Category Archives: Sweets

Eggcellent Soufflé Pancake

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Instagram Post 8/15/2019

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There’s a new addition to the lineup of quality vendors in the mini-mall at 135-15 40th Road in Flushing. Keeping company with the likes of local luminaries Legend Chicken, Yi Fang Taiwan Fruit Tea, and the Flushing Ice Cream Factory, Eggcellent Soufflé Pancake opened on August 4 and their soufflé pancakes are outstanding. Possibly the lightest yet richest dessert in the neighborhood, they’re fluffy, spongy, custardy, foamy, eggy, bouncy, moist, creamy and sweet. (I think that pretty much covers it.) The flavor list compels me to return for multiple visits: Original (with a kiss of maple cream), Crème Brûlée, Strawberry/Blueberry Yogurt Cream, Red Bean/Matcha Cream, Mango Yogurt Cream, and Chocolate/Banana/Caramel (with marshmallows, yet). With roots in Japan and Taiwan, these puppies are prepared from scratch (like apparently everything in that mini-mall if the immeasurably long lines are any indication, grumble, grumble) and you’ll be advised that there will be a significant wait.


Mine went well beyond “significant” but I was the first customer of the day and those soufflé pans (see photo) must be heated to a precise temperature (she used an LED equipped digital surface thermometer) before the airy batter can be plopped down without deflating, lightly cooked on one side, carefully flipped à point, transferred to a serving dish and dressed.


But it’s absolutely worth the wait. We’re talking about a real soufflé pancake, not some ersatz premade doppelganger, and a delicious one at that. I tried to smoosh it a little for this photo you so you could see what I was getting at with that parade of adjectives earlier. Artwork against the back wall captioned “Soufflé from the Sky” depicts the dessert floating heavenward on a lacy doily. Trust me. It fits.
 
 

Happy Wheelie

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Instagram Post 8/9/2019

Happy Wheelie, known to some as Taiwanese Wheel Cake because that’s what they sell, can be found in Landmark Quest Mall, 136-21 Roosevelt Ave, Flushing, and the experience is as much about watching the process of making these traditional Taiwanese treats as it is about eating them.

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Using a modest batter and a variety of fillings, they’re prepared in this custom apparatus whose roots are in Japan’s Imagawayaki (今川焼き) where they’re often filled with adzuki bean paste. Here, they’re stuffed with options that run the gamut from savory to sweet (I haven’t tried anything that would provoke the “it’s too sweet!” contingent yet). These little snacks are best when freshly made, a little crisp outside, soft and warm inside – but they’re still fine as delayed gratification.


The eight available flavors include custard cream, red bean (with or without cream) taro (with* or without cream), black sesame and cream*, Oreo cookie, and dried radish*. All that I’ve tasted are yummy but I’d recommend starting with the dried radish: savory, a teeny bit spicy; if this appeared on a dim sum cart, you’d be happy. Then work your way up on the sweetness scale; I admit to not having tried the Oreo, but I’d guess that one falls at the outer boundary of the sweeter meter.

Vivian, super friendly and helpful, told me that most of the back section of this narrow mini-mall is populated by Taiwanese vendors with an eclectic selection of goodies from beef noodle soup and dumplings to crystal shaved ice, and that all of their distinctive wares are crafted from natural ingredients. So obviously, more to come….

(* shown here)

 
 

Bon Bon – Swedish Ice Cream

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Instagram Post 7/26/2019

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I wrote about Bon Bon, 130 Allen Street in Manhattan, over a year ago, and I’m pleased to report that this Swedish candy shop is still going strong. In addition to sweet treats in a rainbow array of colors, flavors, and textures, they sell world famous Swedish salty licorice as well as the sweetish kind. Recently, they added a new feature to the mix, Swedish soft-serve ice cream, and since it’s National Ice Cream Month, there’s no better time to try it.

The Swedish soft-serve (mjukglass) recipe is richer than the conventional because of its greater measure of cream, but it’s the unique selection of sprinkles and syrups that provide the vital distinction. Shown here is vanilla (they have chocolate too) with licorice syrup and two kinds of toppings, salty licorice and salty licorice flakes. Amid seven syrups and eleven kinds of sprinkles, this is the combo that I enthusiastically recommend.

