U Knead Sweets - Columbia

The egg custard tart was incredible, featuring the flakiest layers I've ever encountered in a lard crust—it was truly magical. The custard itself was silky, lightly scented with vanilla, perfectly sweet, and baked to perfection. The coconut macaroons, which some refer to as "haystacks," looked, smelled, felt, and tasted exactly like the ones my grandmother from Alabama made for Easter every year. I couldn’t resist and ended up buying TEN of them—don’t judge me! The Japanese soufflé cheesecake could have been a tad lighter, but its subtly sweet and neutral cheese flavor practically begged for a coulis or fresh fruit topping. Nevertheless, I still bought another slice to take home—I have some homemade berry preserves that need a companion. Lastly, I picked up a beautiful lemon layer cake for my daughter. It was perfectly proportioned, and I can only hope she’ll let me have a taste!

My family has been a fan of the chocolate ganache and matcha-red bean paste cakes for many years. We’re excited about the new additions to the menu, including the beef noodle soup (served with bok choy, pickled vegetables, and an optional soy egg), chili oil noodles (without beef), and various milk tea drinks. One of my favorite treats is enjoying a bowl of noodles followed by dessert. During our last visit, we noticed they offered egg tarts for the first time, which was a delightful surprise. These are all wonderful enhancements! We would love to see even more Asian bakery options in the future!

I tried the black forest cake, red velvet cheesecake brownie, and red chili oil noodles. The black forest cake was absolutely delicious, and I'm usually not a fan of overly sweet desserts. The brownie was a bit too sweet for my taste, but that's to be expected. The red chili oil noodles were excellent, and the portion size was reasonable for the price. Overall, it’s a lovely and quiet bakery. Thank you, Zoë, for the great 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.