Yomie's Rice X Yogurt

Bubble tea started out so simple - generally, low grade powders, way too much sweetener, and non-dairy creamer.  Then places differentiated themselves by offering higher end teas, options for alternate milks, house made boba.  It became trendy.  Crowds formed.  Then there was an explosion of the types of mix-ins you could add to your drink.  Soon, plastic cups would no longer do, and beautiful glass bottles were introduced.  Carrying multiple drinks back to friends got hard, so carrying cases, branded of course, emerged.  Then there was cheese foam, or cheezo, or milk foam, or salty foam, or whatever a specific shop decided to call the rich, but slightly savory and salty, decadent topping.

Sydney embraced these fads full on, years, literally, ahead of even major cities in the US.  Every other shop was seeming to be a dessert drink shop.  By mid-day, no one was walking down the street with coffee anymore, it was all bubble tea.  On my recent visit to Sydney, I decided to try out the latest in drink innovation: yogurt rice.  Drinking rice.

Yogurt rice does not really sound like something I'd like.  I ... don't really find yogurt to be very interesting (although, I will admit the yogurt I've liked most in my life has been in Australia, at the Air New Zealand lounge at the airport, of all places ...).  And, I don't really eat rice ... well, savory rice, I do adore rice pudding.  The concept still didn't sound great to me.

Last year, when I visited, I saw the lines for Yomie's Rice X Yogurt. They were epic.  An hour or more, to get your yogurt rice drink.  "Authentic Natural Yogurt", the signs boasted.  People talked about how healthy and refreshing it was.  It was the only place in town doing something like this.  I didn't give it another thought.  One of my last nights in town that year, I visited The Original Royaltea, and tried their sesame taro milk with red sticky rice (and cheese foam of course, because, um, yes, I am obsessed with that).  While the overall drink wasn't actually a winner for me, I did find the rice mix-in very successful.  It got me thinking about the concept of rice in drinks, at least.

So this year, when I visited Sydney, and found that the yogurt rice scene had expanded pretty dramatically, I decided to give it a try.

I didn't go to Yomie's Rice X Yogurt though, as the lines were still epic.  Any time of day, morning, afternoon, evening, night.  Maybe more than an hour, but usually still at least half an hour.  Meh to that.  My first yogurt rice drink came from Koomi (review coming soon), and ... I adored it.  I had another, a day or two later, from The Moment (yup, review soon), and enjoyed it too.  And so on, for the course of the 1.5 weeks I was in town, yogurt rice became my new obsession too.  Some I didn't like, but mostly, I was in.

So finally, finally, my last night, I decided to get the original: Yomie's Rice X Yogurt.  I somehow had magic timing, finding a short line, only about 15 minutes to order, 10 minutes to get my order after that.  So I finally did it.  I tried the original yogurt rice.

And I hated it.

Setting

Yomie's Rice X Yogurt is located on a corner in Haymarket, right on George Street.  To find it, just head towards the crowds. 

Interior.

You line up to get inside, once inside you continue in the line to order, and then you take your number and wait.

There is no seating and very little space inside.

Numbers are not called out, but instead, a board, just like at the deli in my youth, flashes the current number being served by.  If you aren't paying attention, and miss your number, oh well.  My understanding is that usually the wait, post ordering, is even longer than the wait to order, which can make the line look not quite as intimidating, if you think you'll get your treat soon after.

Drinks

So, what does Yomie serve?  Well, to start, they are a one trick pony.  Yogurt drinks.  No bubble teas here.

And, um, they are an ... opinionated drink shop.  No customizations.  No modifying sweetness, no adding mix-ins.  They have preset drinks, and that is what they sell.  And ... no cheese foam.

Top 9.

Most people tend to order one of the Top 9, proudly displayed all over the place.  

The top 9 start with the basic purple rice yogurt, or, oat yogurt, if you prefer.  These are hands down the top sellers, the classics.  A trendy avocado yogurt comes next.  From there, there are exactly 3 other varieties of purple rice yogurt, with haw, jujube, or red bean.  Passionfruit, melon, and strawberry round out the top 9.

Note that the later group, just like the avocado, cannot have rice (or oats) added.  If you want rice, you must pick between the rice options.

