By Trinity Chau & Sophie Vu
Located on Brookhurst and Mcfadden, Nostimo Cafe & Tea serves coffee, tea, desserts and acai bowls inspired by Vietnamese flavors.
While there, we ordered two souffles and two drinks, making the bill come out to $43.25, including tax. Nostimo is by no means a cheap dessert place… but what really is nowadays?
Combined with their picturesque desserts and their cafe’s calming ambiance, Nostimo seemed like the perfect place to eat desserts with friends and family. However, there’s one key detail we need to disclose: we didn’t really enjoy their food.
Now, now, let’s not jump onto the Nostimo hate bandwagon. This is one food review and it simply didn’t suit our taste buds, but they do have 4 stars on Yelp and 4.2 stars on Google reviews.
With that in mind, here’s our honest review on Nostimo cafe’s food.
- Nostimo Cafe Muoi Me (Sesame Coffee)—$6.25
The first drink that we tried was the black sesame coffee. The drink itself is separated into three layers: the white, milky bottom, the middle sesame layer and the dark golden coffee on top. Once you get a good mix of all the layers, the coffee becomes a nice almond brown.
On the first sip of the drink, the strong coffee hits you immediately. Many may be taken back at this flavor, while others bask in its richness.
This drink doesn’t stop there.
With more and more sips, the roasted black sesame flavor shows. The rich, nutty flavors from the black sesame compliment the strong coffee well and create a concentrated aftertaste.
We gave this drink an 8.5/10. Any coffee lovers out there looking for a fun, rich drink will love this and it certainly does the job of keeping you caffeinated.
- Ube Latte Coffee—$6.15
The second drink was the ube latte. This drink came out with a bright layer of purple ube on the bottom and light brown coffee on top. Compared to the sesame coffee, this drink wasn’t as strong. Instead it had a nice balance of sweetness from the ube and bitterness from the coffee.
The only criticism we had was that the drink itself didn’t taste like ube, and instead was only sweet. And because of this, we gave it a 6/10.
- Pork Floss Souffle—$13.75
The pork floss souffle was a disappointment. Coming out it looked delicious with the two creamy sauces on top of the fluffy souffle. However once you take a bite, it’s hard to decipher what the flavor was.
At first we were expecting a nice combination of sweet and savory, but instead, this souffle only contained sweetness. With eggy sauce on top of the souffle and the sweet pork floss, the two flavors did not compliment each other well.
The one thing we liked about the souffle, was the souffle itself. Light, fluffy and a little bland, the souffle had a nice texture we all enjoyed.
Another little detail we’d like to disclose is that the soufflees took around 20-30 minutes to come out. With all of these factors combined, we gave this dessert a 4/10.
- Ube Coco Souffle—$13.99
The second souffle we had was the ube coco souffle. The souffle had a purple and white sauce on top; the purple resembling the ube from the latte.
On the first bite, we were expecting a nice ube flavor, however we were granted nothing but sweetness. The ube flavor was weak and wasn’t able to shine through amidst all the other things on the plate.
The one thing that had an ube flavor was the purple cubes on the side of the souffle. Similarly, the texture of the souffle was better than the dessert itself due to its light consistency and fluffness.
We gave this dessert a 6.6/10.
Overall, Nostimo Cafe & Tea 6/10 due to lack of flavor in some of their dishes.
While we don’t recommend ordering the ube inspired menu items, Nostimo is still a good place to get dessert, for those who enjoy Vietnamese inspired flavors.
