A Bite With Ruby

The amount of ice cream spots are popping up all over NYC and it doesn't seem to plan to stop. Soft Swerve is a newly opened soft serve ice cream shop located between Chinatown and Lower East Side. I came on opening day when they were having a half off deal on all their ice creams. I got in before 12PM because even though they were opening at that time, they were prepared ahead of time. We were one of the people's to get in too! I went for the Ube in a black chocolate cone. Compared to other Ube ice creams I've had, Ube in soft serve form is more smooth and creamy, yet at the same time the flavor gets a bit diluted. Regular Ube ice cream is a bit stronger, with a taro like flavor, but the texture is more sand-like. The Ube is good if you like a more mild flavor and something that isn't too overpowering. After having the Ube, I was curious about the Matcha so I went for another round of ice cream, but this time, without the cone. I picked the St Mark's Place sp...

One of the food trends these days are egg waffles. They are not new to the food world, but it has become a popular hit in the US, especially when topped with ice cream. Egg waffles first originated from Hong Kong, known as "gai daan jai"  (鷄蛋仔), or egg puff, bubble waffle, eggette, egglet and puffle. T hese days, they are making their way over to the US with a twist of flavor. Egg waffles are not unfamiliar to me. Growing up, my sisters and I would get egg waffles from the street carts in Chinatown. They would be about $1 for 20 pieces and came in only one flavor, which was classic, plain. Each egg waffles were separated for you to eat, while in Asia, they are sold as one waffle piece. Texture wise was also different because the ones here were soft and fluffy, while the ones I had in Hong Kong were crunchy on the outside but a bit chewy on the side. I don't remember how I stumbled upon Eggloo. It might have been through Facebook while scrolling through my newsfeed. (T...

Sometimes when I am in Tribeca and am feeling hungry, I always struggle to find a place to eat. But if I really can't find something I want, I always end up going to the Takahachi Bakery. It's a Japanese bakery that has fresh made breads, sandwiches, sweets and cakes. Whenever I feel like grabbing a light lunch or something sweet, it is always my go-to spot. (Because I get super indecisive!) On days when I want a light sandwich, I tend to go for the spicy salmon avocado, which is not the cheapest, ($7.95) but I try not to go too often. The bread used for the sandwich is their house-made black sesame bread. (They also make other types of bread daily.) The only downside of it is that you don't taste the black sesame when combined. The bread also gets a little moist, but that is because it sits in their open refrigerator after being made. As for the salmon, it was very smooth and creamy, but lacking some salt and spiciness since it was a "spicy" salmon avocado sand...

Over the weekend my sister dropped by and when she did, she told me they had new flavors at the doughnut plant. She picked up one of the Rosemary Pineapple cake doughnuts to try. I was excited when she told me because I couldn't imagine what it would taste like. The doughnut itself is has hints of the piney rosemary flavor, along with bits of the pineapple flavor in the glaze. I personally preferred a little more rosemary flavor, while my sister felt that it was enough, so it may be a matter of preference. We both felt that the glaze was a bit sweet and that we tasted more of the sugar of the glaze than anything. I wish it had more of the pineapple flavor in the glaze even though it had pieces of it spread throughout the glaze. It was good overall, but I look forward to trying the doughseed version of this flavor. *Although they still come out with new flavors, my favorite has to be their mocha. Their mocha doughseed is amazing. A few other ones that I love are the tres lech...

Yelp was where I first stumbled across Spicebox. I was excited to see another Japanese style crepe store open up around my area. I added it to my list of bookmarks but after a while I noticed it on Groupon. I took the opportunity to try out two of the crepes with the offer they had. For my first visit, I decided on trying the Tokyo in a Bite ($9.50). Tokyo in a Bite: strawberries, red bean, green tea ice cream, Pocky sticks, whipped yogurt cream, chocolate sauce and cereal. It was what I saw on Yelp that interested me the most in terms of appearance. Taste wise, it was good, but not mind blowing. The crepe itself had a sponge-y texture and was thicker compared to other crepes I've had before. Along with being sponge-y, the crepe would soaked up the sauces easily which made it more on the mushy side. It also has a floppiness to it which makes it harder to hold up on its own towards the end of eating it. The green tea ice cream was pretty standard, not very strong in flavor...