Desserts are in fruitful supply in Asia, which makes sense, as the Asians put sugar practically in everything.
For most Asian countries, doing things differently to the West is ingrained into their culture, which ultimately rubs off on their sweet culinary delights.
Travelling through Asia, we’ve tried to sample desserts from every nation, adding a collection of the top ten weird but wonderful desserts from Asia:
10. Halo-Halo 🇵ðŸ‡
A dessert that screams diabetes.
It’s one of the sweetest desserts out there, consisting of shaved ice, sweet beans, jellies, fruits, leche flan, ube ice cream, and more.
9. Mango Float 🇵ðŸ‡
This cheesecake-like dessert might not look like it records high on the strange thermometer. Once you realise that the yellow shavings on top are cheese, it certainly tastes different to your standard cheesecake.
Served either frozen or chilled.
8. Brown Sugar Tofu Pudding 🇹🇼
Yes Tofu is used for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert in Taiwan.
Despite the naming, this strangely creamy dessert is not that sugary, and more an odd mix of flavour profiles from the added taro beans, sweet potato cubes and fruit.
7. Candied Fruit 🇹🇼
May not sound strange, back in the UK we also have candied fruit.
But in Taiwan, each candied fruit stick you find in their many night markets, all have a tomato, if you’re lucky you might get three.
Which isn’t normal, but kinda works.
6. Egg Coffee 🇻🇳
Maybe a push to say this coffee-based drink falls into the dessert category, but it is one of the sweetest confections in Vietnam, and very much tastes like a dessert.
5. Bánh da lợn (aka pig skin) 🇻🇳
Referring to yourself as pig skin makes it an easy decision to add to the list.
Bánh da lợn is a jelly-layered disk that is often topped with sesame and coconut milk.
4. Chalbori-Heukmaneul-ppang 🇰🇷
Garlic in design, garlic in taste.
The Koreans love garlic so much they have adopted it into their desserts, with these addictive sweet breads filled with sweet garlic paste.
3. Hell steamed pudding 🇯🇵
Crafted in the streets of Beppu in Japan, Hell steamed pudding is made in the hot springs town of Beppu in the south of Japan.
Beppu’s answer to a creme caramel, only steam baked in the local hot springs.
Beppu’s answer to a creme caramel, only steam baked in the local hot springs.
2. Falooda 🇮🇳
Any dessert that contains noodles would be considered weird to us Westerners.
Falooda is a popular Indian summer treat that combines ice cream with cornflakes, dried fruit and vermicelli noodles.
1. Bebinca 🇮🇳
Known by locals as witches fingers.
Dubbed the ‘Queen of Desserts’, Bebinca is a multi-layered traditional Goan delight, rich with the taste of coconut and caramel.
