By Annie Qu
Staff Writer
Enjoy these fun new restaurants that Temple City has to offer with your friends and family.
Bingsu Bingsu, Rating: 5/5
With its variety of tasty desserts, good presentation and aesthetic interior, Bingsu Bingsu is a dessert shop for everyone to enjoy.
Bingsu Bingsu recently opened in the Santa Anita mall and offers a variety of desserts, drinks and shaved ice. Upon walking into the store, a bright yellow, white and gray interior greets customers. The store provides tables and seats by their windows for customers to enjoy their desserts.
The mango strawberry bingsu is topped with fresh fruit, and when combined with the sweet condensed milk, provides the perfect toppings for their soft shaved ice. The store also has optional toppings. The mango strawberry bingsu costs $15 dollars.
The matcha red bean soft serve ice cream costs $7 and is served in a cone-shaped cup with red bean topping the matcha ice cream, which is layered over cereal and matcha. Although the flavor of the red bean overrode the matcha, the ice cream was still a refreshing treat.
T-Swirl Crepe, Rating: 3.5/5
T-Swirl Crepe is a shop that crepe lovers would enjoy due to its wide range of flavors. Located in Camellia Square, the store features Japanese crepes with a twist. Each option contains different toppings and fits into one of two categories: sweet or savory. The shop also offers a variety of teas for customers to enjoy with their dessert.
Since the store does not take cash, customers order using a touchscreen and then pay with card. I tried a banana chocolate crepe with vanilla gelato for $12 and a mini matcha chocolate truffles crepe for $7.50.
The banana chocolate crepe contained sliced banana, chocolate truffles, chocolate custard cream, whipped yogurt, granola, vanilla gelato and chocolate syrup. I felt that the banana and whipped yogurt overpowered the other flavors. The matcha chocolate truffles crepe is topped with matcha custard cream, whipped yogurt, chocolate syrup, crushed pistachios, fresh sliced strawberries and chocolate truffles, providing a fruity and chocolatey taste. The crepes had a soft texture that was easy to bite into.
Both crepes had toppings at the top but barely had any in the middle, which caused the crepe to have less flavor. Since the crepes are very filling, I recommend the mini option.
Alice’s Kitchen, Rating: 4.5/5
Alice’s Kitchen is a Hong-Kong style restaurant with large menu options and appetizing food. The restaurant recently opened its second location in Temple City, with its first location in Monterey Park. The restaurant’s interior and decor is reminiscent of Hong Kong.
Alice’s Kitchen mainly serves traditional Chinese dishes, but also offers Western-style dishes. The restaurant’s signature HK Style Noodle in Soup is customized, with a variety of options provided for the soup’s base, noodle, and toppings. I tried the HK Style Noodle in Soup with a spicy base, egg noodles, beef stew and beef tripe, which added up to a total of $16.75. The noodles were very flavorful and provided a good portion for one person.
The HK Style Pineapple Bun with Butter ($6.32), which is served in a portion of two, was a fluffy bread with a crunchy topping that resembles the look of a pineapple. The dessert was soft and buttery with a light vanilla flavor.