Awan Coffee Chocolate Chip Ice Cream: Awan is a vegan ice cream shop with a small "window" in West Hollywood where you can take scoops / pints to go. I'm not normally one to get coffee or chocolate ice cream, but after sampling a few flavors, the coffee chocolate chip was the clear winner to me. The texture is remarkably smooth and creamy for vegan ice cream, and the coffee flavor was toasty and rich, with chips of chocolate chip that had a quality snap in texture. Kiddie size was perfect even for sharing. 4.0/5.0
recommended icecream losangeles vegan awan coffee chocolate chip ice cream 4.0
The Base Co Strawberry Shiso Match + Oatly: Purchased at Holy Basil in Downtown LA, this canned beverage is one of many house-made drinks available including Hibiscus Oolong Tea and Thyme Orange Meyer Lemonade. The selection made it hard to choose, but given that I expected the Thai dishes at Holy Basil to have a bit of heat, I opted for a milk tea option. I really enjoyed the fruity, herbal combination of this strawberry matcha drink, which had a creamy finish that was distinctly oat milk (but not overly thick). It gave me nostalg... (read more) 4.0/5.0
recommended losangeles drinks thebaseco strawberry shiso match + oatly 4.0
Snacklins Barbecue Plant Crisps: I purchased this bag of plant-based "cracklings" from Whole Foods not knowing anything about the brand's Shark-Tank success story. The vegan crispy, puffed crisps are made with a combination of yuca, onions, and mushrooms and have a light, melt-in-your-mouth texture that is definitely the closest I've ever tasted to meat-based pork crackling (though more like the softer versions than the heavily fried crunchier ones). Comparing it to a meat product is a little unfair though, because they a... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended wholefoods vegan snacklins barbecue plant crisps 3.5
Kitkat Matcha Kitkat: I’ve probably had surprisingly few KitKats in Japan despite it being the dominant market for unique seasonal flavors, so I’m always grateful when they are gifted to me and I have an excuse to try one I haven’t had before. The matcha KitKat has a waxy coating that seems like it’s probably white chocolate based, rather than milk chocolate. The flavor was more nuanced than I expected - not just a standard matcha-flavor taste but a little more bitter than the typical. I think my overall take on... (read more) 3.5/5.0
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Ghia Ghia Ginger: I love ginger, so I was excited to try the ginger version of Ghia Soda, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Their ginger soda is a little more subtle in flavor but has a pleasantly peppery aftertaste (it contains black pepper abstract). Overall, it had similar flavor notes as the normal Ghia Soda (combining grape juice, yuzu, fig, orange) along with a hint of spicy ginger, but it wasn't as strongly flavored as the original, which I preferred. Still, a solid drink. 3.5/5.0
recommended drinks ghia ginger 3.5
Kam Hing Pandan Sponge Cake: Kam Hing offers ~half a dozen flavors of sponge cakes, and after working out of NYC for a couple weeks, I've sampled a good number of them including pandan, original, brown sugar tea, ube, coconut, and black sesame (to be fair, I also brought back a bunch of them to share with my parents at home). The first one I purchased was pandan, a spiky tropical fruit that looks like a cross between a pineapple and durian but has a milder flavor that belies its spiky exterior. Overall, it has a pleas... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended chinatown nyc kamhing pandan sponge cake 3.5