November 9, 2017
A rich pappa from Malaysia serves up delicacies in Queens
(New York Times) At PappaRich in Flushing, Queens, the glass of tea looks almost a foot tall. It has strata, like an ice-cream sundae: an inch of black under a band of creamy white and then pale butterscotch-brown to the top.
You’re meant to stir it together in a clatter of ice, although it’s worth stealing a sip from the bottom first, where the gula melaka (palm sugar syrup) lies, its flavor lusher than cane sugar’s, dark and buttery with a hint of caramel. You control the tea’s sweetness by deciding how much to disturb the depths.