New York City Double Feature

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure to find myself in New York City for the weekend. Of course, I couldn't let this opportunity for some Big Apple ice cream pass me by! While there are so many ice cream shops in NYC that I'd love to try, I only had time to sample two of the best!

My first stop was at Van Leeuwen Ice Cream in SoHo. I heard that Van Leeuwen has some incredible vegan ice cream, so I had to see what all the fuss was about. It did not disappoint! After sampling a few flavors I settled on their vegan Rocky Road ice cream. I would have had no idea this ice cream was vegan! It's a cashew-based ice cream, and it was as creamy and smooth as any dairy ice cream I've had. The interesting thing to note was that it was denser than dairy ice cream, and took a bit longer to melt and make its way down the cone. The chocolate was rich and powerful, while the marshmallows (also vegan!) were exceptional. If you're vegan, or even if you're not, be sure to try some of their dairy-free offerings. You won't be disappointed!

My other stop in New York was made to be photographed. I found myself wandering around Chinatown and I knew I couldn't miss the chance to go to Taiyaki NYC, which has a serious Instagram following, particularly for their unicorn cones (featured in the photo). If you're unfamiliar with Taiyaki, they're Japanese fish-shaped waffle desserts, which are sometimes used instead of a cone for soft serve ice cream. When I first walked into Taiyaki NYC, I was almost overpowered with the smell of freshly made cones wafting through the air. My wife and I ordered two different Taiyaki cones: She got the unicorn taiyaki with Matcha and Black Sesame ice cream and red bean filling, while I ordered a coffee and chocolate swirl with custard filling and Oreo crumbles. Both were great! (Check out my About Me section to see how happy I am to try both of these awesome taiyakis!) The black sesame wasn't too overpowering, but still maintained a good flavor. The matcha was a little too light, but the flavor was still able to come through past the black sesame. The coffee and chocolate were both great flavors, but weren't anything exceptional. Both the custard and the red bean filling tasted great, but it would have been nice to be able to taste it before getting all the way to the bottom of the cone. The Taiyaki cones themselves were very tasty, but were a bit too soft to handle the large quantities of soft serve piled on top of them. All in all, Taiyaki NYC offers some tasty and exceptionally beautiful ice cream.

Have recommendations for other amazing NYC ice cream places I should try? Let me know in the comments! I'm sure I'll find myself back in this wonderful city sometime soon.