Isenbin Authentic Taiwanese Handmade Desserts

There’s a relatively new Taiwanese Dessert House in SS2 called Isenbin. Being a loyal Snowflake fan, I cringe at every new Taiwanese Dessert House that mushroom-ed in town. My reaction would be, “Another ONE?!”

Honestly I wasn’t aware of Isenbin for I have not been to SS2 for quite some time. Jenn proposed the idea of giving Isenbin a try and being hot and hungry today, we totally agreed. So there we were, a dozen of us looking like we could use some ice-cold dessert alright!

Isenbin, situated next to Starbucks, opposite Wong Kok, it is hard to miss this even if you try :P

Isenbin Authentic Taiwanese Handmade Desserts
5, Jalan ss2/67
47300 Petaling Jaya

Charging in like a herd of elephants, we sat in the inner most corner as we proved to be quite loud on many occassions -.- I took a look back and am quite impressed at the crowd today. It was 4-ish in the evening yet it is full house here in Isenbin.

We ordered drinks to quench our thirst first before deciding on anything else. Here’s Covermilk tea fresh, covermilk tea black and Wintermelon pearl milk tea. The Wintermelon Pearl Milk Tea is ours :D One sip of it and I’m happy that it’s not sweet as I totally forgotten to tell them to reduce the sweetness.

It’s rich and milky and Ethan loves this.

The rest of the gang ordered more Milk Tea but since I did not have a try of it, I don’t know how they taste like. Let me share with you what we did try though. What happens next is we ordered lots of ice desserts and requested for small bowls so that we can sample each and everyone of it! That’s the advantage of dining with a large group eh?

Regular Grass Jelly with Red Bean, Lotus Seed and Oee (RM6.50)

The gang forgot to pour the accompanying creamer for this and I threw a  fit :P  I noticed something is missing and only after finishing my small bowl of it that I realised the creamer is still there -.-

Nuttobin with Matcha Oee, Peanuts and Pearls (RM6.90)

If you love peanut butter, you’ll love this as eating this reminds me so much of peanut butter! I love this but still my all time favourite in Snowflake has always been the Soya Ice series so I just have GOT to try theirs!

Soya Ice Series Matcha Oee, Red Bean and Glutinous Rice (RM6.50)

Not bad! I’m impressed! What I love about Snowflake is how SMOOTH their ice is and first bite of Isenbin and I thought “well, this is smooth enough”. The Oee is also chewy enough and the fact that they are larger somehow makes you feel happy for the value for money-lah. After finishing the entire bowl, I find that Snowflake’s still smoother BUT that is ME talking as I have Snowflake like everyday!

Lemon Jade Jelly (RM5.50)

Before I get my taste bud mixed up, I quickly try their Lemon Jade Jelly instead. Oh wait, before I forget! My first reaction when they served this was, “OMG! This is so HUGE!” I even asked Jenn if they serve us BIGGER portion just because we ALL come with our camera but were assured that this is for real. Fuh! What a refreshing twist this is. All that milk, soya, nuts and everything is gone from my tongue!

Oee Douhua (RM5.50)

I forgot who ordered this and also realised as I’m typing this that neither Darling, Ethan nor me tried this :(

Grass Jelly Ice Green Bean, Barley and Oee (RM6.50)

Back to the ice series, THIS time I made sure they poured the creamer in it before walloping! Hehe.. Now baru-lah got kick!

What surprises me was, we never anticipated to have our early dinner here. We only planned for dessert but once seated, we saw that they actually serve rice and ramen too! Too bad rice was unavailable though today. Thank goodness their ramen are available though so we ordered all THREE.

Braised Beef Ramen 

You know, I’m bad. Initially I was thinking, Ramen selling at RM9.90 must taste like those instant ones we cook. But I was proven wrong with this Braised Beef Ramen. The fine ramen noodles is springy and the broth is very tasty. One sip is never enough. I think I’ll slurp the entire bowl dry if not for the rest of the gang who wishes to sample this too -.- Too bad Darling and Ethan don’t take beef so they are missing the BEST of today!

I vote the Braised Beef Ramen to be the GEM of Isenbin. I mean, I know Ramen is not a dessert but I’ll come back to Isenbin for THIS and have dessert along the way!

Ramen Noodle Soup

Ethan had this as he doesn’t take beef. I find this so-so lah. Good enough to eat, nothing to shout about though.

Spicy Ramen Noodle Soup 

Darling tried this as he found the one Ethan had to be a bit bland. Spicy alright, it’ll make you blow fire like a dragon! Or maybe Darling’s tolerance towards spiciness is not something to be proud off >_<

All ramen are priced at RM9.90 if I’m not mistaken. Not too bad, it will be perfect if they can make the egg yolk a little runny as what a good bowl of ramen should be though.

My verdict?

Their ice series are better than BlackBall. Read about BlackBall here. Though not as smooth as Snowflake, some won’t mind as they’ll get a bigger serving here at Isenbin. 

As for their milk tea, I prefer BlackBall. Well, I prefer BlackBall’s bubble milk tea over ChaTime anytime but GongCha’s fans out there will snub them all!

Isenbin is SPACIOUS you can literally dance in it unlike Snowflake where it proves to be a struggle to find a decent seat during peak period.

Pros and Cons. If I weigh them correctly, I’ll return to Isenbin for that mouth-watering Braised Beef Noodle and have some dessert to cool off my tongue :D

P/S: We were told that we are extremely lucky to get to try their ramen today as their ramen will only be making their official debut on the 15 February 2012