Wazuzhi Dessert Room

The Wazuzhi (formerly Wasabi) Dessert Room is an amazing dessert room for Chinese desserts.  You have probably passed by it loads of times without realising if you frequent China Town. It is located upstairs from the Wazuzhi Sushi place on Faulkner Street. The best thing about this place? Their opening hours! From 2pm – 9:30pm (last orders 9pm) Monday, Wednesdays adnd Fridays. Saturdays and Sundays 12:30 – 9:30pm.

Wazuzhi Dessert Room interior

The interior is quite bright and cheerful with pictures of the desserts along one bright pink wall. I do find the assortment of furniture a bit odd with it largely being stools and tables, then a random sofa at the back. The stools aren’t really that comfortable to sit on but the atmosphere is generally welcoming.

The Menu

I really like the menu at the Wazuzhi Dessert Room as they serve a varied assortment of Chinese desserts that I grew up on and more. My favourites are the snow ices and the tofu dessert, the latter of which can be served either hot or cold, with original or ginger syrup. I would not recommend the ice cream mochi as they are really small for the price you are paying.

Desserts

What can I say? The dessert here is authentic to the ones I grew up with when I visited Hong Kong. There is a lot of choice from more Westernised waffles and chocolate fondants, to very Eastern soup desserts and tofu desserts.

My friend Ryo has more to say about the Snow Ice:

Snow Ice in here never disappoints! For people who don’t know what snow ice is – it’s a cross between sorbet, shaved ice and ice cream. It feels creamier than sorbet but much lighter than ice cream. You can really taste the fruits (or sesame/green tea) in the ice and it doesn’t taste artificial. The accompaniments are also very interesting – it shows a bit of Yin and Yang philosophy. If you order green tea snow ice, then you are more likely to get some red bean on the side. So, you mix something bitter and pallet-cleansing (green tea)  with sweet and nutty (red beans). With more fruit based snow ice like blueberry, you will have some rice cakes to give you a chewy texture and more wholesome flavour. Honestly, it is amazing especially in hot weather or when you need something light after a heavy meal.

Ryo

Vegan options

There are vegan options too! Check with the server at the time of order, but when I enquired I was given the following list:

• Grass Jelly Sago with a choice of fruit toppings
  (Grass jelly is very herbal in flavour, almost like bitter tea or cough medicine. Sago is a type of starch)
• Traditional Chinese Tong Shui
  (Tong Shui is a type of sugared soup dessert)
  Sweet Potato with sweet ginger soup
• Red bean sweet soup
• Black sesame paste (a sweetened soup dessert)
• Almond paste (a sweetened soup dessert)
• Tofu pudding (silky tofu in sugar syrup)
• Vegan ice cream (coconut, vanilla, mango or mandarin) which can be served with fresh fruits, coconut jellies, juice balls, bubbles or homemade mochi

Most of these are highly unusual to a Western palate. If unsure, I’d go with the vegan ice cream option and the tofu pudding if you are feeling a bit more adventurous.

Overall rating and comments

8.5/10  -1 for the interior. -0.5 for a lack of Westernised vegan options. It can’t be that hard to make vegan waffles, surely?? I really, really like this place for dessert as it’s unique and has a lot of my childhood favourites. Their opening hours make it a brilliant option for catching up with friends without having to drink alcohol or be in a noisy environment.

Would visit again?

YES!! A thousand times, yes! The Wasabi Dessert Room is one of my favourite places to visit in Manchester!

Information

Website: http://www.wasabisushi.co.uk/
Address: 63 Faulkner Street, Manchester, M1 4FF