Breaktime Desserts

Man, Cupertino kids don’t know how good they have it with Breaktime around. Growing up, the only Chinese desserts I got outside of my mom’s cooking were fortune cookies from Panda Express. Breaktime is like Willy Wonka’s wonderland to me. I don’t understand some of the hate for Breaktime. I guess it’s all perspective. Some folks say it’s not authentic enough, or it’s just okay, etc. etc., but I come from a far away land called Rancho San Diego, where I was one of less than 2% Asians in my high school. This means I never had a delicious Hong Kong style dessert café within my reach.
So when I finally came to Breaktime, I almost had an identity crises. The desserts were so good, so Chinese-​y, and it validated 24 years of growing up as one of the few Asians in town. Sesame porridge that was thick with REAL grounded almonds or sesame in it (none of the powdered junk that you can get at 99 Ranch), fried man tao with condensed milk, baked tapioca pudding, and my favorite of all time… hot almond egg pudding steamed!
I take one star off because they do have erratic business times. They’re closed on Mondays and sometimes they have signs that says «We will be back at…» and the time is ALWAYS «11:00.» WHAT DOES THAT MEAN, BREAKTIME? Also, if you go in the morning, the chick who works there is named Kitty, and she’s super nice, but always forgets to add the sugar in my steamed egg pudding. =\ It tastes better in the evening when the other chick is working. YES, that’s how much I love egg pudding. I taste egg puddings like a blind-​folded wine afficianado guessing the year and origins of a $ 4,000 wine. So trust me.
Also, their entrees are yummg too. My boyfriend and I usually share the spaghetti (I love fobby-​but-​westernized– dishes) and then share an egg pudding. He once took a bite of my friend Peggy W.‘s apple tart here (which you have to order in advance b/​c it takes 30 min. to make) and said it was the best thing he’d ever tasted. So remember to try that too.

I had the mixed fruit sorbet with guava juice. It was good but I think they added just a tad too much juice because it got liquid-​y fast. I thought this place was all about desserts but they have a small menu for snacks too. I ordered the fried chicken wings. It comes out piping hot and it’s pretty good. They don’t make it until you order it so it took like 10 – 15 minutes for it to come out.
On another note, they have a student discount. Show them your De Anza ID card and you get 10% off your bill.

I think three stars (A-​OK) is fair. I’ve been here a few times with my hubby and friends. I’m never like, «wow this place is awesome!», but we always seem to end up going back.
The main reasons to go are that they’re open late and that they have a good variety of Hong Kong snacks that are not easy to find in the South Bay. Their HK milk tea is decent, but their eggettes (gai dan jai) are kind of hit or miss.
As for service, yeah it can be a problem. They’re usually friendly, but understaffed. I wouldn’t recommend going here if you’re starving or in a hurry. But if you’re just hanging out with friends and don’t mind slow service then it doesn’t seem to matter as much.
I’ll probably go here again when craving HK dessert and I don’t feel like leaving the South Bay.
Oh, and be aware, it’s cash only.

I can understand how the reviews are harsh. The portions are admittedly small. However, I love this place for reasons beyond the food. I love this place for the atmosphere, and I go there for only dessert. It’s perfect for those of us that are not heavy eaters, but still want to meet with friends for snacks that are not mountains of fries. Other boba places do not offer this type of setting, and in that respect breaktime is unique.
Because it essentially offers me a living room away from my place, I meet friends there sometimes multiple times a week, or even twice a day once.
I like the mango superb, the lemon drink, the warm tea pot, the sweet tofu.

Horrible! Man… what a disappointment. We stopped in tonight for a quick milk tea and eggette (egg waffle) fix and were disappointed in 4 areas.
1) THE MILK TEA with boba was watery instead of milky and too sweet. We don’t get fooled into thinking something of poor quality is good just because you add extra sweetness. Also, the tapioca were gummy on the outsides, so much that they were fat and wouldn’t easily go through the straw.
2) THE WAIT… we waited more than 20 minutes for our eggette. Really? The tea came in a lil under 10 minutes and we were done with it’s yuckiness and waiting another 10 minutes before our waffle… bad. This wait was extra ridiculous considering there were only 2 other tables in the whole place.
3) THE EGGETTE smelled like ‘a movie theater’ according to my guy. What he meant, was that it smelled like old popcorn oil. I agreed. It didn’t taste too oily but, it also was not good and was a lil too well-​done, or too brown.
4) THE PRICES — After tip, our bill for a milk tea and eggette came to $ 9. The eggette alone is 4.15 here… we pay $ 2-​something in SF. That’s ridiculous. Other examples of their outrageous pricing includes an $ 11 soufflé. Really? Not even at my favorite higher end Vegas restaurant is the soufflé $ 11.
Needless to say, we won’t be back. This is strike 2 for milk tea in the Cupertino Village Square. We thought Q-​Cup had the worst boba ever but we’d still rather go there than back here. That’s saying a lot.
Won’t see ya there.

