Scoops (and Jitlada again....)

So this is going to be my third post on the same day because clearly the novelty of this blog hasn't worn off yet...

I went to Jitlada Thai again tonight with JM. I can't help it, I have this habit where once I've tried out a new restaurant, I want to go back immediately if I really liked it. She wanted to try something new in Thai Town, so I told her about Jitlada, and we immediately agreed to go there for dinner. Of course, I had to do my research again about what to get because the menu's magnitude intimidates me. We split the coco mango salad, and JM ordered the Chinese broccoli with salted fish while I got the southern curry soft shell crab.

The coco mango salad is a mix of sliced mango, shrimp, lime juice, onion and chili with also a bit of coconut water. It's a bit sweet and tart, but it definitely has a kick to it. It was really good and exactly what I needed tonight. The Chinese broccoli with salted fish was also delicious. It must seem like I rave about every dish I try, but this restaurant is actually that good. This dish didn't have actual chunks of fish since they were shredded up, but you could still taste the fish in the dish.

The best dish was definitely the southern curry soft shell crab. It took them a long time to bring it out, but it was worth the wait. Even though it had the same name as the beef curry SH ordered the first time I went there, this sauce is completely different. I was worried about burning my taste buds again, so I decided to go on a milder side with this dish, but it was way too mild for me. This red sauce was sweet and salty at the same time. It reminded me of the red chili pepper sauce that Korean places give you when you order bibimbap. I love soft shell crab, and when the dish came out, I was a bit apprehensive because the crab had been fried in the red sauce. It honestly looked like fried red lumps, and you could sort of make out the crab legs. The second I ate it though, all of my concerns about this dish immediately went away, and I made JM try it right away. We agreed it was our favorite entree of the night.

Finally, after completely stuffing myself at Jitlada, we decided to go to Scoops, a nearby ice cream place that I've been wanting to go to forever. Scoops is a little shop off Heliotrope, and if you've never been there, you probably won't know where to find it because it's a bit hidden. This ice cream place is unlike any other I've been to. It's really unpretentious, the ice cream is homemade everyday, and they have the most original flavors, ones that you won't find anywhere else. The owner creates different flavors every day, and he even has a suggestion board to the side where people have filled it up with random flavors they want him to make.

There are unlimited samples at Scoops, so naturally I had to try as many flavors as I could. The first one I had was the orange jasmine. When you first eat it, you immediately taste the orange, but I didn't find it to be too overpowering. Then, as you let it dissolve in your mouth, the taste of jasmine hits you last and stays with you. I love the smell of jasmine, and actually eating it and tasting it in my mouth was insane. I've had jasmine tea before, but it was always the smell of jasmine that hit me, and not the taste that I was aware of. It was kind of weird to actually be tasting jasmine, but I liked it. JM wasn't a fan; I think it's just one of those flavors that you either love or hate.

I had the strawberry and balsamic vinegar next. What is it about those two ingredients that go so well together? In Italy, strawberries and balsamic vinegar are always used together in desserts. Once again, it was the strawberry that hit my taste buds first, and then it slowly became a mixture of balsamic vinegar and strawberries. It's not the same kind of balsamic vinegar that you get at normal restaurants because this tastes like really good, aged vinegar. An amazing balsamic is a bit thick and condensed, it's been aged for a while, and while it still maintains that tart acidity, it has a certain sweetness to it that makes it delicious. That's immediately what I thought of when I sampled this flavor.

The next few that I tried were good, but not as memorable. I sampled the banana peanut butter (really sweet and comforting), peach and plum wine (tasted mostly like peach sorbet), and the brown bread (sort of reminded me of coffee cake). Clearly, I chose the orange and jasmine, and the strawberry and balsamic vinegar. Two scoops for just two dollars!! Great deal and well worth it.