Sago, or tapioca pudding, is a popular dessert in the Philippines and other parts of Southeast Asia. At Kulu Desserts, which has locations in Brooklyn, Elmhurst, and Flushing, these tiny tapioca balls appear in various puddings and cold desserts with fresh fruit, but it’s the warmed taro sago — thickened with sweet coconut milk — that rises above. Served in a bowl like a hot soup, it’s a soul-warming sweet treat ideal for a chilly day.

In Asia, bean curd is a versatile ingredient to be used in dishes both savory and sweet, and indeed that’s how it’s served as this flower shop-meets-tofu joint in Flushing. While the salty version of the dish, called dou fu hua, comes with dried shrimp and pickled mustard greens, its sweet counterpart soaks the silky curd with the traditional sweet ginger syrup. It’s a crazy affordable option — each cup costs just $1.75.

Interactive food lovers will enjoy the dessert offering at this Flushing mainstay specializing in northern Chinese, or Dongei, cuisine. Here, diners make their own ba si using soft chunks of taro dipped in molten sugar. The taro is twirled until its coat of sugar becomes thin and stringy, then dipped into a bowl of ice water before eating. The result is a nutty, crunchy candied-shell morsel that’ll grant reprieve from the mouth-searing heat of the dishes that preceded it.

This brightly hued, Japanese-inspired brasserie is part of Major Food Group’s big-ticket takeover of the Seagram Building. Style and whimsy are served in equal measures here, like in pastry chef Stephanie Prida’s foot-tall riff on the traditional kakigori shaved ice that splits the flavor between cream and blood orange. It’s the clear standout on the menu, filling the craving for nostalgia and sugar all at once.

An extensive menu of grilled meats and garlic rice draw crowds of Filipino families to this 12-year-old Woodside standby, which offers the traditional style of cooking from the owners’ home province of Cebu. Desserts are wide-ranging, from plain scoops of purple ube ice cream to mais con hielo — sweet corn kernels, shaved ice, sugar, and milk — and buko pandan, a creamy fruit salad of green jelly, coconut, and all-purpose cream. Most desserts are priced at less than $5.

The novelty of desserts that ooze when broken never seems to wear off, especially not at this Thai-owned dessert bar on St. Mark’s Place. While cookies, macarons, and ice creams are available for takeout, it’s the dessert “tapas” menu that fully spotlights chef Max Wittawat’s creativity, whether it’s warm puff pastry topped with milk ice cream and corn flakes, or matcha cakes filled with matcha custard. The shop’s pièce de résistance, however, is a time-honored holdover from previous years — a simple dark chocolate cake filled with green tea ganache and served with a side of green tea ice cream.

A front runner in the current rice noodle soup craze in NYC, Little Tong serves an excellent dessert beyond its excellent mi xian, the rice noodle soup of the Yunnan province. Milk tea crème brûlée is worth the visit alone. Made with pu erh tea, which is famed in Yunnan, chef-owner Simon Tong tops it with marinated peaches and basil tips, well offsetting the rich cream.

Japanese tea is the focus of this second-floor, Kyoto-style teahouse, which opened in the East Village nearly 15 years ago to a predominantly Japanese clientele. Today, Cha-An’s kitchen also deals in savory dishes and desserts, ranging from black sesame crème brûlée to a standout kakigori. The latter, a fair-weather, shaved-ice dessert dating back to the 11th century, is offered here in a fittingly traditional iteration with matcha syrup and condensed milk poured over a mound of hand-shaved ice, red bean paste, and glutinous rice mochi.

In tropical Vietnam, chè — a category of spoonable dessert often made with coconut milk, grass jellies, beans, and fruit — is a popular way to beat the heat. Ben Lowell and Sara Leveen, owners of this East Village Hanoian canteen, recognized the dish’s compatibility with American ice cream sundae formats. Here, it’s served up in a tall glass with shaved ice, crowning a mix of black grass jelly, banana, and lychee with a scoop of lychee black sesame ice cream from Il Laboratorio del Gelato. Only a dozen of these are made night.

The Philippines’ version of shaved-ice dessert is halo halo, a creamy, customizable coconut milk-based treat topped with ube, or purple yam, ice cream. At Pig & Khao, chef Leah Cohen gives her halo halo — which translates to “mix-mix” — a personal spin, with caramelized plantains, shredded macapuno (the soft endosperm of a coconut), and thick cubes of housemade flan. Served in a big soup bowl, it’s a lot of dessert for one person.

The coffee and service at this Chinatown institution may not be stellar, but the draw here is the sponge cakes. New Kam Hing is best known for these airy, subtly-sweet pastries, which are baked fresh daily and come in flavors like matcha and chocolate chip. Bonus: Each one is sold for less than a dollar.

French technique meets Japanese flavors at this Williamsburg dessert counter from chef Tomoko Kato. Cookies (yuzu, black sesame) and macarons (green tea, lavender mint) are available at the counter, along with several signature pastries including a standout salty caramel nut tart and yuzu mousse cake. Adventurous guests can dine in for a highly recommended, affordable dessert tasting of two courses for $12 and three for $16.

Although the original location of this 27-year-old Chinatown bakery closed, its myriad other locations will continue selling its vast selection of beloved desserts. On the traditional end, find festive holiday mooncakes and mochi balls with various fillings, while more contemporary options include the crowd-pleasing buttercream and coconut buns and matcha cheesecake. For special occasions, the bakery also offers whimsically designed custom cakes that can be ordered for pickup.

With locations in seven states, this NYC-grown, Hong Kong-inspired dessert franchise is spreading mango sweets far and wide. On offer are sweet “dessert soups” ranging from black rice soup with longan and date to papaya soup with almond, along with a selection of sundaes and fittingly mango-centric desserts. The best of these is the Hong Kong-style mango pancake, resembling crepe ravioli filled with fresh mango and whipped cream.

This intimate Prospect Heights shop is an offshoot of the once-beloved, now-shuttered mother-daughter Thai restaurant in Elmhurst. Reprising a few specialties from the original, Look turns out spicy som tum salads and savory noodles dishes. On the desserts front, the standout coconut ice cream shows a characteristically restrained sweetness, finished with coconut flakes and chunks of fresh young coconut.