Besfren Taro and matcha soft serve: I stumbled upon this tiny pastry shop on my way to Penn Station from KTown and was impressed with the quality of their soft serve. Served in a large but slightly pricy cup (at $5.50), the purple and green ice cream swirl is well balanced and perfectly smooth. The creamy, slightly vegetal flavor of taro works surprisingly well with bitter matcha. My only quibble is that the way the soft serve was swirled gave it a hollow center, so I think a third of the cup I received was just an air pock... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended besfren taro matcha soft serve 3.5 nyc ktown softserve icecream dessert
Shake Shack Hanukoncrete: This special edition custard from the Shake Shack is available until December 14th and consists of vanilla custard, pieces of donut from The Doughnut Project, and a strawberry syrup, all topped with powdered sugar. The powdered sugar felt like an unnecessary flourish as the dessert was sweet enough without it, but the combination of donut, rich vanilla custard, and sharp and tangy strawberry was surprisingly delicious. The best part was definitely the vanilla custard, which was very smooth. 3.5/5.0
recommended nyc dessert icecream custard donut strawberry shakeshack hanukoncrete 3.5
Snowdays Ube shaved ice: Taiwanese shaved ice in a classic ube flavor is true to the sweet, earthy flavor of the vegetable. Texture is close to snow - fluffy and light, yet a bit more dense and clumped together at the bottom of the large cup, even for the smallest possible size. Purchased from the East Village location of chain Snowdays. 3.0/5.0
nyc dessert icecream snowdays shaved ice 3.0 ube
Ice & Vice Nankhatai n' cream ice cream : Ice & Vice currently has a variety of Cookies and Cream riffs, ranging from sweet potato and sesame to tomatillo and blue corn. The version I ordered combines chai with bits of pistachio cardamom cookie. The single scoop was pricy, but the portion was generous. It has a smooth consistency with a concentrated spiced flavor that worked really well together. I did find it to be overly rich, and that combined with the large portion size made it feel a bit samey as I was reaching the end, so I wo... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended icecream nyc dessert chai pistachio icevice nankhatai n' cream ice 3.5
Chinatown Ice Cream Factory Ginger and Black Sesame Ice Cream: I finally made it to Chinatown Ice Cream factory, a shoebox-sized shop that specializes in Asian flavored ice cream like durian and Thai iced tea. It reminds me of Garden Creamery in SF in terms of selection. The ginger ice cream was impressively smooth and had a pleasant ginger flavor, though I personally would prefer it to be spicier and less sweet. The flavor of the black sesame ice cream was very special - quite savory, and sprinkled with real black sesame seeds, it was nutty and not t... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended icecream nyc blacksesame dessert chinatownicecreamfactory ginger black sesame ice cream 3.5
Morgenstern's American Egg, Toast, and Peaches 'n Clotted Cream Ice Cream: Went back to Morgenstern's to try a few more of the flavors exclusive to their new 88 Houston location. The American egg is one of the few ice cream flavors on the Morgenstern's menu made with actual eggs (they are a largely egg-less ice cream shop, unlike most ice cream makers), and the flavor is meant to taste more like an egg custard than a savory egg dish. I found it had a creamy, faintly sweet richness but I can't say I would identify it as egg if I had to guess blind. The bread was ... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended nyc icecream morgensterns american egg toast peaches 'n clotted cream ice 3.5