If you’re in Midtown Atlanta and you’re looking for a quick sweet roll — an authentic Portuguese egg custard tart, for example, or an Oreo donut — then Sweet Hut sounds like a reasonable option, right?
The huge self-serve racks down the center of this Asian-influenced bakery are packed with savory snacks (black pepper chicken puffs, spring onion hot dogs, ham and cheese buns), sweet treats (honey cinnamon rolls, Nutella danishes, cream cheese donuts), and more obscure fare (lotus pastries with salted egg yolk, sweet corn and ham bread, and seaweed and bacon rolls).
These all look beautiful, but, to me, the savory goods in the self-serve rack taste too sweet and the sweet goods aren’t sweet enough. More than once, I’ve gotten home with Sweet Hut baked goods, only to have a bite or two before tossing them. (This never happens with, say, Sublime Donuts.)
There are more traditional (and sweeter) baked goods in the refrigerated cases up front. (And I confess a part of me wonders whether the unrefrigerated self-service savory rolls containing chicken and pork ought to be up there with them.) Here, you can snag little squares of Black Forest cake or medallions of mango mousse, or little cups of caramel brûlée.
Since the place opened, the vegetarian in me has wanted to try to try Sweet Hut’s meatless burgers. This past week, I bellied up to the bar, ordered the tofu and portabella burger — and found it to be inedible.
Mine came drenched in a syrupy-sweet balsalmic and soy sauce that saturated the bun and obliterated every other flavor in the sandwich. Had a friend not offered up half her spicy chicken panini, I would have left hungry.
The place is clearly a hit with students from nearby Georgia Tech and a large number of diners of Asian descent, so they won’t need my business to stay open. That said: when I’m in the mood for something sweet, I’ll snag my baked goods elsewhere, and for veggie burgers, I’ll stick with Einstein’s for now. Not recommended.
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