Category Archives: Dessert / Coffee & Tea

[FLUSHING] New World Mall Food Court: Fire and Icy

new world mall in flushing - food court
Dear Food Diary:
The doors of Flushing’s New World Mall are like a gate at the airport. The minute you take your flight down the stairs, you’ve arrived in Mainland, this could be any given food court throughout China. From the lights, sounds, smell and people, the 7 train has never transported you this far for a mere subway fare.

ICY TASTE-OFF: Wooly’s vs Shaved Ice Shop

woolys vs shaved ice shop 2
Dear Food Diary:
Shaved ice or BaoBing (in chinese) is one of my favorite treats during hot summer days. Until recent years, shaved ice was mostly found in Flushing. In chinatown my spot was UiUi, but while their toppings are super Taiwanese and traditional (which I love), the ice is too rocky in texture. Now that the city has been served proper shaved ice, I’m glad to report that I’ve finally found the perfect fluffy snow ice. Here’s the taste-off of the two shaved ices “stands”:

Gelato Taste-Off: AMORINO vs GROM

grom vs amorino gelato

Dear Food Diary:
I grew up on gelato and this sweet treat remains as one of my all time favorites. A couple years ago, when Grom opened in the West Village, I was immediately hooked. Nothing so far has come to replace its number one spot. Amorino came to town a couple weeks ago, I stopped by opening day… let the taste-off begin:

NYC ICY: The perfect cure for this heat! (CLOSED)

nyc icy 1
Dear Food Diary:
It’s been quite hot in NYC this week. I wished I had NYC ICY right now! so I could cool my body and entertain my tastebuds with their amazing ices. It’s like your childhood italian ices with a gourmet twist.

TOP 3: Dark Chocolate Valentine’s Day






















Dear Food Diary:
I felt obligated to put my two cents into this overly hyped and commercialized day. As cheesy as this may sound, I truly believe that if you’re with the right one, everyday is like Valentine’s Day. But if you need “a day” to remind you to love and appreciate your other half, well, so be it. A little chocolate, flowers and jewelry never hurt anyone (maybe just some wallets). If you still haven’t done anything special for your lady, you might be in trouble, but there’s still time for some chocolate, specially dark ones in my opinion, well… unless she’s allergic, then I strongly recommend staying way! We don’t want a chica version of that Hitch scene. Solo this year you say? No problemo…”life’s like a box of chocolates, you never know who you might meet next!” right?… so go out and splurge on yourself! Why not!? You’re worth it!

Here are my TOP 3 all time favorite dark chocolate stores (Valentine’s day or not)