We had the chicken wings, papaya juice with white tapiocas and fruit balls, and chocolate soufflé. The papaya juice was good because it wasn’t too sweet or bland (watered down). The soufflé took 25 mins to prepare and it was good with the custard sauce. However, the chicken came out under cooked, it was still bloody near the bones.
The items are fairly expensive for the quality.

Eggettes here: $ 4.15
Eggettes in the city: $ 2.75
I supposed you can charge this much because not many other places serves them but you charge more and yet make it burnt? I thought my first burnt one was a fluke and so I forgave you. My second one was also burnt? This will be the last time I’m getting those from here.
Still, I supposed other things will be good here too but it seems like the consensus is that they charge you a premium for desserts in asian town. =(

AGH. Breaktime — You break my break my HEART. It is not a good sign when you’re excited to write a review about a place because it was SO bad.
I came here with Diana W. and some friends. Those of us who Unilocal were already concocting reviews about how horrible Breaktime is, before we left.
First, everything is recession sized and priced. We ordered a shaved ice with longan fruit and condensed milk. They charge for EACH condiment you order. $ 5.55 for a pile of ice with a dribble of condensed milk and 5 weak looking longan fruits?! Not worth it. All of us stared at it in disbelief.
Then we also got this fruit/​almond jello mix over green tea ice cream. For nearly $ 7 bucks, I don’t think it would have been sufficient for even two people.
At first I was weirded out by all the signs (I counted at least 3) saying tipping is MANDATORY. But when our service was so bad, I thought maybe it’s good they have those signs up… for the sake of the employees. Service was slow and not helpful when we asked about the desserts we were interested in getting.
I do not recommend this place. The pictures on the menu are NOT to scale (think 2x smaller!), everything is overpriced, and like I said: service sucks. Shame on you, Breaktime.

DO NOT BE DECEIVED BY THE PICTURE MENU!
I am so disappointed in this place. I’ve walked by several times before and the menu always looked so promising. This place represents the epitome of how looks can be deceiving.
Some friends were visiting and we wanted to try a dessert place. I figured this would be okay right? WRONG.
First of all, the prices are a tad high for a dessert place. I assumed generous portions but that wasn’t the case. We ordered shaved ice with fruit, and green tea icecream with fruit. What we actually got was flavored water and old fruit. For a place where I had low expectations, this place really failed.
Then, it’s cash only. I hate cash only places, especially since most of the menu is between $ 5 – 10. I only tolerate cash only when it’s for things under $ 3. On top of all that, they charge you 15% gratuity for half-​ass service if you’re group exceeds 5(?). Look, I’m all about generous tipping if the service is good. I don’t consider ignoring my hand waving for the check for 10 minutes good service. Nor do I consider attitude good service.
I only gave this place a 2 for benefit of the doubt that maybe some things on the menu will be good. But I’ll never know since I don’t plan on coming back.
Breaktime, you fail.

1. HOW CAN DESSERT NOT BE YUMMY.
* We were craving shaved ice so we got one w/​mangos & tapioca. Both ingredients were not fresh. Mangoes were gooey/​syrupy (from a can?) and tapioca pearls were not chewy.
2. Overpriced
* We paid almost $ 10 (inc 15% tip) for the nasty bowl of ICE.
3. Cash only
* At least Q-​cup serves yummy stuff. Cash only at an inedible place? No!
4. Demands tip for DESSERT. What an instant turn off!!! You’re not even a server. You’re a fucking CASHIER multitasking as a server just to get tip. RIDICULOUS.
* I got annoyed of their tipping policy so I wanted to leave as soon as I saw their tacky little printed signs about how cheap the owners were. (as well as 15% minimum tip added for groups, a complaint about how «servers» are living off of tips, $ 4 minimum charge for eating there… etc.) But my bf was nice enough to convince me to stay since we already came inside, and even paid the full 15% tip. GRRR… Having a nice boyfriend is upsetting sometimes!!!
5. 15% automatic tip for big groups
6. Minimum charge to be present inside. Nope, not even a minimum charge for credit card, but just to be there. In that stupid undelicious dessert hole.
STUPID BREAK TIME!!!
(before you report me, take a look at my other reviews. I’m rarely this bitchy)

