By Katherine Neri
Located at 10 Mott St. in New York City’s Chinatown, the Instagram famous 10Below Ice Cream shop makes customers’ ice-cream right before their eyes. Expertly executed, the employees roll the ice cream, making the experience fun and worth the wait.
The shop is located below ground with a short staircase leading down to the entrance door. The shop is literally below 10 Mott St., hence the name 10Below. The technique of rolled ice cream came from Thailand, where it is a popular street food.
The front of the shop is all glass, revealing how packed the place becomes. After perusing the blackboard for the variety of flavors offered, I decided on S’mores Galore (above). There was a huge crowd of people pressed against the display glass, making me nervous that I would miss the ice cream making process. Surely enough, I heard my name called and was able to watch as they poured the ice cream base called crème anglaise onto a large frozen metal plate. The mixture was spread out and chopped up with a putty knife (along with graham crackers and chocolate syrup) until it started to solidify. If you’re lucky, they’ll use chocolate syrup to draw the shop’s trademark whale.
Once the consistency was just right, they literally rolled the ice cream into six pieces and fit them perfectly into a cup. Entranced, I ended the typical tourist video I was making of the whole process. To finish, they scorched a marshmallow and fashioned it on top of the ice cream and added more chocolate syrup, because, well, you can never have too much syrup.
It was so rich and creamy, I was so tempted to go back for seconds, thirds and maybe fourths. 10Below definitely goes on my list of best ice creams. I couldn’t have been more satisfied. It is definitely worth all the hype it has received.
