SomiSomi Soft Serve & Taiyaki
Due to the virus and the current closing of all non-essential businesses, this will be my last ice cream post for a while.
I had actually planned to go to a different ice cream shop, but a couple of weeks ago my mother visited me in Los Angeles. As we were sight-seeing Little Tokyo, we came across SomiSomi – an ice cream shop that makes fish-shaped waffle cones! Despite having already eaten lunch, we decided we would try the place out.
The experience ended up being wonderful! Although you won’t be able to try SomiSomi until the shops reopen, this is definitely a place you should keep on your radar and look forward to trying soon.
Flavor 1 – The Popular Choice
The first flavor is a Milk Tea and Oreo swirl, Milk Tea being a classic flavor of the shop.
Note: Because I hadn’t been expecting to make this ice cream venture a blog post, I did not try this flavor – but I will be explaining what my mother thought of this ice cream.
One really cool aspect of this shop is that you get to choose how the fish-shaped waffle cone is presented. In this case, my mom chose hers to be “upside down style,” which resulted in the picture to the left.
As soon as this ice cream was given to us, I was so impressed!! The waffle cones were freshly made and so fun to look at. I mean, come on – it looks like the fish is eating the ice cream! Who wouldn’t love that??
As for taste, my mom said that the Milk Tea soft serve was really delicious and creamy, but that it was difficult to tell that the gray-colored ice cream was Oreo-flavored.
Flavor 2 – A Unique Option
For my own ice cream, I chose to get the Sesame soft serve.
The photo on the left shows the Ah-Boong style, where the fish-shaped waffle serves as the actual cone! I also chose to get a custard filling and sprinkles on top (all free of charge).
I seriously had never tried an ice cream like this before. First off, it’s just a joy to look at. Secondly, it was a joy to eat! The Sesame was a unique and nutty flavor, and the sprinkles gave a nice crunch to the silky smooth soft serve.
The waffle cone was also delicious! Filled with the custard, it was incredibly creamy. It was also warm and soft as it had just been made (literally, we watched the worker pop it out of the waffle-maker before he filled it with ice cream). The one downside to its freshness was that its warmth made the ice cream melt quickly, meaning it was quite messy and sticky to eat.
In the future, I would choose to get the upside down style, which is much less messy but still has the aesthetic.
The Experience
I didn’t take this photo of the exterior of the shop – all credit goes to Kim T. on Yelp (the review is linked here).
Like a couple other shops I’ve been to (Midori Matcha Café, Honeymee), SomiSomi was located in Little Tokyo, which I still believe is the perfect location for an ice cream outing.
Additionally, this has got to be my favorite shop design so far! The yellow walls reminded me of sunny California, which made me happy (it is the Los Angeles Scoop, after all). There were open windows that let light in, but the place was nicely air-conditioned so it didn’t get swelteringly hot like Bumsan Organic Milk Bar (read about that experience here). And most importantly, it was kept very clean.
The workers were kind and paid special attention into making each of the ice cream orders, even when there were so many options to customize – like the flavor, the fillings, the style of the cone, and the toppings. You could even add a strawberry or macaron on top. And, all of these customizable options were for the same price of $5.95! (Or $3.95, if you didn’t want a waffle cone.)
Ratings
| THE ICE CREAM | |
| Texture: 3/5 | Soft, but became melty from the warm cone. |
| Taste: 4/5 | Yummy Sesame! Oreo could have a stronger flavor. |
| Presentation: 5/5 | So cool!! |
| Originality: 5/5 | I’ve never had fish-shaped waffles before. |
| THE EXPERIENCE | |
| The Shop: 5/5 | Sunny, airy, and clean shop. |
| The Location: 5/5 | Little Tokyo! |
| Hospitality: 4/5 | Kind, attentive workers. |
| Cost: 5/5 | $5.95 for cones, $3.95 without? So cheap! |
| OVERALL RATING: |  |
Final Thoughts
Given that I hadn’t planned on going to this ice cream shop for my blog, I was surprised by how much I loved it! It basically did well in every single category – the ice cream was aesthetic and original, the shop was cute and nicely-located, and it was all so cheap!!
The biggest downside was that it was messy to eat, but I mean, that’s really just a part of eating ice cream. Overall I loved the experience, and I can’t wait until the time that I get to go back again.
Looking forward to my next post, I plan to compare all of the ice cream shops side by side and give awards to specific accomplishments. Stay tuned!
SomiSomi Soft Serve & Taiyaki: 332 E 2nd St, Los Angeles, CA 90012
The Los Angeles Scoop 
great work!
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