Great variety of desserts!
They have everything from your typical Asian desserts, like sago w/​fruit and eggpuffs, to ice cream to crème brûlée! I decided on the warm sweet tofu w/​ginger syrup — a comfort food for me. I was a fan because a lot of places don’t offer the ginger syrup which makes it a loooot better in my opinion.

Overpriced. Almost $ 4 for a smoothie, over $ 6 for a crème brûlée, over $ 10 for a soufflé. You might be thinking that you can just split something with a friend to keep the cost down… but during «peak hours» (Fridays after 8, all day on weekends), there’s a minimum purchase of $ 4 per person. Oh, and it’s cash only. Just keeps getting better and better, huh?
Plus there’s an automatic 15% tip for groups of 6 or more… a.k.a. the Service Kiss Of Death (© 2009 Kevin C) because it gives the waitstaff liberty to be subpar without monetary repercussion. Service was surprisingly not terrible*, but all the food was very slow to come out. The wait might not have been so bad, but the heat inside was nearing sauna levels.
*: In general, when your strong point is surprisingly-​not-​terrible service… you might be on your way to a 1-​star review.
It wasn’t peak hours and I wasn’t very hungry, so my friend and I split a $ 6.25 crème brûlée with fruit. It was completely cold. This surprised me because the top of a crème brûlée is supposed to be torched. It was in a chocolate-​lined cup, which was kind of nice. The fruit was sparse… a few blueberries on top, six thin slices of strawberry and some strawberry syrup on the plate. Not recommended.
Speaking of recommendations, another friend ordered a mango smoothie, which was marked with a thumbs-​up on the menu (Chef’s Recommendation). Thumbs down. Too frothy (huh?), and not very flavorful. So bad that she didn’t finish it or want to take the rest to go, even though it was already in a to-​go cup. Bottom line: if my friends aren’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.

When you’re desperate for HK desserts and can’t make it to the city, then you”ll have to settle for what’s in Cupertino Square. I ordered the Sticky Rice with Fresh Mango and Ice Cream ($ 6.45). Yes, you read right… almost $ 7!!! Usually this kind of dessert would cost no more than $ 4.50 anywhere else. There were ice particles all up everywhere in my dessert which made my teeth chatter with every bite. The sticky rice was mixed in with something else — I think it was watered down coconut milk — which gave it a soupy consistency. I’m also not sure what the orange-​colored ice cream was… it didn’t taste fully like mango but it wasn’t quite orange eitehr. One good thing is that the portions were big but it might not be an advantage in this case; it’s just more of a bad thing that you have to finish in order not to feel jipped.
Pros:
–Service was great. When we walked in with a stroller, the waitress immediately moved aside a chair at a table so there was more room for us. She kept up with all our requests even though she was the only one manning the entire floor and it was packed.
–Constantly updated menus — I could tell since ours said «Spring ’09» but maybe they update it so they can keep jacking up the prices.
Cons:
–OVERPRICED! The souffles are almost $ 11 each and no, they’re not gigantic.
–They don’t serve some authentic desserts like gui ling gao.
–A spider crawled right onto our table.
–The annoying, low hung banner in front (even someone who is 5′ would have to duck). I know this I may be getting nit picky at this point.
I know that even giving this place a bad review probably won’t make a difference. All the Asians in the South Bay seem to congregate here. Cash only, typical. But there is a Bank of the West in walking distance that has a $ 3 surcharge. FREAK!

This place was pretty small but seemed to be quite popular (I came here on a Saturday night). I ordered the Ice Cream Snowman ($ 5.65) and it took awhile for my order to come. After I finished it, I decided that it wasn’t worth the $ 5.65 and that a lot of the menu items were overpriced. I saw a sign on the door that said each person has a $ 4 minimum charge if it’s during rush hour which is Fridays after 8pm and Saturdays and Sundays. Service was okay.