Generally, when you think of the customary (in the US) sticky, chewy texture of licorice, you’d question its ability to play well with ice cream, but these adornments are more like crunchy flakes of hard candy – and there couldn’t be a more perfect match. I asked if the idea was something they created themselves, but was delighted to learn that this treatment is exactly what you’d find all over Sweden, right down to the brand of syrup and the unusual dispenser with its inverted bottles. (See second photo.) If you think you don’t like licorice, let alone salty licorice, this may well be your gateway drug.

(Full disclosure: this delicious taste of Sweden was provided gratis by Robert and Ditte of Bon Bon.)
 
 

Angela’s Ice Cream

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Instagram Post 7/24/2019

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Angela’s Ice Cream at 151 Allen Street on the Lower East Side has brought freshly made, small batch, Filipino ice cream flavors to New York City and each one is delicious. The story behind the story is that Angela had been making these at home for her husband who has a passion for the stuff – so much so that they decided she should share her talents with the rest of us, hence, her first business venture which opened on June 15, 2019. Lucky us!

Dense and creamy, hand crafted with no artificial flavors (in others words, jackfruit is jackfruit, not a concentrate), it’s the first Filipino ice cream actually produced here in NYC. It’s currently available in mango, langka (jackfruit), ube (purple yam), choc-nut, vanilla, avocado (yes, and it’s the real deal), pandan, and buko-macapuno (the short but less than perfectly accurate definition is that it’s a variant of coconut). Slushies to come, calamansi flavor ice cream if we ask her real nice 😉!

Masarap! 😋
 
 

Paradise Sweets

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Instagram Post 7/23/2019

While doing reconnaissance for potential venues to visit on my Little Levant food tour in Bay Ridge, I checked out one of the newer kids on the block, Paradise Sweets at 6739 5th Ave in Brooklyn. It takes a certain amount of intestinal fortitude to launch a new Middle Eastern bakery along that strip considering the number of existing well-entrenched similar establishments but they seem to have a handle on serving the standards and coming up with some innovations as well.

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Case in point, this Nutella Kunafa (no, I won’t provide alternate spellings you might see since this was originally an Instagram post and Instagram only affords us 2200 characters per post). It’s a flat foundation of noodle-ish knafeh pastry suffocated by an ocean of Nutella topped with a thicker layer of vermicelloid kanafeh; a final fillip of adroitly squirted Nutella along with a trio of cherries and some ground pistachios grace the top gratuitously.


A cross section of this awe-inspiring architectural wonder so excessive as to give even my prodigious sweet tooth a run for its honey.

Problem is, I liked it.


As for the canonical litany of Middle Eastern sweets, along with an authentically cheesy, Kunafeh Nabulsiah, they do an acceptable rendition of Halawet el Jibn (sweet cheese rolls), cheesy dough stuffed with cheesy cream shown here, as yet unanointed by the accompanying supply of sugar syrup.
 
 

Paleteria Los Michoacanos

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Instagram Post 7/18/2019

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Every now and then, I write about something or someplace that I fervently want you to try because it’s Just That Good. Paleteria Los Michoacanos at 101-06 43rd Ave in Corona, Queens specializes in the most amazing, intensely flavorful paletas (Mexican ice pops on a stick) that I have ever encountered. Ever.

[1] They offer twenty-eight outstanding milk based flavors like arroz (rice pudding), rompope (eggnog), mamey, strawberry cream, pine nut, chocolate, chongos zamoranos (a Mexican dessert made from curdled milk and rennet), and queso con zarzamora (cheese and blackberry, shown here – which I highly recommend). And of course, you’ll find peach, raspberry, vanilla, pistachio and other familiar favorites.

Or choose from among twenty-two water ices like chamoy (tamarind with chili), guanabana (soursop), cactus pear, and grosella (currant) along with the customary orange, lemon, watermelon, raspberry, mango and the usual suspects.

[2] A peek inside just one of the freezer cases. (BTW, they have ice cream, batidos and more.)

There’s actually some confusion about locations with similar names and branding. There’s a Paleteria La Michoacana in Yonkers (my introduction to these stores) with a comparable product line. I learned from Wikipedia that “La Michoacana” is an informal group (not franchises) of family-run ice cream parlors, comprising thousands of venues in Mexico and the US. Three Mexican brands claim ownership of the name, “Paleterias La Michoacana”, “La Nueva Michoacana”, and “Helados La Michoacana”. But ¡No importa! The only one you need to drop everything and rush off to immediately is this one in Corona. Prepare to be blown away.

