For the past three weeks, I’ve been trying different ice cream flavors from The Bent Spoon in Princeton. I have read so many positive reviews online for The Bent Spoon that I felt like it was worth a try, and in the age of covid, the best way to try it was through online ordering and curbside pickup.
Bent Spoon has grab-and-go options but their website lets you place an order and pick it up the next day. They call it “provisions.” The provisions shop is open on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. It’s not exactly Amazon, but hey, we’re supporting local business here.
Then I saw the price: $10 per pint. I know food prices have gone up because of supply chain problems this past year, but $10 is over the top. Still, there were the good reviews and the goal of supporting local ventures, so I went ahead.
I tried four different flavors over the course of several weeks both to break up the costs and because I can’t eat four pints of ice cream–even with help from my family–at one time.
Bent Spoon is known for its variety of flavors so I tried to branch out. The flavors I chose were Milk Chocolate Hazelnut, Coffee Chocolate Bit, Madagascar Vanilla, and Turkish Coffee.
For the Chocolate Hazelnut my first reaction was that it was like biting into a Hershey’s chocolate bar, but creamy. I was disappointed because I didn’t get a hazelnut flavor right away, but it was just subtle. It came through slowly and the flavor reminded me of those Ferrero Rocher chocolates, rich and complex. Does anyone still eat those besides me?
As for the Coffee Chocolate Bit, as soon as I tasted it, I was immediately reminded of a fresh, hot cup of Dark Roast coffee. At first, the taste of coffee overpowered the chocolate bits. But as with the Chocolate Hazelnut, after a few bites the secondary taste came through. It tasted like German dark chocolate, a little bitter, but for someone like me that enjoys a nice bar of dark chocolate, it was a pleasant taste.
For my final run of taste tests, I ordered two different flavors for my final week: the Madagascar Vanilla and the Turkish Coffee ice cream. The Madagascar Vanilla Bean was nothing special. It’s your standard vanilla ice cream. The Turkish Coffee was interesting. I did get a little smell of coffee when I sniffed it, but it didn’t have a strong coffee flavor like I expected after tasting the Coffee Chocolate Bit.
Out of all the flavors I tried, the Milk Chocolate Hazelnut topped my list with the Coffee Chocolate Bit coming in a close second. Is it worth the price? Maybe stick to getting a small cone as you walk around Princeton on a sunny day, and avoid the cost of a full pint.
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The Bent Spoon is located at 35 Palmer Square in downtown Princeton, NJ.