The full menu does list out all the options they have, but again, no real customization, although it includes the less popular options like any of the rice drinks, just made with oats instead, and a few more flavors of fruit smoothies.  Again, no mix-ins, no bubble tea, no toppings.  And certainly no sweetness adjustments.

I'll admit that nothing called out to me.  Where was my taro?  My foam?  I felt limited, and a bit bored by the menu, but still, I dove in.

Haw Purple Rice Yogurt.

I went for a purple rice creation, and, not feeling inspired by the red bean (I thought that would be way too heavy with the protein from the red beans, the yogurt, and the rice ... this wasn't a meal replacement for me ...), not really wanting jujube, and bored by the idea of just rice and yogurt, so, haw it was.  I'll admit that I had never had haw before, but reviews talk about the sweetness being a nice compliment to the tart yogurt.

I'll start with something positive.  It was well blended.  For me, that was actually a downside, I loved the clumps of sticky rice, having something to chew on, in my drinks from other places.  This was fairly pulverized, and I didn't get that chewing satisfaction.

It was also icy.  Not ice chunks, since again, so blended, but it was crystalized.  Other places were certainly more about the yogurt having richness, less about the icy smoothie aspect.  I didn't care for that either.

The yogurt itself seemed kinda runny, not a thick, rich style I prefer.  It was kinda tart.  But really, not interesting.

But none of this really mattered. As there was something else about the drink that I disliked even more.  The sweetness.  It was way, way, way too sweet.  I guess this was the haw?  What if I had just gotten the plain one, would it have been tart?  I don't know, but this was just overboard sweet.

So basically, I hated it.  Runny yogurt, pulverized rice, icy bits, and way too sweet.  Chunks of sticky rice, rich thick yogurt, flavors and mix-ins I liked - like fresh taro!, and of course, cheese foam toppings, are what I loved about other places, and this had none of them.

That said, this is the original.  This is what started the fad.  This is what people ... seem to like?  Just, not me.  I won't go back, even to try the simple plain one.

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Bambu, Sunnyvale

Update Review, March 2019 Visit

On a recent visit to Mountain View, I was craving Vietnamese desserts.  I remembered Bambu from a previous visit (which of course I reviewed) to Sunnyvale, and was pleased to see they would deliver to my office, since I wasn't going to Sunnyvale itself.  To make it worthwhile, I ordered a few items, hoping some would keep a few days - a technique I started in Sydney, when I once accidentally ordered a crazy large drink, and realized I could save what I couldn't finish, and it was perfectly fine the next day, and then discovered all the "2 for 1 deals on bubble tea drinks in Sydney ... #stockUp).

I ordered via Doordash, and, well, it was a disaster.  The driver called me after the set delivery time (I had ordered at 11am for a 12:15 -12:45pm delivery), and he asked me if I had gotten my order.  I was confused, and said "no ...".  He told me Bambu said someone else already picked it up.  MANY back and forths with Doordash later, the items finally arrived at ... 2:35pm, causing me to need to run out of a meeting to fetch them.  I'm not sure who was at fault for everything, but, wow.  So much drama, and many, many back and forth exchanges with Doordash.  That part, I absolutely do NOT recommend.

But the goodies from Bambu, I do.

Smoothies (Sinh To)

None of us tried a smoothie on our previous visit, so I decided to mix it up and try smoothies.  I had no idea what style they would be (blended with ice? Non-dairy creamer? Coconut milk?), but the flavor lineup was pretty extensive and interesting.  As a bonus, all come with 2 free mix-ins (additional for $0.50).  Sadly, only the standard bubble tea mix-ins are available (e.g pearls, pudding, jellies), not things like pandan noodles.  Regular smoothies are $6, with the premium offerings coming in at $6.50.

I ordered two smoothies, and enjoyed them both (not at once!).  Bambu does a great job with the texture and blending of the smoothies, but both suffered from inconsistent prep (one had way too much topping, the other too much mix-in), and both were sweeter than I really wanted.  Still, I was pleased with them, and would get smoothies again.

Durian with fruit jellies, sea salt foam. $6.50.

Yup, durian.

I ordered a durian smoothie, because ... I dunno, can I say I was kinda craving it?  I was kinda craving it.  Can't really explain that, but I was.  Yes, durian.

