Berrywise Cafe in Altamonte Springs, FL

Berrywise Cafe is one of the many self-serve frozen yogurt shops that have been opening all over Central Florida lately. Berrywise is located in a Wal-Mart shopping center in Altamonte Springs and serves both yogurt and Lollicup drinks.

During one visit, I tried their frozen yogurt. Berrywise Cafe had eight different yogurt flavors to choose from in the self serve machines. They gave small sample cups to taste the flavors first, then you get a larger bowl to fill with your selections. After filling the bowls with yogurt, there is an adjacent topping bar stocked with all sorts of good stuff like fruit, jellies, and candies. After the dessert is made, it is weighed at the cashier and charged by the ounce. A word of warning though, the bowls are quite large and the machines dispense yogurt very quickly. If you're not careful filling your bowl, you can potentially end up with an expensive dessert.

I decided on a twist of California Tart and Pomegranate yogurt topped with strawberry and kiwi.

On another visit, I ordered something from Berrywise Cafe's Lollicup menu. I had an Avococonut Smoothie with tapioca balls. I've gotten the flavor once before at another Lollicup and liked it. This particular drink was just as good.

I initially didn't know what to think about these self serve yogurt places, but I liked my visits to Berrywise Cafe. The whole self serve aspect allows you to self ration yourself, rather than the typical ice cream/yogurt shop where you have to order a set size. The flavors of yogurt I tried were all really tasty too!

Ba Le Bakery in Orlando, FL

I was in the mood for some banh mi, so I stopped at Ba Le Bakery on Mills Avenue in Orlando. I have passed by this place plenty of times, but never stopped in. After reading Tasty Chomps! review of the restaurant, I decided I needed to give them a try. This Vietnamese franchise specializes in banh mi sandwiches, but they also had other choices available like pho and meat dishes.

I ordered a shredded pork banh mi for the whopping price of $2.75. The sandwich came on a French baguette filled with pork, cucumbers, cilantro, carrots, and assorted pickled vegetables.

It was a good sandwich for the price, but I had issues with some of the pork. The roast pork was good, but the shredded pork skin called bi wasn't quite as enjoyable. These thin, noodle-like strips of gelatinous pork skin were far too chewy to go on a sandwich.

I liked my sandwich and it's great price, but I have had better banh mi in Orlando. The sandwiches from other nearby restaurants seem to stuff their sandwiches more and also lack the chewy texture that I wasn't happy with...

Lollicup in Orlando, FL

I stopped in Little Vietnam in Orlando, FL. The plan was to eat lunch, probably at Viet Garden, but I got distracted by the sign in Lollicup's window. I've had boba tea from Lollicup several times in the past, and when I noticed this location now served food I decided to give it a try.

I started with the obligatory overpriced boba drink. I had a Papaya Avocado smoothie with boba. It was good, although I think they may have added lots of extra sweetener to the drink. There were huge jugs of fructose under the counter, so I'm assuming those go into the drinks. A fruit smoothie is sweet enough as it is and the boba makes it sweeter. There's no need to add additional sweetener on top of that. It was almost $5 for a small drink, but a dessert elsewhere would most likely also be about the same price. I've found that smoothies are definitely the way to go at Lollicup. All of the tea drinks remind me of a bottle of Orbitz with way too much ice (although I did love that stuff).

Moving on the the food, a Summer Roll was ordered. Sort of like the healthier Vietnamese version of a Chinese egg roll, the summer roll consisted of shrimp, pork, cilantro, cucumbers, and vermicelli, all wrapped in rice paper. Peanut sauce was served on the side. I love how the rice paper is somewhat translucent so you can see the brightly colored contents of the roll.

I have heard of Vietnamese Subs, or Bánh mì, but have never tried one. The sandwich consisted French bread stuffed with sliced pork, cucumbers, onions, cilantro, jalapeno peppers, assorted pickled vegetables, and possibly more toppings that I'm overlooking. I was really impressed with the sandwich. It reminded me somewhat of a Cuban sandwich with the pork and pickles, only improved with the rest of the toppings. This good sized sandwich was only $2.50. That's less than a Boba drink!


For a bit of an update, Lollicup no longer serves food and are back to only serving beverages. It's unfortunate, especially since I haven't found a better summer roll elsewhere in Orlando!

Avococonut Boba Tea

I had an Avococonut Boba Tea from the Lollicup in the Little Vietnam section of Orlando. Avocado and coconut is a good combination...

Food From UCF & Boba Tea

I ate a buffet served at the University of Central Florida. The selection was somewhat limited. It consisted of salad, rolls, potato chips, cookies, and some sort of pasta with a mystery meat. The meat had the consistency of ground beef but was too light in color and looked more like pork to me. Maybe it was the sauce that lightened up the meat. My guess is that this was supposed to be Beef Stroganoff. It actually tasted surprisingly good...

Later on, I stopped at the Lollicup in Winter Park on the corner of University and Semoran Blvd. I has a passion fruit boba tea. It was good, but after a while it became way too sweet. My last cup of boba tea from Tkettle in New York City was better...