Quickly becoming a campus favorite, 8°F Ice Cream & Crepe is the newest restaurant to roll onto Green Street. The ice cream shop is known for serving smoothies and crepes, but is especially known for its Thai rolled ice cream

What is it?

Thai rolled ice cream first became popular in the streets of Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. Now, it is becoming popular across the U.S. thanks to its unique make, look and taste.

The ice cream is made by being pouring onto a frozen metal plate as a opposed to a hot one. It can get down to -4 degrees Fahrenheit, which helps make sense of 8°F Ice Cream & Crepe's name.

Then, once the ice cream is cold and hard, the thin spread of ice cream and chopped up toppings are meticulously rolled up using a thin metal spatula and stuffed into a bowl for eating.

A photo posted by @foooodie__il on

After viewing countless photos on Instagram and Snapchat of these rolls of ice cream, 8°F Ice Cream & Crepe on Green Street became more enticing. I decided to check out what all the hype was about. Knowing they offer a variety of flavors, toppings and mix-ins, I walked in pretty excited to try this place out.

The Shop

beer, tea, coffee, cake
Tanisha Afnan

I walked into 8°F Ice Cream & Crepe to find a glass wall separating the kitchen from the seating area. This allows customers to watch the employees scrape ice cream from the frozen steel slabs into perfectly formed little rolls.

The store was scattered with unique yellow chairs and there were tons of bright, fun splashes of color throughout the whole place. The upbeat vibe radiating from the inside of the shop would boost anyone's mood and assured me that I was about to have a one-of-a-kind ice cream experience.

The Ice Cream

tea, coffee, pizza, beer, cake
Tanisha Afnan

As I waited in line to order my own magical bowl of Thai ice cream, I noticed that the employees were taking cheesecake out of the fridge to add into the raspberry cheesecake flavored ice cream. It looked tempting.

But as a severe chocoholic, I was majorly eyeing the chocolate brownie flavor. With all of the flavors to choose from, I found myself having a hard time deciding which to order. 

After great debate, I finally settled on ordering 8°F Ice Cream & Crepe's most popular flavor, matcha lychee, with condensed milk and mochi as toppings.

My Thoughts

matcha, pistachio, green tea, tea, wasabi, cream
Tanisha Afnan

When I got my ice cream I was pleasantly surprised to find that the matcha ice cream was mildly sweet and fruity. The syrupy condensed milk added just the right amount of added sugar, making for one really refreshing frozen treat.

Although I have no complaints about the flavor, I did struggle eating the ice cream. The rolls were extremely hard, which was not ideal when eating with the little, flimsy spoon.

The ice cream was also much icier than creamy, which is something I expected considering 8°F Ice Cream & Crepe got its name from the ice-cold temperature.

Next time, I am definitely trying one of the egg puff waffles.

Besides the minor technical issue with the spoon, I found my Thai rolled ice cream to be an overall pretty tasty treat. I definitely recommend trying out 8ºF Ice Cream & Crepe at least once for the distinctly different ice cream experience.

There are so many options to choose from, so really everyone can enjoy 8°F Ice Cream & Crepe.