I opted to add fruit jellies to sweeten it up and perhaps break the funk, and sea salt foam to try it as I adore these foams, cremas, clouds, or whatever places choose to call the savory-sweet creams they put on top these days.

The foam I was really excited for, but I didn't really care for Bambu's version nearly as much as other places.  Specifically, it wasn't much of a foam, it was much richer, denser, and not light in any way.  Slimy even.  I also didn't taste sea salt, but I guess it was a little savory.  And, as you can see, there was kind of a ridiculous amount of it.  Maybe they wanted to help cut the durian flavor?

The smoothie was perfectly blended, little tiny bits of ice-y, really almost like ice cream the bits were so little.  It didn't separate at all.  Very well made.  I think maybe they blend frozen durian?

And yes, it tasted, well, like durian.  Which I liked.  Funk and all.  Great texture, strong durian flavor, although sweeter than I was expecting, from whatever they blend in.  Is it coconut milk?

The jellies were what I expected, a rainbow mix, slimy, fruity, slurpy, and I appreciated them in the mix.

Overall, this was good, although I really did just want whipped cream on top, the sea salt foam was just too heavy.

Jackfruit with red tapioca, cheese foam. $6.50.

Just in case the durian didn't work out, I also ordered the jackfruit smoothie, planning to stash it in the freezer if I loved the durian one, and drink it later.  To that I added the red tapioca I remembered loving in the Fruit Lover Che, and the cheese foam, because, again, I'm addicted to savory foams!

Much like the sea salt foam, this "foam" was crazy heavy, crazy rich.  This one came with a more reasonable portion at least.  And like the sea salt foam, I didn't really taste the more savory cheese flavor I was hoping for.  The two foam varieties were actually indistinguishable.

Just like the durian smoothie, the texture was perfect, so well blended.  They really do a nice job on the blending of smoothies.  The jackfruit flavor was good, but this one was much sweeter than I wanted.  I ended up watering it down, and then adding some soy milk, and that created a really pleasant creation.

The red tapioca I again loved.  Crunchy inside (water chestnut?) and slimy soft tapioca outside.  So tasty.  Although this was loaded up with a too generous serving, I found myself wanting some sips without them, and it was hard to get that.

I did try freezing the second half of this, and, the smoothie froze fine, but the red tapioca got fairly gross - the texture was very offputting after a defrost.  I don't recommend that at all.

So again, another success, although sadly again the foam wasn't for me, and I did like it better once I reduced the sweetness by watering it down.  I wish Bambu offered sweetness adjustments.

Milk Teas (Tra Sua)

Bambu offers a large range of milk tea (or regular tea or fruit tea if you prefer), most available warm, cold, or some even blended.  When ordering online, there is no option to add any mix-ins/toppings, which seemed wrong to me, so I tried to add grass jelly by putting it in the notes.   There is also no customization about sweetness level nor amount of ice, both of which I also tried to add in the notes.

Taro Milk Tea. $4.25.

Taro milk tea is only available cold, unlike most of the others flavors, so, cold it was.  I hoped this meant that it was fresh taro milk?  Unlike many milk teas, it does not use black tea in the base, rather, it uses pandan leaf water, but I didn't taste the subtle pandan flavor.

I put in the notes that I wanted grass jelly added, and less sweet, and no ice (since I was going to drink it later).  It did show up with grass jelly and no ice, so, that was granted.  It still seemed very sweet to me, but that seemed to be a theme, and I'm not sure they do allow adjustments anyway.

Unlike the other drinks, this one arrived sealed, which is what I was hoping for, so I could stash it for later.

It was ... fine?  Not much notable to say, other than that it didn't seem like fresh taro, and I didn't taste the pandan.  Fairly standard taro powder tea.  The grass jellies were good, large size blobs, and plentiful.

Che

Of course, Che is the main attraction, and I decided to be boring, and get exactly the same type I had before.  I really was interested in trying something else, but ... I really liked it before, and wanted all those amazing fruity mix-ins again.

Fruit Addict Che. $6.

"Lychee, longan, red tapioca, jackfruit, palm seed, jello, pandan jelly, coconut and coconut milk."

