![\"Cold](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/icecreamtravelguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/icecreamhotpot-768x576.jpg?resize=768%2C576\")
<\/p>\nThai ice cream rolls.<\/p>\n
Or simply put, ice cream mixture poured onto a cold surface and rolled with a metal spatula to make ice cream.<\/p>\n
We have to talk about something.<\/p>\n
When I was in Taiwan, a local took me to a hot pot restaurant. In her halting English, she said that this restaurant did something special. Something about instead of hot pot, we would get cold pot. That is, cold pot ice cream. So we got a table and sat as a server made the plate very cold. Then she brought three types of liquid to the table. They were brightly colored. Almost fluorescent. Green. Blue. Red. Clearly something artificial.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The server did one serving for us. Without any pretense, she poured some liquid from a cup onto to the cold service. Then she took the spatula and paused above the cold plate. After 10 seconds, the liquid started to freeze. With the spatula, she started scraping. Now it wasn’t anything like true ice cream rolls. Instead, it came off like small flakes that she dumped unceremoniously into our waiting bowls.<\/p>\n
Then the local and I did ourselves. After the server left us to our own devices, I whispered to the local in English although I was pretty sure the server wouldn’t have understood, “this really isn’t that good”. She agreed.<\/p>\n
Since then, I am very particular about the ice cream. It’s the source ingredients that matters.<\/p>\n
So when it came to having thai ice cream rolls, I was wary. The first time that an ice cream rolls shop opened in the Bay Area, I rushed to taste it. It was…okay. The milk and cream weren’t high quality. The flavor was hastily mixed. It tasted like that of storebought ice cream.<\/p>\n
And then there was STEEP. I had first learned about it as its reputation as a boba shop on Ritch street. The flavors then were quite good, mixing up wintermelon, milk, and tea. So I had high hopes when they opened the STEEP Creamery in March and offered tastes of their ice cream rolls as a soft opening special.<\/p>\n
And guess what, I have been there several times. Sometimes I do find the ice cream a bit more sticky than I prefer. Through the method of the ice cream rolls, the ice cream doesn’t have time to incorporate air into its texture. As a result, the ice cream can be sickeningly dense. But to have fresh fruit into the ice cream that doesn’t feel like ice crystals? Definite plus.<\/p>\n
Also, that photo booth thing perfect for instagram (along with a custom made carved hasthtag). How can I not help myself? And of course, inadverdently do free advertising for STEEP?<\/p>\n
\n