U Knead Sweets - Columbia

The large beef noodle with the soy egg was delicious and big enough for two. Rich broth cradles hearty noodles, silky beef, and bright greens. Very flavorful. Jasmine tea with boba jelly had a grand bouquet of jasmine flavor. It has an intense perfume essence that I found delightful, however it was far too sweet. The egg custard tart sports the most flaky layers I’ve ever seen in a lard crust, magical. The custard itself was silky in texture, lightly vanilla scented, perfectly sweet and evenly baked. The coconut macaroons (some call these candies, “haystacks” look, smell, feel, and taste EXACTLY like the ones my southern Alabama Grammy made for Easter every year. I bought TEN of them. Don’t judge me. Finally the Japanese soufflé cheesecake could be a little lighter, however; the lightly sweetened, neutral flavor of the cheese seems to beg for a coulis or fresh fruit. I still bought another piece to take home, don’t get it twisted. I have some homemade berry preserves that need a mate. Finally, I purchased the Lemon cake for my daughter. It is a beautiful and perfectly proportioned lemon layer cake. I hope she lets me taste it…

My family has been long-time fans of the chocolate ganache and matcha-red bean paste cakes. We love that they added beef noodle soup (with bok choy, pickled vegetables, and optional soy egg), chili oil noodles (no beef), and milk tea drinks. It's a favorite treat of mine to get a bowl of noodles and follow that with dessert. Last time we visited they had egg tarts for the first time (that we noticed). All good developments! We would love more Asian bakery options!

I had the black forest cake, the red velvet cheesecake brownie dish, and the red chili oil noodles. The black forest cake was so delicious and I'm not one for sweet delicates ordinarily. The brownie dish was a bit on the sweet side, but that is to be expected. The red chili oil noodles were very good and the portion size for the price was fair. Very good quiet bakery, thank you Zoë for the service.

My favorite if not only bakery to visit in town. Their cakes are tasty, flavorful with the right balance of sweetness. We come back for the same cakes all the time.

Reputation inflation is a real danger, so this four-star review might be a five-star review in the hands of someone more generous. So, the good stuff: their beef noodle soup is incredible (shown in the picture). The environment is nice, the staff is friendly, and their taro milk tea with boba is phenomenal. Indeed, the taro milk tea is better than Bubblecup Tea Zone and high quality, according to my friend who used to work in a boba tea shop in Seattle. The only gripe that I have is the boba pearls, which are a little tough. I ended up drinking all the tea and throwing some of pearls away. Other than that, this shop is phenomenal. Another thing to note (as of 07/17/21), their prices are slightly higher than listed. It is something they were apologetic for and hopefully will fix soon, and it is understandable as inflation is hitting everyone hard.