Friday, September 30, 2011

Bubbies Homemade Ice Cream & Desserts


The cleanup in this grandslam of sweets is Bubbies Homemade Ice Cream & Desserts. While Bubbies serves up a host of desserts and ice cream varieties, I first heard about them as a mochi ice cream distributor. Bubbies sells boxes by the thousands to anywhere from local markets to island branches of Coffee Bean. They even ship boxes internationally. Despite this far reach, I never had the chance to really try their mochi ice cream until my most recent trip to Oahu. And with articles in countless periodicals and over 500 reviews with a 4.5 star rating on Yelp, I made it a point to go.



If you're trying to find Bubbies at night, it looks like this. If you squint a little, you can see their unlit black sign with faint white writing. You're better off looking for a crowded corner than the actual store sign.



Like all the other dessert places I went to on Oahu, the line was long, but the line moved quickly. The line almost moved too fast for me to wrap my head around their humungous menu.



Their display cases feature their ice cream cakes and other sweet nibbles. The cakes have some outrageous, unabashed names, like Buffy's Aural Massage, Total Insanity, and Come Here Little Girl. There aren't any descriptions of all these cakes until you get closer to the cashier, so be patient and take your time to figure out which dessert you feel like. After grabbing your order, grab a seat and prepare yourself for a solid showing of ice creamery.



We had to get at least one non-mochi dessert, so we decided to get the Multiple Orgasm, a layered, ice cream cake with Oreo crust, fudge, and chocolate sprinkles. The Oreo, espresso, and chocolate ice creams were all delicious individually, but together, they really did create something of a special experience for my taste buds. The ice cream wasn't excessively rich and the flavors didn't hit me over the head. While the ice cream itself was pleasantly light and the crust and fudge were smartly proportioned, I don't think I would ever find myself eating an entire slice by myself. These guys are surprisingly filling.



The first mochi ice cream we got was one of the current specials, Li Hing Mango Mochi Ice Cream. The ice cream itself bursted with mango and had the same consistency as the ice cream in the cake. The mochi and ice cream were both a little bit hard at first, but after five minutes or so, they softened up to a perfect, chewy, creamy texture. I definitely recommend that you do the same. As I've mentioned, I'm kind of a sucker for li hing. Unfortunately, there wasn't nearly enough li hing flavor for my tastes.



Our second choice was the Azuki Bean Mochi Ice Cream. The ice cream could have easily been too bean-y, but thankfully, it wasn't. This one had great texture and consistency, and was the perfect way to follow up its sweeter mango equivalent. I would definitely recommend getting this one.



The clear winner for me, however, was the Green Tea Mochi Ice Cream. I've always loved the green tea variety of mochi ice cream, regardless of the source. Something about green tea, mochi, and cream just strums my tonguestrings. The green tea flavor wasn't overpowering or bitter, and, like the others, the texture and consistency were great after letting it sit for five minutes.

What I loved about these mochi ice creams is that you can clearly taste the homemade quality of the ice cream. With store-bought mochi ice cream, you sometimes get a batch that contains ice cream that's just too icy, isn't very creamy, or doesn't have much pull. The mochi itself sometimes tastes too chalky as well. With Bubbies, you can order your dessert knowing that it will contain some solid homemade ice cream and mochi. While Bubbies won't make you feel like you're eating something you've never tasted before, it delivers noticeably superior quality and flavor when it comes to mochi ice cream. Be careful, though. If you get overambitious and order a mountain of mochi ice cream, you might just leave looking like these round treats.

And that closes out this quartet of addictive sweets on the island of Oahu. Now carefully insert the insulin pen needle into your body fat and detox.

Bubbies Homemade Ice Cream & Desserts
1010 University Ave
Honolulu, HI 96826
(808) 949-8984

GET: Green Tea Mochi Ice Cream.

4 comments:

  1. I WANT IT. Also, I'm totally going to Puka Dog in Kauai!

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  2. OMG I had like half a dozen honeydew melon mochi ice creams a day from bubbies when I was in honolulu this past summer. I kept meaning to blog about it but every time I started, I'd want one so badly I couldn't keep going! haha

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  3. Steph: I'm so jealous you're going to Kauai!!! So jealous -_-.

    food je t'aime: Ahhh, I wish I had the chance to go more!! Honeydew sounds amazing. I'm imagining those Korean melon bars wrapped up in mochi. Yum!

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