Chen’s Dessert House

second chinese dessert place I know in ottawa. comparable to the ones I tried in toronto. I would recommend durian pancake for durian lovers. Also chen’s special taro ball and milk tea. popcorn chicken 鹽酥鷄 is very tasty. overall everything I tried is good and not too sweet or salty. would like to try plain tofu dessert next time.

This is a Hong Kong-​style dessert place. Very similar to Honeytown on Somerset. I went here with my parents today and we loved it! Everything tasted great. It just seemed kind of pricey for what you get.
All menu items have extremely long names since the name is basically the description as well. I got the «mini rice ball in mango cream with coconut jelly and mango» for $ 7.99. My mom got the «handmade taro ball #1 with grass jelly, red bean and green bean» for $ 8.99 — don’t worry, the «green beans» are actually mung beans — they are not string beans! My dad got the «chilled mango sago cream with pomelo, mini rice ball and green tea ice cream» for $ 8.99.
Not only did our desserts look pretty, but they were very tasty. The desserts were not too sweet and they had a creamy and chewy texture. However, I recognize that these types of desserts are probably not for everyone. For example, I would never take my husband here. He finds bubble tea, tapioca pudding and rice pudding to be repulsive. If you are of the same opinion, you probably won’t like the types of desserts that we had. I would recommend that you choose something else if you go here, like one of their crepes, ice creams or cakes (although I didn’t try those, so I don’t know if they are good or not).
The mini rice balls were so soft and chewy. The mango pieces were ripe and sweet. The coconut jelly was sweet and chewy, and the mango cream was sweet with a hint of tartness. I really enjoyed my dessert.
The décor is very minimal so the space looks a little sparse. The place is very clean, including the washrooms. The servers are really nice.
This dessert place is difficult to find. The address is on Clyde, but you can’t really see it when you’re driving on Clyde (as the storefront is not on Clyde). You need to drive into a laneway/​parking lot to see the restaurant (the storefront is perpendicular to Clyde). It’s right next door to Prince Gourmet (Shawarma). So if you’re going northbound on Clyde, turn right as soon as you see the Prince Gourmet. Then you’ll see Chen’s Dessert House. If you go deeper into the parking lot you will see M&J Tropical Supermarket.
Obviously lots of free parking.
These guys just opened 2 months ago. I hope they succeed because there aren’t many other dessert places like it in Ottawa. Ottawa needs more culinary diversity! I’ll be back.