Like last time, I again wanted the fresh taro added, so I added that in the notes, hoping someone would see it.  And I requested no ice, since I was planning to consume later.  Sadly, it came with ice and without taro.  Oh well.

It was just as good as I remembered, a layered creation, just so full of goodies.  In the bottom, mostly the pandan jellies, smooth soft noodles-like, and then a layer with pieces of jackfruit (love these!), slimy young coconut, and some whole lychees and longans, and then tons of the red tapioca above all that, with coconut milk rounding it all out.  I'm not sure I found any palm seeds nor jello, but its hard to tell sometimes what you are slurping up.

I again really enjoyed this, although I did find it sweet, it was a fun adventure, and I just wished I had the taro I requested.  I ended up adding scoops of the goodies into my other drinks quite successfully too.

Original Review, May 2018

After a fairly disappointing meal at Dumpling Depot near downtown Sunnyvale, my group wanted something to kinda make up for the lackluster meal.  We weren't necessarily hungry, or really wanting anything, except, well, a better experience.

I pulled up Google Maps, searched for "dessert", found only two places nearby (Pinkberry or Bambu), did a quick Yelp reference check on Bambu, and saw 4 stars.  People said it was a nice place to hang out, which also is what we were looking for, to continue talking, hopefully somewhere more comfortable than the cold sterile interior of the dumpling shop.  Ok, we were in!

I didn't entirely know what Bambu was, except that it looked like an asian dessert cafe.  That was all I needed really, since I love dessert, and trying unfamiliar desserts is always fun for me.

It turned out to be a surprise great pick.  Nice environment, friendly efficient service, and unique tasty treats.  I'll gladly return.

Front Counter.

The front counter had a display of cute macaroons (in flavors including durian!), and freezers with mochi ice cream (again, great flavors, ube!), but the real focus is on the drinks and desserts.

The menu has a slew of drinks (bubble teas, infused teas, milk teas, coffees, juices, smoothies), a single pandan waffle offering, and, a huge selection of signature chè.

I was tempted to get a taro smoothie with mix-ins, but, I wanted to be more unique.  I don't get chè often at all, and the others had never had it before, so, we all went for chè.

Cute Seating.

The interior isn't huge, but there were a couple different types of seating, including a small private back room, standard tables, and an area with couches.  We settled comfortably onto leather couches to await our desserts.

Our orders were quickly prepared and our number called out.

Fruit Addict Chè (+Taro). $5.95.

"Lychee, longan, red tapioca, jackfruit, palm seed, jello, pandan jelly, coconut and coconut milk."

For chè, the menu had at least 15 different pre-made combinations.  I started at the top of the list, and liked the sounds of the first one, the "Bambu Special" with coconut pandan jelly, longan, basil seeds, and coconut water.  And then I liked the next one.  And the next one.  And so on.  I really would have been happy with nearly any of them.  So many ingredients I love: taro. Pandan. Jackfruit. Jellies. Coconut milk or coconut water.  OMG.

I went for the "Fruit Addict" in the end, as it had a ton of things I wanted, but I added in taro, because I love taro.

It was a wonderful adventure of a dessert-drink.  Each layer was a unique color and texture, and it was incredibly fun to dig through, sip at, and just generally make a mess of as I discovered all the elements.    It was all in a sweet coconut milk base, topped with slush that melted in as we enjoyed.

The lychee and longan were perhaps the most boring, just whole pieces of fruit, sweet, juicy, but not very unique.  Same with the coconut, not fresh soft slimy young coconut as I hoped, but instead more mature large pieces of coconut.

The green pandan jellies were equally a bit boring, a bit chewy, fine, but not all that interesting.

Close Up.

But the jackfruit slices I loved, always a favorite ingredient of mine, my second favorite thing in the mix.  You can see a bit of orange on the left here, that is the jackfruit.

The red tapioca I also really liked, I think it was water chestnut bits coated in red colored tapioca, not just red tapioca balls.  They had a slight crunch in the center and soft exterior.  It reminded me of the Tup Tim Grob from Chat Thai in Sydney, but, actually good.  My third favorite element.

