(strawberry lava fudge cupcake) at Georgetown Cupcakes on Newbury

At a glance:

83 Newbury Street, Boston, MA

Price: $ (and a half)

Stars: 4.3

This is a very annoying and strange food habit I’ve developed, but I don’t normally eat/enjoy eating cupcakes. And when I do eat a cupcake, I only eat the icing. Unless the cupcake is really moist or delicious. But since I ate every crumb of the cupcake I got at Georgetown Cupcake, I think this cupcake store has won me over.

all the pink to-go boxes

rows and rows of cupcakes

In addition to cupcakes, they have an extensive tea and coffee menu, which I did not know about until I entered the store.

For $3, you can choose any of the delicious cupcakes on today’s flavor list. I was looking for lavender early grey! But alas, they didn’t have it when I went. I heard every day on Twitter they post a flavor of the day. And if you go to the store and name that flavor, you automatically get a free cupcake? Well isn’t that convenient 😉 I’m also in love with the boxes they put the cupcakes in. Pastels and pinks, what can go wrong?

So I got a gluten-free strawberry lava fudge cupcake for myself and a vanilla chocolate for my friend. My diet is not gluten-free, but the regular cupcake didn’t have the lava version. So…

The frosting with strawberry candy bits was fluffy (definitely confectioners’ sugar and other fine sugars involved instead of just granulated), creamy, and not too sweet. That was key, because the lava fudge inside the cupcake was very, very sweet and decadent. The cupcake itself was moist and chocolatey. The fudge combined with the cupcake morsels made the cupcake easy to finish.

Eat on!

(ice cream) at J.P. Licks on Boylston

At a glance:

1106 Boylston Street, Boston, MA

Price: $ (and a half)

Stars (out of 5): 4.5

 

What J.P Licks brought me was not just ice cream, but happiness and memories of childhood. It was delicious, creamy, smooth, and consistent ice cream. I got two flavors in a cup: butter almond and cookies’n’cream cheesecake. For an extra dollar or so, you can add toppings, but I didn’t want to because I needed to taste the ice cream by itself. It was a decadent treat on a hot summer day.

The ice cream was very solid and cool in texture, but not frozen hard. So there was no runny cream that turns warm under the sun business, which I think is just yucky. The layers of Oreos swirled into the cheesecake flavored ice cream was a great complement. The butter almond tasted like a butter cookie, with loads of real almonds to add some crunch. They also serve coffee and other frozen treats like sundaes and ice cream sandwiches. Did I mention the entire ice cream shop smelled like sweet cream? It was heavenly.

Eat on!

(chocolate chai) at Barrington Coffee Roasting Co. on Newbury

At a glance:

303 Newbury Street, Boston, MA

Price: $

Stars (out of 5): 3.2

Minimalist coffee bar with a modern, techy feel. The steampunk coffee comes out of these iPad-operated coffee machines. The wi-fi is supposed to be hella fast but when I went, it was barely working.

very cool steampunk coffee

I got a hot chai with chocolate. It was quite rich, the chai was good, but the shot of chocolate made it bitter. Maybe just get the chai by itself. And what happened to my latte art :*( ? I worked there for a little bit because I had such a nice view of Newbury Street from where I was sitting

view onto Newbury

I heard great things about the bacon gruyere scone so decided to splurge on one. I’m sorry to say it was kind of disappointing 😦 The bacon tasted old. And the gruyere was not good with the stale tasting bacon. The scone itself was too dry and hard. Maybe I just got a bad one of the batch, but it didn’t taste freshly baked at all.

I’m willing to give them another shot though! The chai really was quite good. And the steampunk coffee seems so exciting!

 

Eat on!

(Gelato) at Amorino in Back Bay

At a glance:

249 Newbury Street, Boston, MA

Price: $$

Stars (out of 5): 4.5

 

     

This gelateria and dessert parlour located among a row of shops on Newbury Street is truly a place to treat yourself. They serve fresh gelato, granita, sorbet drinks, a variety of coffee drinks, macarons, and even waffles and crepes. I also spotted a display case selling $85 gourmet balsamic vinegar.

the expensive Balsamic

rows of gelato

There are more than 20 mouthwatering flavors with beautiful names, so choose carefully. There’s also a seasonal flavor of Lime Basil sorbet. I tried it and it was a bold mix of Mediterranean flavors. The basil comes after the lime and provides a delicately surprising twist.

more gelato

still more

and more gelato

and macarons…

I love how the gelato masters serve your flavors to you in a flower shape on top of a cone. For $5.50, you can get a regular scoop of pure decadence in as many flavors as you would like. I got pistachio sublime (a favorite ice cream flavor of mine and also Amorino’s founder’s hehe), mango Alfonso d’India, and the seasonal lime basil. The mix of flavors worked well! I especially enjoyed the creamy tropical mango in the center after the nutty pistachio and fresh lime basil.

My friend got frutto della passione (passion fruit), fragola camarosa (strawberry harvest), sorbetto al cioccolato bio (an organic chocolate sorbet), and organic Sicilian citrus fruit.

