A few weeks ago, I visited an East-Asian bakery in downtown Ann Arbor: Ondo Bakery. Located at 324 S State St, ONDO Bakery opened earlier in the school year and replaced Ann Arbor Coffee Roasting Co. Their signature drinks aim to bring out Instagram aesthetics, which include the Biscoff latte and the black sesame cream latte.
I had often passed by the bakery for a few months, and it always caught my eye, but I never got to try out their delicacies until now. My friend and I walked in on an afternoon to a packed store: university students seated all around and many others looking at the pastries. We got a tray and decided to get a Matcha Cream Donut, an Early Grey New York Roll, and a Fruit Cream Danish. Along with these, we each decided to get a coffee: an iced Coconut Cream Latte and an iced Raspberry Matcha Latte. The total came to a little over $30.
After finding a seat, we dug in. The Matcha Cream Donut was extremely soft and the matcha was strong, which helped balance out the sweetness. For the Earl Grey New York Roll, I was a little unsure going into it because I wasn’t familiar with the flavor, but it turned out to be surprisingly good. It had a citrus with a little smokey taste— I really liked it! The roll itself was crunchy on the outside and filled with more earl grey filling in the inside. The textures were amazingly balanced out. Lastly, the Fruit Cream Danish was composed of a crispy-outside-soft-inside danish with clear syrup, whipped cream, and fruits. Again, the texture of each element was really well balanced out. I was pleasantly surprised with the pastries. For the drinks, I really liked the coconut flavor in the Coconut Cream Latte, which wasn’t expected. For my friend’s Raspberry Matcha coffee, I liked the sweetness of the raspberry syrup added to the matcha flavor. I would say any matcha-lover would absolutely love this bakery.
Overall, my experience was great. The interior was welcoming and had soft colors. I liked the plant decorations and the cutouts in the walls. The pastries were well displayed, and it definitely didn’t disappoint. I would 100% recommend this place to anyone with a sweet tooth like me.
