the presentation was better than the taste of the dish. The chocolate could have had a stronger taste and the cake tasted like a really good brownie. Yet, it goes to show that not every dish tastes as great as it looks and some of those tumblr pics are decieving. My expectations were too high to have been met! However, the green tea ice cream flavor was really strong and a refreshing taste from the ones generally bought from the supermarket. I didn't realize this until I tried mochi (a Chinese green tea dessert covered with an interesting doughy texture) from a local Hong Kong supermarket which seemed a little bland in comparison. The leaf shape piece added a crunch to the dish but it wasn't a spectacular part of the dish. Quite frankly, that green powder pictured barely tasted like anything and I think it was just used to fill in the space on the dish.

What I really enjoyed was the Yuzu Eskimo. Every little bit had a strong citrus tasted that went along with the texture of the food as well. It's quite obvious the chefs prefer presentation over quantity. I would have loved to have more pieces of the citrus cream bar. In contrast, my friend strongly disliked it because of it's fruity flavor. If you absolutely can't stand fruity gum or citrus tastes, I think there is reasonable evidence that you will not like this.

The Kabocha Brulee Cake tasted delicious, but it wasn't too memorable. I mistook the brulee to mean that it would have a creme brulee like flavor (which means burnt creme in French). Instead, it had a pumpkin flavor and seemed to be topped with vanilla ice cream although in the caption on the menu, it mentions it is milk ice cream.

The experience was fun and almost every table was full. This was partially due to the fact that there was another restaurant just across the bar that shared the seating within the room. My friends and I went here as a part of my birthday celebration and I definitely will remember the overall experience as an enjoyable one.