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Photo Eddy Garay/Downtown Magazine
Every once in awhile, you hear about something that people cannot stop raving about, so being curious, you have to check it out for yourself.
That’s exactly how we discovered 10Below, an ice cream shop located on Mott Street in Chinatown. After just opening in July, 10Below has become the must-visit attraction in Chinatown for freshly made ice cream concoctions. People have even been lining up around the block and waiting up to two hours just to try these Thai-inspired ice cream rolls.
Photo Eddy Garay/Downtown Magazine
And trust us, they do not disappoint. In fact, people have waited up to two hours in lines that wrap around the block just to try
10Below was started by Richard Tam, his brother Wilson, and best friend David Chen. The idea came from a YouTube video that Chen had shown Tam, and from there, the idea to open up the first ice cream shop of its kind in NYC was born.
“I had just graduated college and was working as tax accountant, and hated my job, and he [David] showed me a video of the process of making these Thai ice cream rolls, and we were just like, ‘Hey, that looks pretty cool, we should try something like that out,’ so we started getting serious about it, found a place here [in Chinatown], and signed the lease in late April,” Tam explains.
“It’s definitely different from what I was doing [as an accountant]; this is a much more relaxed, laid back environment.”
Photo Eddy Garay/Downtown Magazine
What makes 10Below so unique is that the ice cream is made fresh right in front of you. In a way, it is kind of like Cold Stone with the combination of different ingredients and toppings, however, liquid cream is poured onto a cold plate, which is then chilled to, you guessed it, below 10 degrees Fahrenheit. The newly made ice cream is then combined with your choice of ingredients, and is then spread out onto the plate to be rolled. The server then presses a button on the bottom of the plate to warm the frozen cream in order for it to be rolled precisely off of the plate. The whole process in itself is quite fascinating to watch, and gives many visitors several Instagram and Snapchat-worthy moments.
The current menu consists of eight items, including “Strawberry Shawty,” a modern take on strawberry shortcake, “Cookie Monster,” and “S’mores Galore,” a combination of graham crackers, marshmallow and chocolate. However, Tam and his team are always looking to continue to expand their menu by playing around with different flavor combinations.
“Our latest flavors that we recently incorporated were the ‘I Love You A Latte, which is coffee, and our matcha tea flavor, but we’re looking to do some things with seasonal flavors for fall, like a sweet potato and pumpkin pie one, and then in the winter, incorporating mint flavors,” Tam says.
Be sure to check out 10Below at their downtown location at 10 Mott St. in Chinatown for a delicious treat!
-by Jackie Hart