Fong On Sweetened soy milk: I really love Asian soy milk, so I was looking forward to this housemade bottle from Fong On in Chinatown. The 16oz bottle cost a little over $2. I purchased the sweetened version, which tasted just like the soy milk you buy from street vendors in Taiwan; beany but loose in viscocity, very sweet but also thirst quenching. Overall, I liked it, but it was definitely on the sweet side - not something I could drink in a single serving. 3.0/5.0
chinatown nyc soy milk chinese fongon sweetened soy milk 3.0
Fantasy Fruit Farm Blueberry cider: Purchased on a whim from Fantasy Fruit Farm at the Union Square farmers market in NYC, this bottle of fresh pressed blueberry cider was insanely sweet, making it difficult to consume. Perhaps this speaks to the freshness of the fruit, but a milder drink would be more palatable. It tastes a bit different than normal cider, but if I hadn't seen the label, it would have been hard to guess it was blueberry flavored. 2.5/5.0
drinks unionsquaremarket farmersmarket nyc fantasyfruitfarm blueberry cider 2.5
Happy Lemon Lemon pineapple slush : I almost always get ~25% sugar when it’s an option. But I somehow forgot this time, and the pineapple slush was too sweet. Besides that, though, the pineapple had a lackluster canned concentrate taste. There are much better options at this normally reliable juice shop. 2.5/5.0
drinks slush nyc happylemon lemon pineapple 2.5
Zenchai Apple and ginger matcha drink: Zenchai is a matcha cafe in the LES (NYC) with seasonal green tea drinks. I was really excited to try their fall apple cider and ginger green tea drink, but after I ordered and they began to pour out cider from a gallon container of Zieglers (which I haven’t had since I was a kid), I had a sense I was in trouble. Visually, the drink was appealing with a colorful ombré effect. But it had little ginger flavor and mostly tasted of very sweet and concentrated store-bought apple cider. I did feel... (read more) 2.5/5.0
drinks cider zenchai apple ginger matcha drink 2.5 nyc
Du’s Donuts Ice cream sandwich : I really enjoyed the Pyggy sandwich I had at Byggyz, the newly opened sandwich shop in LES (NYC) from Wylie Dufresne’s dad Dewey. We decided to also try their one dessert option, an absurdly priced $7 ice cream sandwich made with Du’s donuts (the donut shop Wylie launched earlier in the year). Inside the ice cream sandwich is a marmalade ice cream, which, flavor-wise, had a satisfying tart flavor. Texturally, though, I found the sandwich as a whole to be a miss. The entire frozen treat is ov... (read more) 2.5/5.0
dessert icecream icecreamsandwich nyc dusdonuts ice cream sandwich 2.5
Utopia Bagels Mini Everything Bagel with Lox Spread: I never once had a decent bagel when I lived in the Bay Area, so I'm relieved to now have an abundance of options back in NYC. One popular bagel shop I had yet to try was Utopia Bagels, located all the way in Whitestone Queens. Arriving at around 11:30am, the queue to order snaked around the entryway, and for a New York institution, the pace was extremely slow; from getting in line to leaving with food in-hand took about 45 minutes. Not being too hungry, I ordered their snackable mini bag... (read more) 2.5/5.0
bagels nyc bread lox creamcheese queens utopiabagels mini everything bagel spread 2.5