This is the second installment of our New York City diary based on our visit during March. You can read the first savory part here and about our visit to the two Michelin star restaurant Atera here. At the end of the post you can find a map with all places mentioned as well as many others to satisfy your sweet tooth.
OddFellows
We visited OddFellows’ Flagship shop in Williamsburg, where they offer 14 rotating flavors of ice cream and other ice cream based desserts, such as banana split, floats, milkshakes, sundaes and more. You can always purchase a small blender for home use to prepare your morning smoothies quickly.
I went for a more innovative dish – the Odd Pocket aka Toasted Brioche Sandwich ($8\30₪). As the sign above indicates they basically stuff a brioche bread with ice cream and some more goodies. I chose the burnt marshmallow ice cream along with salted caramel sauce and chocolate jimmie crunch. On paper this sounds like a dream. In reality the ratio of bun/everything else was such that there was too much bun and too less of everything else. Not very fun.
We also got Ice Cream Float ($6.5/25₪) with orange cream soda and miso cherry ice cream. Not sure what sorcery was involved, but that soda went really well with the ice cream.
OddFellows Online:
Bibble & Sip
The strangely Alpaca themed place was packed when we got there at noon, and it took some time to hunt for place to sit down. Why Alpacas? God knows. Their menu claims “Because they’re awesome” and I guess you can’t argue with that logic. The menu also specifies “Bibble is an archaic english word that means to eat messily and hurriedly. Such an awesome word – let’s modernize it!“. So let’s bibble on.
Bibble & Sip offer a wide variety of sweets – from cakes to cream puffs and dessert jars which are available to be gazed upon In their display. Asides from those they also have freshly baked goods such as banana bread, muffins and scones. Their drinking menu, or Sips as they call it, had some unique drinks which totally had me sold. I got the Lavender Latte ($4.50/17₪) while Opher felt less adventurous with the Iced Latte ($4/15₪).
To munch something we had the Pistachio Cake ($5.75/22₪) – with matcha white chocolate mousse and raspberry gelee.
With a nice variety of special items and a cool bubbling atmosphere, the place is well worth the hop if you’re in the area.
Bibble & Sip Online:
Dominique Ansel Bakery
I would like to apologize to all the fans upfront, but what you’re about to read won’t be to your liking. This was a disaster. Oh how I waited to eat the legendary cronut and the new inventions by Dominique Ansel – but alas reality did not live up to the hype.
We arrive in the morning and there was no line, just a few people. Unfortunately they do not serve the Cookie Shots during mornings, only from 3pm, so we ordered two other desserts and some coffee.
The Frozen S’mores ($7/27₪) is their “signature honey marshmallow wrapped around a Tahitian vanilla ice cream with chocolate wafer crisps, served on a smoked willow branch and torched to order!”. I love marshmallow, and vanilla ice cream and chocolate wafer, so what’s not to love here? Well, as it turns out – everything. The whole thing tasted mostly like a big pile of sugar, nothing else. Flat and crazy sweet. Not something I could finish eating. After two bites I felt like I’ve maxed my yearly dosage.
It would be a crime to leave this place without having a taste of the acclaimed Cronut ($5.50/21₪), right?. When this pastry was launched in 2013 is caused quite a stir, with lines forming up in the bakery and many knock-offs trying to ride its wave of success. There is only one flavor each month, and during our visit the offered flavor was Raspberry Coconut. So disappointing. Really. The one thing which tasted good in that mess is the puff pastry, however the massive amount of jam overpowered everything else and the result was not unlike one of those industrial, awful, Hanukkah Sufganiyah.
Looks appealing? Wait until you bite into this thing
It’s ALIVE!!! ALIVE!!! or dead, or something.
Someone went overboard with the filling
Dominique Ansel Bakery Online:
Baked By Melissa
There’s not a chance you’ll visit NYC without bumping into at least one Baked By Melissa’s 14 branches. I too came across these lovely-looking teeny tiny cupcakes more than once – and thought to myself: “I have some more room in my stomach – what the heck”.
