Over one-third of Chicago’s Chinese American residents live in Chinatown and its adjacent neighborhoods, such as Bridgeport, McKinley Park, and Armour Square (1). Countless gift shops, family-owned restaurants, and small businesses line Wentworth Avenue, drawing in thousands of tourists each year from around the country. Chinatown Square, a major community and business center, features twelve bronze Chinese zodiac sculptures and is particularly popular among visitors (2). The Chicago Chinatown Chamber of Commerce organizes various events throughout the year, with the annual Dragon Boat Race for Literacy and Miss Chinatown Chicago Pageant being among the most well-known (3)!
To celebrate both my birthday and the last neighborhood showcase of Hot Off the French Press, my partner and I decided to do a dessert crawl on the busiest Saturday night possible: Valentine’s Day. We fought hordes of people, waited countless hours in lines, and scoured Chinatown Square for the tastiest desserts to review. All jokes aside, it was an absolute pleasure documenting my experiences trying coffee shops in Chicago, and I hope you enjoy my last full review as much as I did.
Matcha En
Starting off strong with the longest wait time and most extensive menu imaginable, Matcha En was truly a matcha-lover’s dream. From taiyaki fish cones to towel cake rolls to coconut pudding, the shop offered every possible dessert you could think of—and then some. If you weren’t quite in the mood for pastries or ice cream, you could choose from one of their over forty beverage options! Whether you were looking for a classic matcha latte or a specialty smoothie or float, Matcha En had a drink for everybody. The line was wrapped around the store, and we waited about twenty minutes to even get to the kiosk. Booths were packed with customers, and the baristas worked tirelessly to keep up with the massive amounts of orders. As an ex-barista myself, I have massive respect for the workers staying calm during such a busy night, and I hope they got the little treat they deserved at the end of the day.
Acknowledging that we would be visiting three shops in one day, we paced ourselves and decided on one dessert and one drink. After a bit of debate about what flavor millie crepe we should try, the matcha ended up winning, and we decided to pair her with a lychee jasmine tea. For being 75% sugar, the tea was far sweeter than I expected. I personally couldn’t taste much of the jasmine tea and thought the lychee was the dominant flavor. Brian, on the other hand, claimed that “there’s a little bit of jasmine” and thought the sweetness level was just fine. Tea aside, the mille crepe absolutely did not disappoint and had the perfect amount of cream. I find most crepe cakes to be rather mushy with too much cream, but the mille crepe had thin layers of filling and unsweetened matcha to balance it out. The texture was simply divine, and if I were to recommend any dessert from Matcha En, it would be this one!
Mango Mango
I believe in honest journalism, so I have two confessions: I lost track of how many times I have visited Mango Mango, and the attached photo is not from my latest visit. Mango Mango is one of those places where you try it once, and you simply cannot stop thinking about it. Every time we visit Chinatown, we always stop by, and I am convinced that we are solely funding their business expenditures. The shop is constantly full, and there is rarely an empty booth available. Pagers are always ringing as the staff pumps out orders at an impressive rate, keeping wait times low and patrons pleased. The first few visits to Mango Mango left me overwhelmed at the endless varieties of sundaes, waffles, and pastries they offered, but choices start narrowing down quickly when you look at their combos and most popular options. It’s hard to get bored at Mango Mango when there’s always something new to try!
Due to my incredibly smart decision to visit Chinatown on a Saturday night and Valentine’s Day, it was not lost to me that Mango Mango would be especially busy. I did not think we would find seating, so anticipating us having to eat outside in the freezing cold, I ordered us a strawberry mango juice sago with lychee jelly and mango ice cream to go. To my utmost surprise, we managed to snag a table at the last minute, but not without brutally sloshing around my sago in its container. The initial image I took was honestly a little sad looking, so I have attached a more flattering photo from the same sago in its proper dish. What keeps me coming back to Mango Mango is the freshness of their fruit, and it seems like their supplier lives in eternal summer, where all their produce is perfectly ripe. Their ice cream has an incredible, bold flavor that tastes like real fruit, pairing well with the texture of the lychee jelly and sago. The strawberries had a special sweetness to them, and the mango cubes were satisfyingly juicy to bite into.
Chicha San Chen
I think we had visited almost every boba and tea shop in Chinatown Square at least twice, so we were able to spot a new store that popped up right away: Chicha San Chen. With a vibe similar to Gathers Tea Bar (covered in my Little Italy post) and a line down the square, we knew we just had to try their products. Knowing that people would be settling down at restaurants to have their Valentine’s Day dinner, we decided to wait things out a little and eat our meal a bit earlier in hopes of coming out to an empty line—and we were right. At about 6pm, the line was half as long, and we managed to snag both a kiosk and a seat in about twenty minutes. From what I remember, there was no large menu anywhere, which was almost expected as it would likely clash with the minimal vibe. We scrolled through an online list and started searching for a lighter tea to balance out the heavy dinner we had just before.
I have never seen so many baristas staffed on one shift, so when I say that the bar looked like an assembly line, I truly mean that there were probably upwards of fifteen employees working at the same time. Normally, I would be hesitant about having so many baristas making my drink, as it seems like orders would be easily mixed up, but they had an impressive process that was not only efficient but satisfying to watch. To close out the night, my partner had an iced osmanthus and honey oolong tea, and I chose the hot dong ding oolong milk tea. The iced tea was bright and floral, with a hint of sweetness that really let the flavor shine. It was one of those iced teas that felt like spring in a cup with its refreshing and slightly fruity taste. On the contrary, the milk tea had a deeper, almost nutty flavor. The milk balanced out the natural boldness of the tea, making it the perfect drink for a cold winter night.
References
1) https://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/chinatown-demographics-change11th-ward/
2) https://www.choosechicago.com/listing/chinatown-square/
3) https://chicagochinatown.org/
About the Author
Elysa Valeriano (she/they) is majoring in political science and is in the BA/JD 3+3 Program. Elysa is a freshman and is excited to share their recommendations for local Chicago coffee shops with Honors students!
Hot off the French Press is an ongoing series by Elysa Valeriano in which she explores coffees shops in the Chicago area.
Read more on the Honors Blog.
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