Trader Joe's Soft Baked Drizzled Gingerbread Oat Bars: Despite the double-fisting polar bear on the packaging, each of these seasonal bars is individually wrapped. More similar to a soft baked cookie than a granola bar, they are moist and chewy, and while the icing feels unnecessary, it adds a festive touch. Spiced flavor contains molasses, ginger, and fig paste, along with your favorite wintery spices. A snack I would be happy to eat year round. 3.5/5.0
recommended traderjoes soft baked drizzled gingerbread oat bars 3.5
Milk Bar Cereal milk soft serve: You’re probably familiar with the cereal milk flavor, which replicates the taste of milk after a helping of frosted corn flakes. Attributed to the Milk Bar franchise, the cereal milk flavor has since been duplicated by many. Although I’ve sampled it before, this is the first time I actually purchased the cereal milk flavored soft serve from its original source. The smooth texture was excellent, but the generous serving size might be best shared with others. The soft serve comes in a single ... (read more) 3.5/5.0
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Matcha Cafe Maiko Matcha soft serve with matcha powder and mochi: According to the Matcha Cafe Maiko website, the San Francisco shop located in the Japantown center is the first to open in the "American mainland," with an original location in Hawaii. Its matcha products are imported all the way from Harima Garden in Kyoto. While the menu features their matcha soft serve, they have a surprising variety of lattes, floats, and other beverage pairings as well. At $5.50, their soft serve is a bit steep for a single serving, but it has a concentrated herbal f... (read more) 3.5/5.0
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Roberta’s Sweet corn soft serve: Truly tastes of sweet corn and cream. Texture is mostly smooth but a little bit grainy. Pricy for its size, at $6.50. Based on flavor alone, I would give it a 4, but accounting for texture and value, it’s a 3.5. Available at the take out section of Roberta’s in East Williamsburg. 3.5/5.0
recommended nyc dessert icecream brooklyn robertas sweet corn soft serve 3.5
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
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Indigo Cow Hokkaido Milk soft serve with shiratama kuromitsu kinako: I haven't experienced many long lines in Seattle, but Indigo Cow, a soft-serve "window" adjacent to the Japanese restaurant Yoroshiku in Wallingford, had an impressive showing for their Hokkaido milk treat. The line took about 40 minutes, even right after an afternoon shower, and unfortunately they were out of mochi for their classic Japanese topping (which normally comes with soybean powder and brown sugar syrup) by the time I got to the front of the line. The humble shop is literally one... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended wallingford japanese indigocow hokkaido milk soft serve shiratama kuromitsu kinako 3.5