We all had a tough time eating the gelato flowers but it had to be done. Definitely highly recommend this place. Whether you need a sugar pick-me-up or an act of kindness for your sweet tooth, Amorino’s gelato is where it’s at.

storefront

Update: I came back to Amorino for a second time and got 2 macarons al gelato. They are macarons with Amorino gelato as filling. This time, I would give a rating of 3 for the macarons.

 

I got a mango flavor and a pistachio flavor, which came down to $5. I’m sorry but I did not enjoy the gelato filling. It lost the light and fluffy nature of the macaron, and the macaron shells tasted a bit off with the ice-cold gelato. The almond mill? Yeah that was hardly detectable.

the line was quite long on a Friday evening close to closing time

I like the idea of a macaron al gelato, but I think the gelato in the middle needs to be somehow made fluffier and creamy if that were the case.

Eat on!

(Brunch) at Trident Books and Cafe on Newbury

At a glance:

338 Newbury Street, Boston, MA

Price: $$$ (mostly because drinks are so expensive, but also a pretty posh area/neighborhood)

Stars (out of 5): 3.5

A neighborhood attraction that’s part jam-packed bookstore and part trendy cafe. Many people go in and out or gather between the rows of stacked shelves and the busy dining area. My friend and I had brunch on the second floor with a nice, laid-back ambience, and I was super excited because 1) brunch is my favorite meal of all time and 2) this cafe had a pretty famous rep since they’ve been around for a long time. I mean, they have 1,200 reviews on Yelp.

Let’s see, their breakfast/brunch food is popular. Omelettes, egg scrambles, eclectic range of sandwiches. Their drinks menu looks delicious, with lots of exciting flavor combos and drinks from different regions of the world, but what’s up with the almost $6 smoothies and pretty expensive teas for a neighborhood cafe? I guess it’s very high quality yerba mate… I decided to splurge and order a Mango Cherry Bomb for $5.75 (featured).

They should’ve just named it the Cherry Bomb… Couldn’t really taste the mango iced tea. And the drink was a little bit too frothy because of the vanilla ice cream added, and a little too warm. I would’ve preferred a more chilled drink. Tapioca boba was cooked perfectly though and I liked how the drink was not sugar overload but quite “simple and sweet.”

Now deciding on what to order was quite a feat for me since I wanted to try a bit of everything. The menu has SO many options, and none of them quite fit in the same box. How do you choose between lemon ricotta french toast and Momos? (Didn’t know what momos is either but apparently it’s a Tibetan dumpling dish?) How many different cuisines they are trying to fit into one menu is beyond me. There’s everything from falafel to mac’n’cheese to fish’n’chips to quesadillas to burgers to dumplings. Ok then. I finally settled on the prosciutto brie sandwich and my friend ordered the apple brie omelette. A brie day is a happy day.

menu

My sandwich was a-ok. The prosciutto was nicely cured and had a good fat to lean meat ratio. But the brie and fig jam combination against the prosciutto was not working for me, which is abnormal because typically I love brie with sweet jams and fruits. I don’t know what it was but the brie was kind of tasteless so the fig really overpowered the sandwich. In addition, the sourdough baguette sounded good on the menu but it was very hard to chew. I mean yeah, sourdough… But this was a workout for my jaw muscles, which I really didn’t want as I was eating. My friend enjoyed her apple brie omelette quite a lot though. “Hint of apple crunch, creamy cheesiness enveloped by omelette. Solid combo.”

 

the sourdough baguette is meh

that looks gooey and melty and yummy

Overall, I was a little underwhelmed by Trident, especially since I paid around $25 for lunch. However, I really appreciate their extensive menu and adventurous food and drinks. Good brunch with some good bites, that’s all you can ask for.

Eat on!

(Meringue Cloud) at Tatte in Kendall Square

At a glance:

318 Third Street, Cambridge, MA

Price: $$ (for baked goods)

Stars (out of 5): 3.8

the counter

Super cozy spot with lots of heavenly baked goods and pastries to admire and try! I took a lot of pictures so feast with your eyes! They also have a delicious looking breakfast/brunch menu with croques and frittatas and a variety of coffee and drinks. If you are looking for a nice place to catch up with friends, this is the place for you. The baristas are so friendly. One of them totally photobombed my pictures. They have locations all over Boston so be sure to try them out.

They are famous for their nut bars, which they sell in bulk, fruit boxes, and cakes.

They have a special called cinnamon pecan roses. Today, they also had a rose with Halva, a sesame/honey confection.

I got a meringue cloud, a huge piece of crumbly meringue infused with your choice of pecans, Belgian chocolate/coconut, or pistachio rosewater. I chose the Belgian chocolate/coconut. The pastry came on such a pretty plate, just like the whole interior of the cafe. The meringue melted on my tongue and was very delectable. However, I didn’t really taste the coconut because it was very sweet, though I could feel the coconut shreds on my tongue so I know they were there. For $4.50, it was a pretty large piece of meringue and a good sugar pick-me-up. I also wanted to try the plum tart but thought I had enough sugar for the day.

inside the cloud

My friend got the poached pear and almond cupcake for $2.50. The pear pieces were huge in the cupcake, and the cupcake was incredibly moist because of the fruit.

The pastries were on the pricey side, but definitely worth a trip. At least, the effort they put into the pastries really shows. Next time, I also want to try a neighboring cafe, Voltage Coffee and Art.

Eat on!