Tartine Manufactory Blood orange sorbet and cardamom soft serve: Tartine Manufactory closes its bakery section, including soft serve, for dinner service, but if you ask nicely, they will serve it (as I found out last night). This swirl of blood orange and cardamom was one of the best things I ate all year, with potently spiced cardamom and sharp citrus. The texture was smooth and consistent. Often, independent flavors in swirled soft serve compete and don’t quite work in harmony, but this unexpected combination was both balanced and even better with one a... (read more) 4.5/5.0
exceptional sf sanfrancisco icecream softserve bloodorange tartinemanufactory blood orange sorbet cardamom soft serve 4.5
Toscanini Green Tea and Miso Soft Serve: As an end of summer treat, I found myself at Toscanini's realizing I had never had their soft-serve before. Luckily, they had an intriguing offering of green tea swirled with miso (you can order them separately if you desire). The texture of the ice cream was excellent: smooth, creamy, and very consistent. The flavors themselves were pleasant but seemed to be designed for a more neutral palate – the matcha is more sweet than herbal, and the miso tastes like sesame but does not have a dist... (read more) 4.0/5.0
recommended match cambridge softwerve toscanini green tea miso soft serve 4.0
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
Uji Black sesame soft serve: The best sesame soft serve I've ever had was at a small tea shop at the Mitsuwa in Edgewater, NJ. Whenever I see black sesame ice cream on a menu, I will typically order it to see how it compares, and the one at Uji comes really close. Uji is a small Japanese sweets shop on Telegraph in Berkeley whose menu includes soft serve (matcha, tofu, black sesame), mochi ice cream, and taiyaki. I ordered a cone of black sesame soft serve which comes in a generous portion and can be optionally ordered ... (read more) 4.5/5.0
exceptional uji black sesame soft serve 4.5 ujitime
Uji Purple Potato Soft Serve: Returning to this small ice cream shop on Shattuck to sample additional soft serve flavors, I tried their seasonal purple potato ice cream, which came in a lovely shade of lavender. The ice cream had a rich milk flavor with only a hint of potato at the end. Given that the tofu, black sesame, and matcha flavors from Uji are all vastly superior (I've sampled all three flavors by now), I wouldn't recommend the purple potato ice cream, but it's decent. 3.0/5.0
icecream japanese berkeley uji purple potato soft serve 3.0 ujitime softserve
Uji Lavender soft serve in Taiyaki cone: The best lavender ice cream I've ever had was in Hokkaido, Japan at Farm Tomita, where their lush, seemingly endless fields of lavender are the basis for wondrously floral and creamy soft serve. I have yet to find anything that comes close, but the seasonal lavender flavor at Uji, a Japanese ice cream shop in Berkeley, is a strong contender. The trick is their careful balance - the lavender does not overpower (which otherwise would lead to a mouthful of perfume-flavored cream), yet the flav... (read more) 4.5/5.0
exceptional uji lavender soft serve in taiyaki cone 4.5 ujitime