Wat Mongkolratanaram Khanom Krok: My first exposure to this Thai street food was at Wat Mongkolratanaram, a buddhist temple in Berkeley right around the corner from Berkeley Bowl. Every Sunday, they host an outdoor market serving a variety of dishes, including pad thai, thai iced tea, curry, and beef noodle soup (a non-vegetarian buddhist meal). Along with these entrees are two desserts: mango sticky rice and khanom krok, the latter of which is $6 for 8 pieces. Khanom krok are a mash up of pancakes and rice pudding served... (read more) 2.5/5.0
thai pudding coconut berkeley watmongkolratanaram khanom krok 2.5
Smitten Salted Caramel Ice Cream: The two things I dislike about the Bay Area are 1) almost everything is overpriced, and 2) people see technology as the solution to everything. If there were any type of snack that represented these fundamental problems, it would be Smitten. At Smitten, ice cream is made to order using liquid nitrogen, which, in theory, freezes ice cream faster and produces smaller ice crystals and, as a result, a smoother texture. Because each flavor is produced on its own machine, Smitten can only carry... (read more) 2.5/5.0
icecream sanfrancisco smitten salted caramel ice cream 2.5
Share Tea Mango green tea with lychee jelly: After attending an event in Palo Alto, I wanted to get a caffeinated beverage for my drive back to the East Bay. I found myself at Share Tea, whose Berkeley branch I had just tried several days before. This time, I opted for a fruit tea and ordered their mango green tea at 30% sweetness with lychee jelly. Even at 30%, I still found the tea to be too sweet, though it did have a nice herbal flavor that came through. I also liked the lychee jelly, which had a good amount of firmness. The m... (read more) 2.5/5.0
drinks sharetea mango green tea lychee jelly 2.5
Sharetea Hokkaido black milk tea with boba: I stopped by this branch of Sharetea to scout out tea shops in downtown Berkeley; this one is located right on the edge of campus. Coming in around lunchtime meant there was a sizeable line of college students, and it took about 10 minutes total from getting in line to retrieving my drink. Their menu has several variants of classic black milk tea, including Hokkaido black tea, which supposedly has a roasted brown sugar flavor. Though I ordered it at 30% sweetness, it was more sweet than I wo... (read more) 2.5/5.0
bubbletea milktea drinks berkeley sharetea hokkaido black milk tea boba 2.5
The Daily Crave Veggie Chips: I received this pack of chips on my one-way flight to San Francisco. What I've never understood about veggie chips is that, purportedly, you might choose veggie chips to have a healthier snack, yet they always taste of oil and have very little veggie flavor. This bag falls into that trap: It's neither bad nor particularly good. 2.5/5.0
thedailycrave veggie chips 2.5
Alta Palla Sparkling blood orange soda: Having never seen this California-based brand, I purchased this can from my local Andronico's. Unfortunately, while it's an organic product, it tastes strikingly similar to Sunkist and is unnecessarily sweet. The one good thing I can say about is that the amount of carbonation was spot on. 2.5/5.0
drinks organic altapalla sparkling blood orange soda 2.5