Archive for dessert

dessert from down south

October 8, 2007 at 12:44 am · Filed under american, asian, dessert, health food

Papamingomingo1.jpg
2510 Channing Way (near Telegraph Ave.), Berkeley

For those who are savvy with pop culture, from LA, or watch The Hills on a regular basis, you’re familiar with Pinkberry. If not, click on the link and be informed and thus cool! Papamingo is just another reflection of the fact that the Bay is being invaded by the south. SoCal, that is.

Papamingo is part of the be fit/be cool trend, offering tasty yet healthy alternatives to fatty frozen yogurt. (To be fair, frozen yogurt isn’t as bad as ice cream, so it’s like saying you’re making a soda that’s more diet that diet soda. Or at least that’s how it works in my mind.) The frosty treat the shop has to offer is quite different from your typical frozen yogurt. It’s also topped with healthier toppings: mainly fresh fruit and cereal instead of candy and cookies. Mix in brightly painted walls, Ikea style furniture, and pop music and you’ve got the coolest hangout this side of campus.

The place is small and sort of basement-ish. No windows except in the front of the store, hence the lime, neon green painted walls. There are a few tables with chairs and the counter is towards the back. Behind the counter are a couple frozen yogurt machines as well as a display of the toppings! While you wait in line, you get to scope out the selection. There are things like granola and chocolate chips – usual stuff, but there’s some different things like fruity pebbles and rice balls! (Little chewy balls that are supposed to be mochi-ish, sadly they have a bit of a bitter after taste.) I opted for their fresh strawberries (there’s mango, pineapple, blueberry, etc.).

mingo3.jpgThe yogurt itself comes in three different flavors: regular, green tea, and pomagranete. Being my first time, I went with the regular, though I hear green tea is pretty good. Now for the taste. Let’s say you’ve never had frozen yogurt and you take things to be literal. If you’ve had regular yoplait before and someone gave you something called frozen yogurt, Papamingo is what you’d be expecting. The stuff is sweet but tart or tangy, like regular yogurt. It’s in the sour cream, cream cheese, yogurt subcategory of the dairy department. At first it’s strange, but if you reflect on other dairy stuff, it makes sense and becomes pleasant. It’s very refreshing and tasty and provides a nice balance with the natural sweet and tartness of the strawberries. I gobbled my cup up pretty quickly, especially when I stopped thinking of it as regular frozen yogurt.

The bad news is that this stuff comes at a hefty price. A small cup is a staggering $2.50 for something you could probably eat in five large bites (if only the spoons weren’t mini…). Plus toppings! You can get 1 topping for 95 cents or 3 toppings for an extra $1.50. So, unfortunately, you’re getting a taste of LA at LA prices. There’s a student discount, which was nice since I still have my old ID to whip out on such occasions. Still, my treat was just over $3 and thus, not something I’d do very often.

Overall: A trendy little spot with some tasty fare. Unfortunately, it’s a little steep in price to be more than a novel thing. Expect a lot of girls with bug-eye sunglasses and pink Razr phones to crowd the place. Yuck – I won’t be back soon.

Rating: 6/10

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DATE NIGHT!

April 14, 2007 at 11:24 am · Filed under asian, crepes, date night, dessert, french, vietnamese

Minh’s Gardenminh’s garden
208 Clement St. (x 3rd Ave.)
– Show me!
Cuisine: Vietnamese

BBG and I began date night by deciding to go to Clement, but determined (at least I was) to try something new (ie, not sushi boat, wing lee’s, or hawaiian bbq). We’ve passed by Minh’s before and always promised to try it. As we entered, a couple leaving suggested we try the trout… A good sign; someone liked it enough to suggest it… unfortunately neither of us enjoy fish.

Minh’s is your classic hole in the wall. The restaurant itself is very narrow with about a dozen tables that can seat 2, 4, or 6 people. Small and cramped, but with mom and pop shop charm and real. There are random Asian artifacts on the wall (ie, a Chinese zodiac poster describing each animal and their charicteristics, picture/paintings of what look like Asian Miss Americas, wood carvings). Plus, the classy Christmas lights. Paper napkins, hot sauce in a mustard tube, it’s great.

Along with the decor, and an added side note, it seems as if Minh’s is pretty well-known. There are multiple framed or blown-up articles on the walls from the SF Chronicle and NY Times featuring the restaurant. Although I didn’t get close enough to read the articles, the titles suggested it was a great “cheap eats” or just featured in review about the city’s range of cuisines.