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July is National Ice Cream Month, and every year I update my epic post about ethnic pops (with a little storytelling thrown in for good measure). It’s everything you always wanted to know about international ice cream all in one place. Please check it out here!
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Omonia Café

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Instagram Post 7/15/2019

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The venerable (established in 1977) Omonia Café, longtime fixture for Greek and Italian cookies and pastries, is still going strong offering a more wide-reaching menu than its original mission – but for me, it’s still the OG (original Greek) bakery in the neighborhood. Three classic cookies followed me home from 76-12 3rd Ave, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn; clockwise from the top:

Tulumba, deep fried until golden then drenched in sweet syrup, these are spongy in texture despite an appearance that promises a touch of crackle.

Melomakarona are made from flour, sugar, walnuts, honey and the usual suspects lurking in a Greek Christmas cookie; they’re distinguished by the addition of olive oil to the dough. This cookie must surely be healthy because olive oil is good for you, right?

Kourambiedes (you might see kourabiedes) are Greece’s entry in the international wedding cookie competition vying with Mexican, Italian, Danish, and Russian contenders. All are fragile shortbread cookies and rather similar to each other (shhhh!). Off topic: Why is it that all the wedding cookies I’ve encountered crumble and fall apart? Just sayin’.
 
 

Khanom Thai – Sweets

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Instagram Post 7/11/2019

When I approach Khanom Thai’s stall (number 10) with ethnojunket guests in tow and they ask, “What’s good here?” I can honestly answer, “Everything.” With a focus on sweets but not to the exclusion of savories (that’s another post), Khanom Thai obviates the need to seek out another venue for dessert after eating our way though Elmhurst’s HK Food Court (82-02 45th Ave in Queens).

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These are Bean Cakes with Salted Egg. Soft, flaky, swirly layers of creamy, tissuey dough swathe a confection of mung bean paste surrounding a heart of salted egg yolk. But don’t deconstruct it: just take a bite and taste why it’s remarkable. When you look closely and stop to think about it, these are really a sweet metaphor for the egg reimagined, its white shell protecting its two-tone sunny contents.


Coconut Pancakes, griddled fresh, right before your hungry eyes, warm and chewy. The color difference isn’t chocolate vs something else; it’s merely two different types of ground rice batter.


Obscenely decadent dessert: rich vanilla ice cream, sliced bananas and chocolate sauce oozing onto a warm roti, rainbow nonpareils for a bit of crunch. ’Nuff said.
 
 

Antepli Baklava

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Instagram Post 6/27/2019

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A favorite stop along my Middle Eastern Bay Ridge food tour is Antepli Baklava at 7216 5th Ave, Brooklyn. They offer an assortment of savory Turkish dishes as well as desserts including baklava, künefe, and dondurma, the dense, chewy ice cream crafted from cream, salep, mastic, and sugar; you may have seen my past post about booza, a similar treat that hails from Syria. But lately, I just can’t get past the chocolate baklava.

Now, despite my sweet tooth, I’ve never been a fan of standard issue, regulation, honey drenched baklava, but this chocolate version is a cut above. Sweet but not cloying, chocolate forward, the upper flaky layers provide the crunch while the compressed substratum is the repository for restrained syrupy goodness, the two interspaced by a thin barrier of finely chopped nuts. Droolworthy.

When I was told it’s imported from Turkey, then baked on the premises, I remembered a post (and a sample too 😋) from my Instagram friend @gustasian not long ago about the same item with the same appearance and the same taste and the same story that she found in Sunnyside. I’m willing to bet they came from the same distributor too.
 
 

Sellou

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Instagram Post 6/21/2019

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Since food tour season is in full flower and there are some new businesses in the neighborhood, I decided to revamp my Middle Eastern Bay Ridge ethnojunket. Did you know that Bay Ridge and Beirut are cognates? Just kidding.

One of the treats along the route is sellou (سلّو, aka sfouf or zmita), a unique unbaked Moroccan sweet made from toasted flour and ground almonds, sesame seeds, sugar or honey, cinnamon, and anise; as you’d expect, recipes vary from family to family. At Nablus Sweets, 6812 5th Ave, Brooklyn, I spotted a huge brown mountain of it and purchased a small knoll, broken here into two little hillocks. It’s soft in texture, somewhere along the cookie<–>brownie continuum but drier, crumbly but crunchy from nuts – just break off a chunk and enjoy, perhaps with a cup of tea. If your knowledge of Middle Eastern/Mediterranean sweets is informed primarily by honey drenched baklava and kanafeh, give this one a try (available particularly around Ramadan); I highly recommend it.