I wanted to give a quick shout-out to a couple of my favorite local establishments in Chantilly, VA.

First up is 5T*Ice, an Asian dessert shop at Dulles Landing.  I used to frequent Tutti Frutti, owned by the same people, but 5T opened much closer to where I live. Yay! In addition to frozen yogurt and gelato (including hard-to-find durian), they serve Patbingsu – shaved ice topped with ice cream, fruits, and syrups.  I really like the coconut and ube bingsu with coconut shavings, sweetened condensed milk, and ube ice cream.

They also have bubble tea, smoothies, milkshakes, and other various similar drinks.  I really like the Che Thai – a Vietnamese drink with coconut milk, grass jelly, coconut jelly, pomegranate jelly, lychee, jackfruit, and toddy palm.  It is crazy good.  If sweet is not your thing they also have steamed pork buns, sticky rice with Chinese sausage, and other goodies.  And, no, I don’t know what the name means – no one I know does! (more…)