A New Vietnamese Soft Serve Shop Will Soon Debut Waffles and Ube Ice Cream

Twisted Love, a new ice cream shop that infuses Asian flavors into its soft serve, will debut in Dun Huang Plaza this week.

The forthcoming shop at 9889 Bellaire Boulevard, Suite E205 is the soft serve spin off from Coco Sweets just a mile west on Bellaire Boulevard. Known for its signature pandan leaf-infused waffles and coconut milk desserts, owner Tina Chau tells Eater that the incredible popularity of their pandan leaf waffles spurred her and her husband, Phi Lee, to open a soft serve creamery using ingredients she grew up with in her grandmother’s cooking in Vietnam.

“Pandan is a lot like vanilla, it’s very aromatic and almost floral,” Chau explains. “We’ve traveled all over the world eating all the food we can, and noticed that from LA to New York, every soft serve shop has a signature flavor.” After three years of testing the pandan infusion in its soft serve, Chau says they were ready to open Twisted Love.

The new shop features light wood-accented interiors and a wall of greenery to mimic a garden setting. Seating for about a dozen people can be found inside the shop. After perfecting the pandan flavor, the duo also dreamt up durian and poppy seed varieties, a watermelon flavor served between wedges of the juicy fruit, and a nostalgic Fruity Pebbles-infused flavor. Twisted Love will also feature Coco Sweets’ made-to-order signature waffles. “They’re a great complement to our soft serve ice cream,” Chau says.

Apparently the waffles have been so successful that Chau and Lee turned down offers to franchise their business. “This is my grandma’s recipe; it’s so personal and near and dear to us, we’re not ready to share it yet,” Chau tells Eater.

Twisted Love officially opens this Saturday and will operate Sunday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 12 a.m.