A cute Asian dessert place about 10 minutes away from my parents’?!? How did I not know about this?
I had the mango sago that was delicious, even on a cold day. All the deserts look so yummy! Definitely going back again.

Original Steamed Egg Dessert Pudding
— rather expensive at $ 4.85
— takes 15+ minutes for dessert to arrive (clearly stated on menu)
— steamed egg dessert was okay.
Service and food were both okay.

Hey hey hey! I was a 3stars on this baby right here until I came here again.
I came here for the first time before I left for Taiwan with 2 of my good housemate budsss GHA and o-​SIRIS. Anyways, I ordered some fruit sorbet, and I’d expect at least a bit of Chinese flavor to it. The only thing Chinese about it was the nice presentation. It was literally, scoops of sorbet ice cream with fruits. That’s it, and not worth the money. Who am I to complain, GHA paid for my birthday, what a jolly old fellow.
CUTTING TO THE CHASE:
I came here last Saturday with a bud GusGus, because she JUST had to have some SAGO. Ya’ll have to realize, the last time I came here was pre-​Taiwan and Hong Kong and you KNOW how good the desserts are there. So unfortunately (or so I thought) I had to come here again.
I ordered H-​7 on the menu:
Description: It is red sticky rice, with mango ice cream and mango, in coconut juice. It is cold and it was nottt bad at all! I was pretty impressed.
I tried my friend’s watermelon juice with sago. Do not get that. You know when you’re a kid and your mom cuts you watermelon in a bowl? Okay, so after you eat all the watermelon, what do you do? You drink the juice. Remember how it wasn’t as savoring and sweet as the actual watermelon right? Well this is exactly what the watermelon sago juice tasted like. I recommend you getting the sago with a different juice.
Be prepared to bring $ 7 – 10 if you’re not ordering a drink.

When I travel to other countries, I make it a point to try any or whatever food seems interesting. Whether I’ve just eaten or its 2 AM, if I see an interesting food stall or a cool snack place, I’m game. «Eating machine» is a monniker I’ve been labeled with more than once.
In particular, I love snack and dessert shops. With smaller portions and quick bites, they make the perfect place to try some novel cuisine for the 6^th time that day. Asia is littered with hundreds of these places where people truly seem to eat 24 hours a day.
It’s with this mentality that I came across Breaktime in Cupertino Village. Though I was there to get some groceries from Ranch 99 and dinner around the corner, the menu items of mango sago, baked spaghetti, and fruit pudding lured me inside.
The place is small, and supposedly gets crowded, like similar places in SF and Milpitas. What wasn’t typical were the prices. I hadn’t even bothered to look prior to sitting down, but quickly noticed once I perused the menu. The spaghetti dish was $ 8.95. The mango sago was $ 5.95. All the drinks were $ 4 or above.
I decided to withhold judgment until I saw the portion sizes. Unfortunately, everything was in line with a smaller «snack» size.
The spaghetti dish was tasty, but with minimal meat and such a tiny size, it definitely was a poor deal.
Having been to countless such places in the Bay Area and abroad, I feel the prices here need to be reduced at least 25%. At $ 6, the spaghetti dish would be a little on the pricey side given the size, but $ 8.95 was unjustified.
For just ok food and with escalating prices, I can’t give Breaktime more than 2 stars. They also have a $ 4/​person minimum, so no meeting friends or just sharing one dessert.
Cash only.

This is your average Asian dessert place. I had a wonderful evening hanging out here on a Sunday night.
— deco: clean, fun.
— food:
— chicken wings — nice crispy fried wings, tasty and not too oily
— item H7, black rice w/​sago, mango ice cream and fresh mango. — only complaint about this one is that there wasn’t that many pieces of fresh mango compared to the picture on the menu.
— a bit more pricey than other dessert places nearby, but this is Cupertino…

I had the shaved ice with Strawberries, lychee jelly, and condensed milk. They give you a lot for and it’s enough for two people (my mistake). The strawberries weren’t sweet and were a little sour, so that takes off one star.
My date got the Crème Brûlée and that was really good. Although, it’s too small to share unless you get another small item.
The place is pretty small, but people usually just have their dessert and leave, so seating was not a problem. The ceiling decoration and the pictures of desserts on the wall created a nice atmosphere.
Overall, this place is good for after dinner desserts.