A quick glance at the menu revealed dishes didn’t really top $10 a piece. We quickly found the family meals and went for a meal for two for $19.95. There were also more expensive meals for 3+ people, but eh. Our meal came with vermicelli soup, two imperial rolls, chicken with veggies, bbq beef and steamed rice. WHAT A DEAL!

BBG got a Tsingtao and I got a thai iced tea. My drink was a little different from what I’m used to. It was a little more of a reddish orange than just orange, with lots of milk in it since it looked more dense. But it tasted great and was probably terrible for me (health wise) as a result.

The soup was pretty plain, not much more than broth with pieces of chicken and vermicelli. The imperial rolls were excellent! Great mix of meat, vermicelli noodles inside a crispy, but chewy-sticks-to-your-teeth shell. Not sure why it was served with lettuce, but it was fresh, so I guess that counts for something.

The chicken with veggies came with a variety of veggies: carrots, those weird mushrooms you get with Vietnamese food, onions, celery, and broccoli. The sauce was like a nice, light gravy, good to top rice with. Not too salty. The beef was GREAT. Cooked well done, so chewy but full of flavor. The dipping sauce gave it a little bit of extra sweetness.

The service consisted of an older man and a young woman for the entire restaurant. They tag teamed pretty well between serving, busing dishes, and entertaining family members or friends eating near the kitchen. Service was quick and incredibly friendly. We were one of three couples in the place, plus a mom-dad-kid family, and the aforementioned group. Very homey and sweet.

Overall: a great hole in the wall place with excellent food and friendly service.
Rating: 9/10
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Genki Crepes and Mini Martgenki
330 Clement (x 4th Ave.)
– Show me!
link
Cuisine: Asian, Crepes, dessert, French

After dinner, I wanted to check out the mini mart to see if I could find tapioca balls to make homemade boba (a dream I have after successfully making homemade thai iced tea). FYI, I found a boba making kit, which had tapioca balls and milk tea mixes (both green and black tea) for $10.50, I didn’t buy it because I think I could find just tapioca balls in chinatown or at another store.

I really love this store since it has TONS of Asian treats. Everything from Pocky to those Panda cookies to colorful packages with who knows what in them. I’ve found some of my favorite Japanese treats I enjoyed in my childhood, plus stuff from other countries. AND they have a wide variety crammed in a tiny store. There are also savory items like instant soba noodles and shimp chips, plus drinks like Asian iced coffee in rectangular bottles and grass jelly drinks. Lastly, there are random items like soaps, both domestic and foreign, and toys and trinkets like cell phone charms. It’s fun to stop in and stare.

To check it out, you’ll more than likely have to push your way past a crowd near the door. These people are waiting for the second part of Genki, which is the crepe place! They have sweet and savory crepes, original and with an Asian twist. For example, you can get your regular stuff like nutella and bananas or ham and cheese. You can also get crepes with red bean paste or beef sukiyaki. If you thought that was amazing, you can also get these with ice cream!!!! I’m sure you could be a bitch and clog the line by making up your own combo, but they have great combos to choose from. For example, there’s classic, safe stuff like vanilla ice cream with your choice of fruit or chocolate ice cream with pieces of cheese cake. Or you could go Asian and try green tea ice cream with lychee.

it’s so great!We went with mango ice cream and strawberries. The crepe itself was really thin and crispy around the edges. It was sweet and tasted the way it smelled from the street (like a waffle cone). It was folded into a triangular shape, put into a paper cone (pictured left) and stuffed with our ice cream and and fruit. It was delicious! The mango ice cream was sweet, but didn’t really taste too mango-y. Good, if you don’t overthink it. The strawberries were ripe, but not frozen. Unfortunately, there weren’t very many slices – about 4 halves. I think it would’ve been better if the strawberries were cut into smaller pieces, so then you could get pieces with each bit of ice cream.

The store also sells boba, but I haven’t tried it from there… yet.

Overall: A great place to find your favorite Asian treats, especially if you don’t exactly know which Asian country they’re from. Plus a good place to discover new treats! A good place to try an Asian spin on crepes, but average on crepes in general.
Rating: 9/10 for the mini mart, 7/10 on the crepes.

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