I know you are expecting me to say the taro I added was my favorite, but, it wasn't.  I wasn't sure what format the taro would be, little taro balls, taro flavored mochi, etc, but, it turned out to be a taro cream.  A bit odd actually, and not my favorite.  Interesting texture, interesting experience, but, not how I like my taro.

What was my favorite?  The palm seeds, although I only found 2 slices.  Soft, slimy, and sweet.  And just not something I have much.

Overall, this was a unique dessert for me, full of texture, ingredients I like, and surprise.  I enjoyed it, and would love to try more of this style of Vietnamese dessert.

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Gardetto's Snack Mix

The Gardetto Family Bakery started in Wisconsin in the 1930s, specializing in bread sticks.  Their claim to fame however is a snack mix that someone made from leftover bread sticks and other items in a special blend of seasonings.  The snack mix took off and became so successful that General Mills bought them in 1999.  Yup, the owners of another popular snack mix you may have heard of: Chex Mix.  Since I love snacks, I obviously have tried it.

The mix is available in several varieties, and other versions have existed over the years, but all follow an "authentic family recipe".

Original Review: June 2016

There is nothing really homemade tasting about this to me, nor did I really enjoy it.

Original Recipe.

I tried the "original recipe", which I quickly learned isn't really that original, as General Mills has changed it several times.

The spicing is a clever mix made from dried Worcestershire sauce (that is a thing?!), MSG, sugar, and corn syrup, plus salt, garlic powder, and onion powder.

Ah, now that explains it.  Sugar and MSG.  I sorta doubt the authenticity of the "dried worcestershire sauce" though.

Anyway, while there was some mild seasoning, I honestly didn't taste much sweet nor salty nor tangy.  The pieces weren't plain exactly, but, not nearly as flavorful as this mix would imply.

Original Recipe: Components.

The mix itself contains 5 different items.

The pretzels were, well, pretzels.  No real difference between the rods or the classic twists, and these items in particular didn't have much spicing.  I separated them out and dunked them in peanut butter, and enjoyed them much more that way.

Next were the little "bread" sticks, in two forms.  These tasted identical and were just hard little bread sticks.  They had minimal spicing, more than the pretzels.  I didn't care for them.

Finally, the rye chips.  These were almost good, and did have caraway inside for some actual flavor, but, they also tasted kinda burnt.  Still, my favorite of the items.

Update Review, 2019

Every holiday season, I eat way too much of my mom's chex mix.  The problem is made worse (or, better, really), by the fact that she's taken to making *custom* batches for each member of the family tailored exactly to our preferences.  My version does *not* have Goldfish crackers, but my sister's has extra.  Mine also has all sorts of totally non-traditional snackies in it - wasabi peas, corn nuts, plantain chips, fried chow mein noodles, and more.  My cousin who can't have dairy has a version made with soy butter.  The list goes on and on.  The net result?  I have TONS of Chex mix, with exactly the things I love in it, that is all for ... me.  Thus I have to eat it all right?

Once my stash runs out, I breath a sigh of relief.  Until, you know, two days later, when I crave it again.  And in those cases, I attempt to fall back on commercial versions, like the ones made by Chex, or, Gardetto's, which I've also reviewed before.  I've never been satisfied with any, yet, when the craving calls ...

Original Recipe.

I don't like plain snack pretzels.  Of course my custom Chex mix doesn't have regular pretzels, it only has Snyder's of Hanover Pretzel Nibblers (in whatever variety my mom has on hand, usually honey mustard though, since I like those), and it has sticks from Pretzel Perfection (a gluten-free company actually, but I really like their products!), because apparently once I told my mom "I'm only willing to accept plain pretzels if they are Pretzel Perfection brand".  Oooph.  But she took note.  So these pretzels, both rods and braids, are not my thing at all.

The pumpernickel chips I almost like, good crunch, decent flavor to the chips themselves, but ... not much seasoning at all.

And then the other blond sticks, one kind with ripples but otherwise seemingly identical.  They have seasoning, and, I don't like it.

Dear self: stop trying this.  It most certainly isn't mom's, but it also just isn't anything you like.

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Waffling Leftovers: Onion Rings

Yup, another installment of Waffling Leftovers, my never ending quest to put random leftovers into a waffle iron, and see what happens (you can read all about my previous adventures here!)

