Monday, December 19, 2011

snapshot/dessert: i strongly recommend the ICE CREAM WITH COTTON CANDY AND ESPRESSO from COFFEE ALLEY


Looking for a place to nosh with friends after watching Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (go watch it!) the other night and the Diner is booked for a private party. Where to do we end up? After wandering around ATT 4 Fun, we decide on Coffee Alley and get in after a 10 minute or so wait. I know what I want to order since I didn't get to try it the last time and the ice cream with cotton candy and espresso (NT$140) doesn't disappoint. You might miss it on their crowded menu, but now you know what to look for.

Cotton candy has been popping up on more and more dessert menus since I first was given a bowlful at Simon in Las Vegas. From straightforward to the ultra creative (Bazaar's foie gras and cotton candy), Coffee Alley's rendition is playful yet smart. 


You pour the small pitcher of espresso on top of the cotton candy and watch it shrink before your eyes. It's like maaaaaaagic.


As the spun sugar melts into a coffee caramel sauce, you finally get a peek at the ice cream.


Three generous scoops of vanilla ice cream are coated with sticky sweet espresso sauce that works perfectly with the nuts and ice cream. Sometimes a huge cloud of cotton candy is too sweet to eat the entire thing, so I was worried this dessert would be too sweet, but somehow the espresso neutralized the sugar so it was just right.  I'd duke it out with the Coffee Alley crowds just for this dessert.


For addresses for Coffee Alley, check out my previous post.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

That cotton candy looks DELICIOUS. *drool*

Anonymous said...

Unbelievable website for those English speakers living in Taipei, one urgent recommendation...type the addresses in Chinese!! Google maps doesn't seem to be able to locate the addresses as you type them, so often impossible to find exact sites.
Thanks!

joanh said...

observingexpressions: it was! thanks for commenting!

goa: thanks! to you as well!

anonymous: thanks for your comment. for Chinese addresses/maps, you can google the phone number (which is always listed) and cut and paste the Chinese into googlemaps or call the restaurant.. my computer doesn't type Chinese and if I had to add that into my blog, I'd never get any new posts up. I used to put up googlemaps but people kept editing them, so I haven't lately..

Gergely Imreh said...

just WOOOW! :D

joanh said...

greg: thanks!

Jenn said...

Thanks for the tip! The experience at Coffee Alley (despite our 90 minute wait on a Saturday afternoon) was quite excellent. Drinks and food were good! But this ice cream...quite the experience watching the cotton candy dissolve into sugar (or a syrupy tasty mess) over the basic vanilla ice cream.

:)