Bonobo's Vegetarian Restaurant

Most of Bonobo's ice cream custards ($4.95 and up) feature either banana and coconut, alone or in some combination. Then there's the durian.

It's made from the notorious fruit with the looks and heft of a spiky melon and an aroma that's best kept downwind of sensitive noses. (Some liken it to sweat socks, or worse; I think of overripe ricotta.) Cut through the durian's thick rind, if you dare, and you'll uncover four or five pale yellow lobes with the texture of a semisoft, sticky custard. This spoonable version ($2.50 per scoop) is not far removed from the source, and very nearly as potent, each day's batch seems to disappear fast, and rightly so.

Bonobo's also prepares blended drinks, a few of which can be served warm, though since all ingredients are offered "in their natural state," heat is added only by the whirring of the mixer blades. I'd hoped to taste the "coco van," but since vanilla beans were in short supply that day, I went for a warm coco chai (shown below; 12 fl. oz.; $4.95), which blended young coconut water and coconut meat with a masala of Indian spices.

Bonobo's Vegetarian Restaurant
18 East 23rd St. (near Madison Ave.)
212-505-1200
www.bonobosrestaurant.com