By now, you know I've tried waffling just about every class of leftovers, sweet, savory, main dishes, side dishes, breakfast, dessert ... I've done it all.

But somehow, I've never tried anything like simple french fries, onion rings, and the like.  I have no idea why.  I think I usually go for more interesting starting points.

It turns out, a waffle iron works absolutely fine for this, at least, for onion rings ...

The Original: Leftover Onion Ring.

I started with, well, an onion ring.  The original was great, a fresh, crispy, greasy in the right ways, onion ring, from a local Korean place (yeah,  I don't know what was Korean about it ...).

Onion rings, for me, have about a 2 minute shelf life when fresh, and after that, I kinda dislike them.  Lukewarm, soft, soggy onion rings just have no place in my life.

But, I am always generally pretty happy reheating them in a toaster oven, although it takes effort, flipping them every couple minutes, making sure they don't over cook.  The window of getting them perfectly crunchy again vs way too crisp sometimes feels like 20 seconds.

So I decided to see how the waffle iron would do, potentially requiring less work (no flipping!), and less diligence, while still giving me crispy greatness.

Leftover Onion Ring: Waffling.

I started with a tester, alongside another experiment (not really a success, leftover autumn vegetable gratin, you can read about that here).

350*, and I did nothing to it, just threw it in.  Which, is exactly what I wanted.  No work.

Waffled Onion Ring!

It took only a few minutes, and when I checked on it, I saw visible char marks, and it felt crispy overall.  Well, that was easy!

I plucked it out, let it cool enough to handle, pulled out my favorite honey mustard and ranch dipping sauces, and eagerly dunked it in both.

The verdict?  Yup, that *totally* worked.  I loved the extra crisp bite where the waffle iron made contact, and the rest was crisp, but still moist.  Really, exactly what I was looking for, and I found that I liked the two crunch levels even more than a standard ring that is all uniform.

This was a big success, no question.  And so much easier than manually flipping and watching.  I've since done it a number of times, and been absolutely thrilled with the easy results.  100% recommend.

Next, I'm definitely trying french tries, I think they'd work just about the same ...

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IHOP, 2019

Another year, another annual visit to IHOP, home of what were once my favorite pancakes.  If you'd like to catch up on past reviews, see 2012 and 2013 where I got combos with Harvest Grain N' Nut or Whole Wheat Pancakes, more Harvest Grain N' Nut pancakes in 2014, Raspberry White Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Chip in 2015, Red Velvet and Double Blueberry in 2016, Cinn-a-Stack and more Double Blueberry in 2017, and Mexican Tres Leches and MORE double blueberry in 2018.

This visit was to the only location left in San Francisco, on Beach Street, which has always been ... on the disaster side of the service spectrum, just given the seemingly poor efficiency, the staffing who really don't seem to care, and the vast number of guests.  This visit was no different, and I was ignored much of the time.

Decaf Coffee. $3.19.

For the first time, I tried IHOP's coffee, decaf, since I had already had my morning cup of regular.

It wasn't bad, actually.  I won't say it was amazing, not complex nor particularly interesting, but, it was good, not funky, and better than average decaf actually.

Coffee at IHOP is bottomless, and I was provided my own little carafe, which kept it warm and plentiful, which I really appreciated.

I'm glad I got it, although the $3.19 price is a bit steep for average drip coffee.

Italian Cannoli Pancakes (deconstructed). $11.99.

"Three buttermilk pancakes rolled and filled with sweet Ricotta cream and chocolate pieces topped with crunchy cannoli pieces, chocolate chips and creamy whipped topping."

After much agonizing, I decided on the latest addition to the "International" line up, the Italian pancakes ... cannoli pancakes!  They are normally served rolled up, and stuffed with the cannoli filling, and then topped with more of it, and sprinkled with cannoli shell bits and chocolate chips.

I asked for it deconstructed for 2 reasons: 1) easier to save the leftovers if not covered in stuff and 2) if I hated the filling, I didn't want it to ruin the pancakes ... learned my lesson from the year I ordered the Cinn-a-Stack and truly hated it.

My server looked slightly annoyed when I ordered the toppings on the side, but it was actually no problem.