I got two cupcakes and one macaron:
Red Velvet – “A classic flavor, in one elegant bite”. Red velvet cake with cream cheese filling and red sugar crystal.
Tie Dye – Their signature flavor, inspired by Melissa’s love of the Grateful Dead. Despite the colorful facade it’s a plain vanilla cupcake with vanilla icing, topped with rainbow sugar crystal.
Sugar Cookie Macaron – sugar cookie and rainbow nonpareils filling.
Everything is bite sized so it’s perfect if you’re feeling like a tiny nash. Each cost 1$ and they actually were surprisingly nice. The small cakes were moist, the icing was not overly sweet and the packaging kept the different items from moving too much and smudging everything. They also offer many gluten free options.
Baked By Melissa Online:
Momofuku Milk Bar
After we finished our dinner at Momofuku Ssäm Bar we crossed the street to Momofuku Milk Bar for some dessert. The place is very small, just a counter and a limited space for people to stand in line and order. All the items are written on a big chalkboard and everything sounds so darn good. Since it was my first time here (and certainly not the last) I thought it would be a good idea to try two of their signature desserts.
I’ve had some crack pies in my life, but this one was a whole new ballgame. A slice of this addictive Crack Pie will cost you ($5.50/21₪), and trust me, it worth every penny. The Crack Pie is made from an oat cookie crust and a butter, brown sugar and powdered milk filling. Even though she’s the ugly ducking of the cake world, the taste and chewy texture will surely get you hooked.
We also got the Cereal Milk Soft Serve Cup ($5.44/21₪) with Cornflake Crunch topping ($0.75/3₪). It might look simple and innocent but it’s really amazing, probably the best soft-serve I’ve had.
While its name might be a misnomer as the place has no bar, it doesn’t offer any milk bars nor does it bar the use of milk – Momofuku Milk Bar is a must visit location if you’re in New York.
Momofuku Milk Bar Online:
Once Upon A Tart
This charming little neighborhood cafe tucked in one of SoHo quiet side streets, just a short walk from our hotel. It looked like the perfect place to spend a relaxed afternoon with some cake and hot drinks. Once Upon A Tart is divided into two parts – a restaurant and a coffee/bakeshop.
The interior is homey and cozy, with a brick wall and a nook with wooden benches. It really makes you feel like you’re sitting in small Parisian coffee shop.
I got the Urban Monks Chai ($4.75/18₪), which was recommended by the Barista and it was indeed excellent. Opher ordered their Cappuccino ($4.75/15.50₪) which came in hot and reassuring.
To justify their awesome name we had the Apple Tart ($8.50/₪33) and paired it with a Carrot Muffin ($3.65/14₪). Both were really good. The Tart’s crust was flaky and the apples were treated well.
To sum up – a cute little place to spend to sit in, sip coffee and feel like a citizen of the world.
Once Upon A Tart Online:
Melt Bakery
Right next to our hotel there were two ice cream sandwiche shops. We passed by them every day until on evening I caved in. On their site they claim they are NYC’s first ice cream sandwich store.
It’s a tiny place with no seating, and the sandwiches are premade, so we were in and out in two minutes. They offered 7 different flavors with fun names such as Morticia (chocolate cookie with chocolate rum ice cream), Big Deb (oatmeal cookies and vanilla ice cream) and Elvis (peanut butter cookies and banana ice cream).
I went with the Cinnamax ($5/19₪) – snickerdoodles with cinnamon ice cream. The cookie was soft however the ice cream was too frozen which took away from the flavor. At leas the ice cream didn’t melt straight away, which made the eating experience fairly clean. I wouldn’t return specifically for this place, but if you’re in the neighborhood and craving something sweet and cold feel free to give it a go.
Melt Bakery Online:
All the places mentioned in this post can be found in the following map marked by a star. This map also includes locations of other sweet spots that we didn’t have the time to check out.
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