Some years ago, Belinda Wei and Alice Cherng founded Hollywood’s ice cream store Cocobella Creamery. In the epidemic period, the two have renewed and rebranded it with a menu that is more diverse than before. The new concept of Cherng and Wei, Dear Bella Creamery, is now open and accessible to the public.
The Instagrammable space in Hollywood City shows the gradual evolution of Wei and Cherng’s approach to selling plant-based and frozen treats. The shop now offers products such as milkshakes, soft serve, sweet items for dogs as well as coffee served chilled with root beer, sandwiches and frozen cakes.
Wei uses her considerable work experience with Cafe Gratitude, Erewhon and Springs LA pastry programs for her recipes, including Black Sesame and Taiwanese Pineapple Cake flavors. Cherng and Wei are Taiwanese descendants and have built their friendship over food items based on plants. When they made their flavors, they wished to add in something associated with the heritage with which they grew up. The so-called Lychee Raspberry Daiquiri and Taiwanese Pineapple Cake are tributes to that heritage and their childhood years.
They made all the creamery flavors, toppings and fillings from scratch at the venue. These are also gluten-free flavoring ingredients, with an array of vegan milk bases such as coconut and oil with natural colorings. Cherng and Wei’s Cookie Monsta, containing chocolate sandwich cookies and chocolate chip pieces, utilizes blue spirulina. On the other hand, beet juice is the source of the pink color in their Strawberry Fields ice cream flavor. For the ube flavor, Cherng and Wei use house-made purple yams as an alternative to a different vendor’s jam. Classic flavor varieties such as Cookies ‘N Cream and Moose Tracks are also available at the shop. Their house-made fillings and toppings contain chocolate-coated vegan honeycomb made from sunflower butter, tapioca syrup, and raspberry jam cooked slowly.
To celebrate Dear Bella Creamery’s launch on September 05, 2021, there was an ice cream scoop party for guests. At the party, several guests could get their preferred scoop for just $1 if they follow Dear Bella Creamery’s Instagram account as well as taste its fall season flavors, including Black Sesame and Ube Casserole. On the other hand, each child guest aged under 12 years got the same scoop for as little as $1 too. There was a raffle hosted throughout the day of the launch as well as a disc jockey to entertain the guests at the shop.
