Asian dessert shops seem to be all the rage as more and more shops pop up in our area. From bubble tea to mochi donuts, to ube cheesecake and matcha ice cream, wide varieties of desserts are now available to Maryland foodies. Three shops opened recently in May: Gwenie’s Pastries located near Pike and Rose, BoBaPop located in Rockville Town Center, and Doki Toki in Gaithersburg.

Gwenie’s Pastries is a family-owned bakery based in Rockville. Serving the Washington, D.C. area and more for over 15 years, they specialize in classic Filipino desserts and fusion specialties, as well as their own unique creations, and are quite popular for their ube-flavored desserts. Ube is purple yam, which is a popular root crop in the Philippines, and the ube colors the cheesecake a lovely purple, making it a feast for both the eyes and mouth. Other unique flavors include pandan, a tropical fruit; and yema, a type of custard. They also have popular Filipino desserts like sylvanas, a Filipino frozen cookie, as well as the famed pan de sal bread rolls. Their family recipes are handed down from one generation to another. Stella Fernandez, baker and co-founder of Gwenie’s Pastries, said, “Moments together in the kitchen have made food and pastries a big part of our family tradition.” She said their way of honoring their family is by sharing the tastes of her family’s traditions with the world.
BoBaPop opened inside a previously opened dessert shop called Kyoto Matcha in Rockville Town Center. They partnered with Kyoto Matcha as a two-store layout in order to provide customers in the DMV with all sorts of wonderful drinks and desserts, all in the same spot. With beautiful interior design on both sides, there is plenty of green terrace space, outdoor seating, and ample parking options. In a cup of BoBaPoP are premium tea leaves from Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, and India. Many of the toppings are made in-house, with lactose-free, caffeine-free, and gluten-free options that are both healthy and delicious. BoBaPop is also environmentally conscious, as they are constantly exploring new and sustainable ways to reduce their environmental impact. So far, they have implemented stainless steel and bamboo straws, environmental-friendly cleaning supplies, energy-saving LED light bulbs, and source local fresh ingredients regularly with industry-leading filtered water to achieve the highest quality drinks.

Doki Toki dessert shop is located in Gaithersburg and is a Japanese dessert shop that serves ice cream, mochi donuts, milk tea, and special desserts like rice and yogurt cheesecake, egg tarts, cube cake, crepe cakes panna cotta drinks. They value locally grown, fresh ingredients made into traditional recipes that taste amazing. According to their website, they believe in the value of homemade, handcrafted quality baked goods: “Not only do they warm the home, but our products will definitely warm your heart.”

Doki Toki took over the spot formerly occupied by Mango Mango, an Asian dessert that served traditional Hong Kong-style sweet soup desserts, modern fusion sweets, and pastries that was open from October 2019 until April 2021.