Koreatown's Michelin-Recognized Hong Kong and Taiwanese Café Has Just Launched an Ice Cream Parlor

Since opening in 2023, Liu’s Cafe, a Hong Kong and Taiwanese daytime spot, has already made its mark on Koreatown. Now, the team behind the restaurant is expanding its footprint with an Asian-inflected ice cream shop right next door. Liu’s Creamery started scooping flavors like Taiwan milk tea, honey toast, and ginger pear sorbet out of a cozy storefront decorated with vintage furniture and a curated gallery wall in mid-December.

Liu’s Creamery started taking shape in early 2024, as the team began experimenting with a variety of dessert-centric menus to complement the cafe's offerings. Drawing inspiration from childhood memories, they decided to create ice cream that echoed the Taiwanese and Hong Kong influences found in the cafe's pastries. Co-owner Patrick Liu recognized a chance to leverage Taiwan’s rich dessert culture, which is celebrated for treats such as shaved ice, bubble tea, and pineapple cake.

Pastry chef Isabell Manibusan, who also oversees desserts at Liu’s Cafe and modern Korean restaurant Danbi, leads the effort at Liu’s Creamery. The opening menu offers five flavors, plus a secret tea egg special made with black tea, braising spices, and soy sauce, topped with cured shaved egg yolk. Part of the process for Manibusan was also translating flavors that already exist and customers are familiar with, like Ovaltine and honey toast, into ice cream. Manibusan plans to have a handful of consistent flavors on the menu, while rotating new ones on and off as inspiration strikes.

Alongside its delicious scoops, Liu’s Creamery features an extensive sundae bar boasting 22 toppings, including options like red bean, granola, grass jelly, and condensed milk. (We suggest trying the Night Market Special, which combines Taiwan milk ice cream with cilantro oil, fresh cilantro, and candied sesame peanut powder, or the Pineapple Cake, made with Taiwan milk ice cream, pineapple jam, buttery cookie crumbles, and pineapple cake cookies.) Each ice cream cup includes a choice of two toppings and a small cookie at no extra cost. Prices for