The pancakes were good enough, average buttermilk IHOP pancakes, not undercooked like I've had before.  It did make me realize how spoiled I am at my office now though, we have great pancakes on campus now, which made these not quite as special.  Still, they were hot and fresh, and not bad.  I did want more buttermilk tang, and loftier cakes though.

The cannoli filling was ... kinda awful.  I expected to taste more ricotta, but it was very mild, and that is me being generous.  I couldn't really taste ricotta.  It had a few chocolate chips in it, but only ... maybe, honestly 4 (?) in the entire little bowl.  The real issue was the consistency, sorta like cannoli filling, rich, thick, but grainy and just odd.  The mouthfeel wasn't good.  I'm sure the texture would be better in a cannoli, but it still just wasn't very good, and had no real ricotta flavor.

The cannoli shell bits and chocolate chips were tasty though, although not particularly interesting.

Syrups.

As always, I wanted to try all the syrups, and went into my tasting knowing that I randomly seem to prefer a different one each time.

IHOP hasn't changed their syrups at all, and in addition to the standard four table syrups, I also asked for the SF syrup, since I sometimes love that, and butter, since my pancakes didn't come with it (cannoli pancakes certainly wouldn't need it).

I was pleased that none of the syrup containers were sticky like usual, and, they were all full.  This is honestly the first time I've ever dined at an IHOP and not had sticky syrup bottles.

Sampler Platter.

I took my sampling seriously, cutting off perfect little triangles, and trying each syrup plain and with butter.  

My preferences were clear.  I loved the Butter pecan most of all. Rich, buttery, sweet flavor, and the perfect compliment to the pancake.  Fine with butter, perhaps a bit better with butter, but it wasn't necessary.  Hands down favorite.

The regular Old Fashioned was fine, but not special, and did best with butter added, as it needed additional richness.  Surprisingly, or perhaps because they changed vendors again, I didn't care for the sugar free version at all, and sometimes I really do like that.  I'm not sure what brand it was this time, as they just brought me a little cup of it, not the bottle like normal.

The fruity syrups are the ones I sometimes love, and sometimes hate, and this visit was no exception.  I liked the strawberry syrup, although I know it isn't exactly real fruit.  It was nice to have as a different style than the butter pecan.  But the blueberry? I hated it this time.  Just, didn't care for it at all.

So, Butter Pecan a clear winner, Strawberry or Old Fashioned fine, and Blueberry and Sugar Free clear closers.

And the perfect little cannoli bite I assembled?  Fine too, but, given the lackluster cannoli filling it obviously couldn't shine, and, honestly, the texture and flavor weren't right for a pancake topping.

The one thing I was really missing though was whipped cream, not normally included with cannoli pancakes, and I really wanted it, particularly with the strawberry sauce bites.

So much food waste.

This was my neighbor's table ... after they left. 

I know IHOP portions are ridiculous, but the food waste kinda broke my heart.  The pair of diners did a decent job on their omelets, but literally didn't touch (!), like, literally, you can see they are entirely untouched, butter and all, the stack of 3 buttermilk pancakes.  I actually just can't imagine not even trying a single bite of them!!!

They at least tried the crepes, which, they got MY FAVORITE CREPES, the dish I used to get at IHOP in grad school all the time (but isn't eligible for my free birthday pancakes for this visit, since its just for pancakes not crepes), the Swedish pancakes.  It comes with 4 crepes - 2 are still sitting untouched on the big plate, and one of the two people actually served himself the others, but took only a bite and didn't eat more. They didn't even touch the thing of lingonbutter that comes with them (my favorite!), but the guy at least tried the lingonberry jam on his bite.  This made me very very sad, as I love those crepes and those toppings!!!!

A friend told me I should just switch tables and go take their pancakes, extra crepes, and lingonbutter, since I knew it wasn't actually touched, lol.   Don't worry, I didn't actually do this.

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Moku Moku, Tokyo

I spent my recent trip to Tokyo seeking out incredible soft serve ice cream.  And I did have some incredible soft serve, mostly from places I researched in advance.

And then I had some "eh" soft serve, the result of impulse buys, when I was too worn out to seek out something I really wanted.

Which is what lead me to Moku Moku a shop in the Midtown mall, attached to my hotel.  I had walked by several times, saw that they offered soft serve, and on a rainy night, when I was grumpy and wanted a treat, I wound up there out of convenience.

