Daan Go

Ever since I dropped by Daan Go before their initial grand opening, I was smitten by their whimsical cakes, treats and macarons.  So much so, I ordered my mom's birthday cake from there!  I believe that they have the right combination of pricing, quality and uniqueness.  Sure, there are higher end places in town that go beyond what Daan Go offers, but they are also very much more expensive.  Recently, I was invited back to try a bunch of new items.  I was so excited that I ended up purchasing even more to make this a real haul!

So let's get to something new with their Ice Cream.  Yes, they have ice cream in several flavours including Rich Matcha, Hong Kong Milk Tea and Mango Passion Fruit.  These were creamy and not icy.  I found it smooth and it was also purposefully sweet.  The matcha was impactful with a mildly bitter finish.  Absolutely loved the milk tea as it tasted like the real thing with strong tea notes and a considerable milky aftertaste.  My favourite was the mango passion fruit because I love fruity things.  This was refreshing and had the natural flavours of the ingredients.

Probably not the most aesthetically-pleasing, the Crème Brûlée featured a puff pastry tube with a sweet custard filling and caramel on the outside.  This ate significantly lighter than it appeared.  The pastry was flaky and had discernible layers while the custard in the middle wasn't heavy and was only lightly sweet.  The caramel on the outside was pretty sweet though.

Something I wanted to try due in part that I had a good version in Montreal was the Choco Chip Kouign-Amann.  Compared to the last item, this was definitely heavier, sweeter and more rich.  Lots of butter and sugar here created a crunchy exterior while the inside was denser with lots of sweet buttery goodness.  The addition of chocolate chips only made this even sweeter with a slight variation of flavour.

Onto one of the most anticipated items (for me at least) was the Salted Egg Yolk Croissant.  This spiral Croissant was tightly wound and had a crunchy exterior.  Inside, there was a considerable amount of salted egg yolk custard that was not as sweet as it looked.  It had a good balance of salty creaminess and some sweetness to balance.  On top, there was an appealing amount of salted egg yolk crumbs.

Along the same lines and style, I had the Coconut Kaya Croissant.  This was quite the pastry as it was heavy and a meal in itself.  The outside was extremely crunchy and shattered with my first bite.  This was filled with coconut jam that made the whole thing appealingly sweet and completely aromatic.  With the sweet topping on the side of the croissant, it added both a different texture as well as more sweetness.

Staying with the same pastry, I also had the Pineapple Pandan shaped like the leaf and in a rich green colour.  Definitely representative of the Pandan leaf.  There was a good crunch to the pastry while the layers were quite evident.  I would've liked it a bit lighter, but this was still quite good.  I got the sweetness of the pineapple and also the floral aromatics of the pandan.

Moving onto something with the same flavour profile but completely different, we had the Pandaan Signature Cake featuring coconut curd, pandan chantilly, roasted pineapple confit and coconut graham base.  The sweet pineapple layer was at the forefront while the sponge was super moist and light.  I thought the pandan was subtle and could've been a bit stronger.  However, this cake was light and ultimately delicious.

So the slice of 24K Gold Mango Cheesecake was quite familiar yet different at the same time.  This was refreshing, especially for a cheesecake.  It was actually light mango cheesecake, so it had all the flavour of such without being as heavy as a brick.  The sponge was light and moist while the addition of mango chunks only amped the mango flavour.  We also had some passionfruit puree in there to add some more tangy sweetness.

Something far more subtle was the Peach Garden with a layer of Osmanthus Jelly on top.  This was fragrant and semi-sweet.  Below that we found cream with both yellow and white peach.  Again, the same soft and moist sponge cake followed while layered with yellow peach mousse.  I found this cake to be very Asian with its mild sweetness and restrained flavours.

Onto those whimsical treats that Daan Go is known for, we had the Tira Meow Su featuring vanilla chiffon 24-hour cold brew, coffee syrup, mascarpone and crema in a Chocolate Cup.  Yes, this was extremely cute and a nice play on words as well.  It also ate quite well too with a creamy texture and a good punch of coffee.  I found this just sweet enough.

Another cute treat was the Carrotail featuring carrot cake, dulce de leche cream, toasted milk Bavarian & pecan crisp.  Sure, the cute bunny was probably enough to win me over, but it really did taste good too.  Loved the cream on the outside as it was rich without being heavy.  However, the crunch from the crisp is what made this dessert.  Nice textural contrast with the rest of the bunny.  It was sweet, but retrained while the carrot came through.  Overall, this wide range of items were good and of course whimsical.  Hence, I think Daan Go offers a good mid-range experience with lots of choices.

 

*Partial comp on this order*

 

The Good:

- Wide range of products

- Cute

- Classic Asian, "not too sweet"

 

The Bad:

- Compared to higher-end spots, maybe not as refined, but then you are not paying high-end prices either