Table Talk: Meet Your Baker + Ube Banana Pudding
Apr. 22 — Happy Tuesday and welcome to the table!
After spending four days in Philadelphia visiting my oldest, I’m back in ATL. But I’m still thinking about a few of the meals we ate at restaurants all over Philly this past weekend. Some highlights included matzo ball soup and a spring greens salad with sprouted rye berries and lentils tossed in a tarragon dressing at High Street in Center City, wine, cheese, and sazeracs at Superfolie near Rittenhouse Square, the Indonesian liwetan feast at Rice n’ Sambal in Passyunk, and “angry” pizza arrabbiata from Pizzeria Beddia in Fishtown. Pro tip: put these restaurants on your Philly to-do list.
🔔 Philadelphia continues to be one of my favorite food cities in the U.S. While I love covering the dining scene in Atlanta, traveling and eating in other cities always bring fresh perspectives to my reporting on the restaurants, chefs, bakers, and drinks professionals I cover here.
In today’s edition of “Family Meal,” you’ll meet local baker Loan Ly, the owner of Asian dessert and custom cake business Lonely Sweets. She also provided a recipe for one of her most popular desserts requested at pop-ups: ube banana pudding!
And, for “The Move,” I tell you where to find a Chinese bento box-style lunch in the heart of Midtown that includes an entree, rice, soup, and a drink for under $16.
Cheers!
🍸 Beth
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Meet Your Baker:
Loan Ly of Lonely Sweets
This interview, conducted by Rough Draft dining reporter Sarra Sedghi, was lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
If you were at Panda Fest this month or attended a Pullman Yards Asian night market last summer, you may have encountered Loan Ly of Lonely Sweets. In addition to boasting a killer pun for a name, Lonely Sweets sells Asian-inspired desserts, like matcha banana pudding and ube crème brûlée, as well as custom-made cakes.
🇻🇳 Originally from Vietnam, Ly immigrated to Memphis in 1995 and remained there until the height of the pandemic, when she followed her brother to metro Atlanta.
Ly has found much more success with Lonely Sweets in Atlanta, crediting the diverse population and people being open to trying different foods. “People are a lot more eager to learn about new flavors,” she said. “People support a lot of small businesses and mom-and-pop shops.”
🎂 Most of the desserts Ly bakes for Lonely Sweets aren’t overly saccharine. For instance, she uses whipped cream frosting rather than buttercream for decorating and layering cakes and other baked goods, resulting in a fluttering sense of sugar.
Get to know more about Ly and her vision for Lonely Sweets in Atlanta.
🧁 How did you start Lonely Sweets?
Out of spite. In sixth grade, I made my very first batch of cupcakes, and I asked my best friend to try them, and she took one bite and she was like, “This is horrible!” And from that moment, it [instilled] in me [the desire] to prove her wrong.
Around high school, I started developing a bigger interest because my brother (he’s always been in the kitchen cooking) worked at restaurants. That was a way that we bonded over food, and it just skyrocketed from there. It was a hobby that turned into a passion, and now it’s essentially my second income.
I officially got licensed about two or three years ago, but before that, I would only bake for family and friends. Anytime there was an event, they would be like, “Hey, can you make this for me?” It got to a point where I was like, “Maybe I should start charging for this!”
🧑🍳 Who are your baking mentors?
I owe everything to my mom and brother for my passion. My dad provided a lifestyle for my mom to continue to support our family, and it brought a much brighter light to their skills.
I’ll still hover over my brother’s shoulder every time he’s in the kitchen and ask a million questions so I can continue to grow and learn.
🛒 Where do you get your ingredients?
Most of my ingredients are locally sourced. All of my eggs are fresh from farms. For fruits, I stick with Hong Kong Market or City Farmers Market. I really rely on the Asian markets.
📈 What’s your next step or your goal for this year with Lonely Sweets?
My goal is to do more pop-ups and get my name out there a little bit more. Luckily, because I’m licensed, I’m able to publicly advertise. When I first moved here, I used to get one order every six months. Now I get at least three orders a week!
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The Move:
Lunch Box at The Sparrow in Midtown
🥢 I’ve been impressed thus far with my experiences at Asian tavern The Sparrow, a relative newcomer on West Peachtree, and to the Midtown food scene. The fact that I don’t have to travel outside the heart of the city for a Peking duck spread or dishes like Sichuan tripe doused in chili oil and braised pork ribs cooked with fragrant osmanthus flowers is in itself impressive.
At lunch, The Sparrow offers one of the best meal deals in Midtown. For around $16, the Lunch Box includes entrees like cumin lamb, choice of soup or vegetable spring rolls, a side of kimchi, white or fried rice, and a drink.
🥟 On a recent Friday, I ordered basil chicken, white rice, and a cup of wonton soup. I find most wonton soup broths to be thin and under-seasoned. The Sparrow’s wonton soup broth, however, is incredibly savory with a silky texture rendered from fat. The soup also includes anything but wimpy wontons, substantial enough to contain pork meatballs, or without falling apart the minute your spoon comes into contact with the dumpling.
Ube Banana Pudding Recipe
from Lonely Sweets
🍌 Banana pudding may feel like a quintessential Southern dessert, but it actually has origins in English trifle. After the Civil War, with trade increasing between the United States and countries in the Caribbean and Latin America, the dessert took on a new identity in the U.S., using ingredients now readily found at markets around the country. That included the once-rarefied banana.
In its original form, banana pudding was reserved for the elite. Pudding and whipped cream were time-consuming to make from scratch and required expensive ingredients. As the dessert evolved over the last century, supermarket staples like Cool Whip and instant pudding mix helped popularize banana pudding, bringing it to the masses, especially in the South.
Today, the American take on the English trifle is hardly recognizable from its refined former life, and allows for experimentation, thanks to its simple assembly and loose recipe.
🍠 Lonely Sweets owner Loan Ly adds ube sweetened condensed milk to the pudding mixture. The Filipino purple yam lends hints of nuttiness to the dessert and a brilliant purple hue.
Ingredients
- 1 bag Nilla Wafers
- 3 to 6 bananas, sliced between ¼ to ½-inch thick
- 1 16-ounce tub of Cool Whip
- 1 3.4-ounce package instant vanilla pudding mix
- ½ can ube sweetened condensed milk
- 1 ½ cups whole milk, cold
Directions
- Add instant pudding mix and milk to a bowl. Whisk together and let mix for 10 minutes.
- Add ube sweetened condensed milk to the pudding mixture. For enhanced sweetness, use more, up to 1 can of sweetened condensed milk. Mix until well combined and smooth. Set aside.
- Combine Cool Whip with pudding mixture, folding in with a rubber spatula.
Assemble the pudding
After the pudding is set, garnish the top layer with banana slices or Cool Whip.
Line a baking or trifle dish with whole or crushed Nilla Wafers.
Next, add a layer of sliced bananas, and then add a thick layer of pudding on top. Repeat layers.
Let sit in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours, or overnight.
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