BonBon NYC

Things I adore: ice cream & licorice.  Things I never thought of putting together: ice cream & licorice.  That is, until I visited Bon Bon, in New York City.

My Dreams Come True.

Bon Bon is a Swedish candy shop, filled with all kinds of candy, mostly licorice based.  And ... they have soft service ice cream, with quite a toppings line up.

I loved the goodies I left with, and would gladly return.

Curb Appeal.

The shop isn't all that large, but the entire storefront is a large glass window, with some artwork on it.  No seating inside, but two benches are out on the street to enjoy your treats.

Sweet Licorice Bins.

Inside is filled with candy bins packed in everywhere, somehow without making it feel over crowded, broken down into sweeter and more bitter or salty sections.

More Candy.

I loved the playful feel of the place, and different ways of showcasing the bins of candy.

More Candy ...

Grab a bag, and get to work loading it up, and you can pay by the pound.  Which, obviously I did, crafting a sweet bag and a salty bag.

And more candy ...

There was such a vast array of Swedish candy, more than I've ever seen in one place before.

Ice Cream Station.

And then ... the ice cream station, with ridiculously fun toppings, lovely house made waffle cones, and an extra dose of whimsy.  They offered many kinds of sprinkles (10 different ones!), includes multiple licorice based ones.

I was overjoyed just seeing the topping selection.

Syrups & Sauces.

The syrups and sauces were a brand I hadn't seen before, international, and yes, included licorice sauce.

My Creation!

The ice cream itself was ... ok.  On the lower end of the spectrum for vanilla soft serve, not nearly as creamy and luxurious as I'd like.  Not much vanilla flavor.  New York has some wonderful soft serve (I'm looking at you Big Gay Ice Cream, and my absolute favorite Soft Swerve), but this was not it.

But this was obviously not about the ice cream.  It was about the toppings.

I couldn't make up my mind, and got 4 of the 10 types of sprinkles.  Yes, for reals.  Even narrowing that down was hard!  For sprinkles, I got the Raspberry & Licorice Fudge, Sea Salt Licorice Flakes, Strawberry Crunch, and Swedish rainbow colored sprinkles.  Each was applied to a different section, generously, and I liked them all, each with a unique flavor, and fun texture.  I'd gladly get any of these again, and the quality was clearly high.  Why don't we have fun sprinkles like this in the US?

I also opted for the licorice sauce, which was drizzled on top, but also, very generously applied to the base of the bowl before the ice cream was served.  *Very* generously.  Seriously, so much sweet and salty licorice sauce.  I loved it, and as my ice cream melted into it I was quite pleased with the licorice flavored soup.  Such a fun sauce, novel to me, and again, it made me wish we had this normally in the US.

This is by far one of the most unique ice creams I've ever had, and, base ice cream quality aside, I really adored it.  

I loved the sprinkles so much that I convinced the shop keeper to sell me bags of sprinkles, which isn't normally offered.  They sell all the candy by weight, but, *not* the sprinkles.  How was I the first to ask for this?  He made up what seemed to be a reasonable price, and I gladly accepted my loot.

I'd love to go back for more sprinkles and candy.