Robin's Creamery opens in Lynbrook with viral soft serve
A sample of ube and matcha swirl soft serve ice cream at Robin's Creamery in Lynbrook. Credit: Newsday/Andi Berlin
Boba tea and soft serve ... two titans of the sweets world are now together in one drink.
This unstoppable combo is at Robin's Creamery, a halal dessert shop that opened last month in Lynbrook. The shop is owned by New Jersey resident Umar Nasim, a 25-year-old entrepreneur who was inspired to open a matcha ice cream shop after experimenting with recipes at home to satisfy his wife's craving. The first shop, in upstate Nanuet, turned out to be a hit, so he opened a store in Lynbrook with his friend Aslam Mohamed. Four more shops are planned in New Jersey and Florida.
Robin's Creamery in Lynbrook makes its own soft serve ice cream. Credit: Newsday/Andi Berlin
The shop's colorful soft serve floats have been a hit on Instagram, and it's not hard to see why. Photographed in front of a wall of flowers, each drink has springtime vibes with a soft color palette of purple ube, taro and matcha green tea. Staffers prepare the soft serve themselves using ceremonial-grade matcha tea powder.
"When I first started, I had [the ice cream] premade from guys in Taiwan and Japan. Now we make it in-house, with a sweet base of vanilla ice cream," Nasim said. "We blend up the ube, make it liquidy, mix it in with powder, heavy cream and whole milk. It comes out perfect."
The Asian soft serve flavors are served in a cup or a green cone, but for $3 extra they'll make you a float by layering a tall swirl of ice cream over a cup of icy boba tea.
It's a messy/delicious affair, and the tower of ice cream demands to be eaten on the spot, otherwise it's drip city. But this is some serious soft serve, and the matcha in particular does not shy away from the roasty/bitter flavors of the tea ($13 for a float). The shop also serves Dubai chocolate products from a bakery in Clifton, New Jersey, and nearly 20 rotating flavors of gelato, including Caribbean coconut, pistachio and dulce de leche.
Robin's Creamery, 424 Sunrise Hwy., Lynbrook, 908-327-3420, instagram.com/robinscreamery. Open 2 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, noon to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, noon to 10 p.m. Sunday.
Andi Berlin is from Arizona and does not know where she is going. But when she gets there, she’ll find something beautiful and delicious that the world needs to taste.
