Get a taste of cool, fruity bingfen at this new specialist in San Gabriel.
A low - kilocalorie vegan sweet that ’s shining , colorful , and looks great on tv camera sound like a modernistic made - for - Los Angeles food style , but bingfen actually originated in Sichuan as a refreshful street food dessert to cool off off after naughty meals .
Making this soft and tricky watch crystal jelly is a labor intensive outgrowth , andJell & Chillat Prospect Plaza in San Gabriel is one of the only places in Los Angeles you may determine it .
hubby - and - wife atomic number 27 - founders Yu Zhang and Zixi Zhou , both 33 , grew up in neighboring provinces Guizhou and Sichuan , where bingfen is popular . Both remember eating dewy-eyed versions of the treat as kid with their category — fresh bingfen crystal jelly dressed simply with sugar sirup and crush goober .
Photo courtesy of Jell & Chill
“ My gran used to make bingfen for me in the summer , fray the seeds to get the born gelatin out , ” Zhou recalls . “ We would sit in the yard and chat and I was fascinated by the whole physical process . It was like magic . ”
At Jell & Chill , the duo have reimagined their nostalgic puerility treat as notional bingfen parfait layered with seasonal ingredient . There are nearly a 12 smack on offer at any give time , with toppings like impertinent Malaysian Musang King durian , fresh mango , peach rosin , honeycomb , black sticky rice , mochi , haw geek , mung bean , and a plethora of homemade ice emollient and sorbets .
They make batches of bingfen fresh throughout the daylight , commence with brown sesame - sized seminal fluid from the flowering Nicandra physalodes plant life import directly from Sichuan . To make bingfen , you wrap the seeds in cheesecloth and scour them together in water system for around 20 minutes to release the pectin . Once the water is thick and foamy , summate limewater to jelly the bingfen , which is the almost zero - calorie base for all of Jell & Chil ’s dainty . Adding just the right-hand amount of limewater for the ideal soft and satiny eubstance is an art that can only be perfected with practice , Zhang says . Every raft of seeds is a little unlike , so it ’s not as wide-eyed as strictly following a formula .
Photo by Amber Gibson for Thrillist
Hand - scour bingfen should be visibly full of air bubbles , creating an effervescence that dances on your tongue . It ’s delicate and delightful , like eating fairy food . Jell & Chill ’s bingfen parfaits are flavorful but also not too sweet , a healthy alternative to boba or ice-skating rink pick .
A sweet love story
Zhou and Zhang were introduce through mutual friends in China just a hebdomad before both do to the United States to pursue masters degrees in New York City . Zhang say it was much love at first flock and the duo have been together for 12 long time now and get hitched with for four .
She study business at Adelphi University while he studied at Pratt Institute School of Design , and the duo now employ their complementary acquisition in their business . She oversees operations and menu maturation while he design their computer storage and do by component procural .
The first Jell & Chill opened in New York ’s East Village at the goal of 2019 , just before the pandemic . Zhou and Zhang shortly clear that few New Yorkers craved cool bingfen in winter and Los Angeles would make a friendlier position for their brisk dessert shop . They moved to Pasadena and opened their San Gabriel store in July 2022 , closing their East Village location shortly thereafter .
Photo courtesy of Jell & Chill
During the bill summertime time of year , Jell & Chill serves 400 cups of bingfen a solar day , and there are always novel flavors on the fare . “ We ’ve been to hundreds of dessert store to seek unlike feeling compounding , and we often get inspiration for new flavors from cocktails , since Yu and I screw to drink , ” Zhou says . “ Bingfen is my hometown food and I ’ve been profoundly in love with this street food for thought since I was a child . It ’s my heat to portion out it with the reality . ”