Soft Serve Signs.

I was drawn in by the signs.

Moku Moku clearly had soft serve, in a cone, or as a sundae.  The translate app on my phone confirmed that the choices were strawberry, caramel, or lemon.  I wasn't sure if this meant parfaits, or just a sauce, but, I was willing to gamble.  I had some fabulous soft serve parfaits in Tokyo, and I hoped this would measure up.

Cute Store.

The place really was cute, with a setup much like a country farm store, selling assorted goods like jam and breads.

Counter.

They also sold bento boxes, um, pizza, and deli items.  It was a bit confusing, actually.

I was able to order easily, just pointing at the caramel soft serve.

Caramel Soft Serve. 420jpy.

My sundae was made quickly and handed over.  It looked ... ok.

I was a bit sad to see that it looked like just some caramel from a bottle squirted on top, but the cone-dish looked appealing.  I didn't care for either.

The cone-dish was extremely boring - no flavor, no sweetness.  But it looked nice.  The caramel with thick, cloying, and clearly not housemade, as I feared.  I wanted to scrape it off.

The soft serve was fine.  It wasn't nearly as good as the soft serve I had at Ciosof the day before, nor as good as the soft serve I had from Milk Cream Craft Cafe two days before that, but those were both exemplary in their creaminess.  It was smoother than Ministop at least, not icy.  The flavor was decent, milk flavor.

I salvaged this by not eating the bowl, removing as much caramel as I could, and adding my own toppings, but it was still highly lackluster, and not worth the 420 yen price.

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Panini'ing Leftovers: Chocolate Filled Churros

As you may know, I utilize my waffle iron for reheating nearly everything.   It is my most common way to prepare food.  You can read all about my adventures waffling all sorts of items in my master post.

My waffle iron is a Cuisinart Griddler (highly recommended!), which is actually a grill and panini press, that has additional, removable, waffle plates. I always leave the waffle plates in it, and thus call it "my waffle iron". I basically forget about the other 5 functions it has.

But sometimes I am lazy, and fail to clean my waffle plates in a timely manner, or they are in the dishwasher (did I mention, best kitchen appliance ever, they go in the dishwasher!), so, I need to resort to using the panini plates instead.

Which is what happened in this case, when I had a leftover batch of churros to heat up.  For this adventure, I suspected panini plates would be just fine.  I knew that  donuts worked well like this, so, why not a churro?

Leftover Cocoa Cream Churro Transformation.

This one was an easy success, which I expected.

Simple re-heating, no mess, perfect result.

The Original: Mini Cocoa Cream Churros.

"Mini churros filled with chocolate imported from Spain. Pre-fried."
The original was a churro, mini size, stuffed with a chocolate filling, from a vendor called White Toque.  They are a frozen product, for food services, and baked off by the purchaser.

I had them at an event.  They were ... fine.  Not really as crispy as I wanted, no "fresh fried" feeling to them.

Leftover Cocoa Cream Churro.

I wasn't really into my cup of churros at the event, so I saved them, thinking mostly that the method of serving was the issue.

I heated one up in the toaster oven later, and it was *considerably* better that way, hot, melty chocolate inside, crispy exterior.  I dunked it in whipped cream.

But, I knew I could do better.

Leftover Cocoa Cream Churro: in the panini press.

I planned to waffle it, but alas, my waffle plates were dirty, and I was lazy.

So, panini plates would need to do.

325* grills, and in it went.

Cocoa Cream Churro: Getting Crispy!

I checked after a few minutes, and I could tell my plan would be an easy success.  The exterior was getting nicely crispy, and I could see the chocolate filling getting molten.

After a few more minutes, it was time to extract ... and, turn into a creation of course.

The reheating process was one of the easiest I've ever done, and, no cleanup at all, just a quite whip down of the plates.

Panini Pressed Cocoa Cream Churro a la mode, plus whipped cream, toffee bits, sprinkles.

As I expected, it worked great.

The exterior was crispy.  The chocolate inside was hot and melty.  Definitely better than the original, and, I thought slightly better than simple oven reheating too, as I liked the even crispier nature of it.  And of course, the toppings were perfect.

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