Morgenstern's Ginger Grapenut, Raspberry Cheesecake, and Mango Passion Rice Ice Cream: Morgenstern's, my favorite ice cream spot in NYC, has opened up an expansive shop at 88 West Houston, with an overwhelming number of flavors organized into categories like parlor favorites (including salt n' pepper pinenut and American egg), Bananas (including charred chocolate banana and banana kalamansi), and Misc (french fry, bread, and popcorn). I love options, but the menu is intimidating, even for me. This time, we tried three different scoops from three different categories. The gi... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended nyc icecream dessert morgensterns ginger grapenut raspberry cheesecake mango passion rice ice cream 3.5
Morgenstern’s Cardamom Lemon Jam ice cream: There are many great ice cream shops in NYC, but Morgenstern’s has been my favorite for a long time. Over the years, I’ve found myself mostly purchasing their specials, but this time I ordered one of their regular menu flavors, and it did not disappoint. This cardamom lemon jam ice cream has a really wonderfully spiced cardamom flavor, with a creamy yet sharp acidic aftertaste. Texturally, it is perfectly smooth. It’s a fantastic flavor that shows off how consistently good Morgenstern’s can be. 4.5/5.0
exceptional nyc icecream manhattan morgensterns cardamom lemon jam ice cream 4.5
Mango Mango Mango Sampler: Purchased from the St. Mark's location of asian-dessert-chain Mango Mango, this platter contains a sampling of three different desserts. The first was starchy and slightly too firm glutinous rice balls paired with fresh mango fruit (the latter of which was ripe and sweet). The next was lychee jelly (very sweet and similar to the type you would expect to be at the bottom of a bubble tea) and a scoop of mango ice cream, which was a tad creamy and did not tasting distinctively of mango. The ... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended desserts nyc mochi icecream lychee jelly glutinous fruit asian mangomango mango sampler 3.5
Grom Strawberry and yogurt popsicle: Popsicle half dipped in a tangy yogurt followed by freshly sweet strawberry. Like their ice cream, the popsicle uses no artificial ingredients. I preferred the strawberry half, but the yogurt became more pleasantly tart the more I ate it. Purchased from their West Village shop. 3.5/5.0
recommended icecream dessert grom strawberry yogurt popsicle 3.5
Keki Modern Cakes Milk soft serve: When I went to Keki to try their cheesecake, they had a promotion where they were giving away free soft serve. Their only available flavor was milk, and while the texture of the softserve was good, it tasted very simply of rich whole milk. It’s not a flavor that develops in any way, and it was too rich for me, so I did something I’ve only done once before in the history of Tasty Snacking and threw it out. 1.0/5.0
avoid nyc softserve icecream chinatown kekimoderncakes milk soft serve 1.0
Il Laboratorio del Gelato Gelato crunch cup: Available at Oath’s Upper East Side location, this gelato cup from Il Laboratorio del Gelato (my favorite Gelato spot in all of NYC) is a significant upgrade from ice cream cups i had growing up. Vanilla ice cream is mixed with crunchy cinnamon bits reminiscent of smashed up Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but less sweet and more spiced. It also has some oats tossed in as well for added texture. Great nostalgic snack that’s better than the sum of its components. 3.5/5.0
recommended icecream nyc dessert illaboratoriodelgelato gelato crunch cup 3.5